by Rod Hughes

Former President Jose Maria Figueres, self-exiled after having refused to return from abroad to answer some probing questions by congress, refused to comment on his position regarding the Central American Free Trade Treaty (CAFTA), reports the daily Al Dia.

The last session of the Legislative Assembly called on Figueres (1994-98) to return to this country to answer pointed questions about having allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the internationa communications firm Alcatel. He is the only well known National Liberation Party figure whose name has been connected with the Alcatel scandal, although ex-President Rafael Angel Rodriguez of Social Christian Unity has been indicted on bribe charges.

Figueres, currently dividing his time between Geneva, Switzerland, and Madrid, Spain, admitted to the paper that he misses Costa Rica but is keeping posted on current events here through the Internet. No international detention order was ever issued by prosecutors here but Figueres gave no indication to the newspaper that he plans to return any time soon.

The former chief executive was in New York last week to attend the Clinton Global Initiative conference. He seems to be keeping quite busy globe hopping. Last June, he was in the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean and in May he attended a Madrid conference on “Global Leadership for Climatic Action.”

He is not sporting the luxurious white beard he was observed wearing last May, however.