by Rod Hughes

The country’s biggest Spanish-language daily, La Nación, continues to dig up details on the secret funds used to pay myriad presidential advisers. In its latest exposé, the paper says that Taiwan (with which the country still had diplomatic relations) donated $1.5 million to relieve the suffering of 600 underprivileged families in the Rincón Grande slum of Pavas in a solemn ceremony on Oct. 27, 2006.

The funds were to be administered by the Housing Ministry and they were– $1,331,508 total so far. But they were paid for consultant work, studies and such, the largest sum to FLACSO (the Spanish acronymn for a social science study group) at $424,758, according to the paper. Housing Minister Fernando Zumbado defended the use of the money, saying that it “benefitted many more persons than just in Rincón Grande.”

President Oscar Arias’s chief of staff Rodrigo Arias, who goes by the title of Minister of the Presidency, says that all is perfectly legal. This may be true because private donations to branches of government appear to be uncontrolled by law. Zumbado notes that the funds cannot be called public since they do not come from the taxpayers’ pocket. But the scandal cannot be called good for Arias’s international prestige, an aspect about which he is quite sensitive.

In what the newspaper called a turnabout, the Minister of the Presidency said haughtily, “We of the government of the republic cannot satisfy the questions of the media when they want them. That depends on our policies and what we consider merits giving the information.” The paper noted this was a direct contradiction to an opinion piece he gave the paper this week that said, “…the demand for information is logical, natural and desirable in a country where the government is determined be be absolutely transparent.”

La Nación’s inquiring reporters turned up even more oddities, such as the fact that a government spokesperson, former Channel 7 TV newscaster Mishelle Mitchell, does not appear on any government payroll. But, the paper noted, article 2 of the Corruption Law specifies that anyone performing services or agencies or other government entities are considered public employees. She says she reports to the president and that the international bank BCIE pays her for this service. She is one of 84 whose services are paid by $2 million donated by BCIE to the Presidency.

Neither Rodrigo Arias nor Zumbado specified exactly how this horde of study groups and advisers helped the poor people in the slums of Pavas. Friday’s edition of La Nacion also noted that, although presidency Minister assured the paper that all the advisers were “professionals,” the list turned over to the Legislative Assembly Wednesday included a musician, a mechanic, a messenger and a secretary. The mechanic, Jorge Calderon, told the paper that he received his pay from the international bank for mopping and polishing the floors of several rooms in the Presidential Office Building.