by Rod Hughes

The alleged detainment for questioning in Miami of Costa Rica’s Chief Prosecutor Francisco Dall’Anese and several judges on an official mission to the United States sparked a hot debate in the Supreme Court here yesterday and a protest to Washington about their treatment.

According to a report submitted to the court by Dall’Anese, U.S. immigration officials subjected him and Judges Roberto Gutierrez, Victor Ardon Acosta and Luis Fernando Salazar to questioning despite their having passports identifying them as being on an official visit. (The report identified the detaining officials as being with immigration, but recently that function has been incorporated into Homeland Defense in the reorganization of the latter department.)

According to Judge Jose Manuel Arroyo, this kind of incident is typical of the brusque methods of U.S. immigration officials. In the debate yesterday, he told his colleagues, “The truth of this case is that this incident reminds many Costa Ricans that the same thing has happened to them. In every family able to travel, this type of anecdote is more and more frequent: a neighbor, a friend, a relative that is taken out of line for interrogation. This treatment is denigrating for anyone.”

But Judge Annabelle Leon, while not questioning the facts presented by the prosecutor, expressed doubts about their interpretation. “But what the American Embassy says in the press contains different details.” She asked if the incident was really an arbitrary detainment violating the Costa Ricans’ rights or whether it was a routine procedure.

Judge Alfonso Chavez answered this with a hot reply: “Are were trying to believe more an official of the Embassy who barely speaks Spanish and not believe our own functionaries? …This I can’t tolerate that they do this to four functionaries of our Judicial branch, who are not on vacation, but are functionaries performing their duties.”

Referring to Dall’Anese’s report, Judge Leon lamented deteriorating relations between the Costa Rican court system and the U.S. Department of Justice and the alleged lack of cooperation of U.S. authorities.