by Rod Hughes

Prosecutors here have dropped charges leveled against ex-President Jose Maria Figueres in 2004 in connection with the Alcatel scandal that snared another ex-president. Figueres has been living in self exile since and traveling to many countries—except his native land.

Figueres was suspected of having accepted $900,000 from Alcatel, the international communications giant, in exchange for his political clout to persuade the communications monopoly ICE to grant a $149 million contract to Alcatel for 400,000 cell phone lines. Prosecution is proceeding against former president Miguel Angel Rodriguez on similar charges.

But prosecutors say they have found insufficient evidence to formulate a similar charge against Figueres. When the charges were announced, they forced Figueres to resign his post on the World Economic Fund, based in Switzerland.

The charges against Rodriguez forced him to resign as secretary general of the Organization of American States. When he returned to this country, he found authorities waiting for him with handcuffs and a paddy wagon, something about which he still speaks with bitterness.