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I have just read a shocking article in “La Nacion” newspaper about the concesion scandal involving the Municipality of Osa, two diputados from the Partido de Acccion Ciudadana (PAC) and the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC) and the Punta Dominical developers. Apparently they cheated about 40 poor Costa Rican families from the land on which they had lived their entire lives. The families claim that the Municipality and Punta Domincal threatened them to demolish their homes and take over their lands so they were forced to sign a “bono de vivienda”. These bonos de viviendas are only given by the government to poor families and are worth approximately $7K each, but we all know that the rights to those beachfront concessions are worth millions of dollars. I have always had a positive opinion about Punta Dominical so I was shocked to learn about this story upon my arrival back to Costa Rica. I would like to hear everyone’s opinion on this and further versions of this scandal. Check out a special section on the La Nacion website with videos, articles and photos at this link: http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/ESPECIALES/2007/agosto/dominical/.
The more of my countrymen that move to CR, the more U.S. style monkey business is going to be seen. For those Ticos that are up to the game, it will prove profitable. However, as in the U.S., the average citizen is going to get the shaft. And watch out, here comes CAFTA as well.
I have spoken to some thoughtful Costa Ricans on this matter and they do not seem to see what is going on as a great problem. (Either that or they are just too polite to say so to a gringo.) The U.S. dollar makes economic and political conquests (CAFTA). The money that has been flowing into CR for the last decade has got to have its negative effect as well as the positive. The La Nacion article can’t be describing the only incidence of this kind. There have to be others as well. At what point will it be said that the Tico has lost his innocence and, more importantly, his well known tolerance?The government really needs to do something here. A statement of some sort has to be made for others that plan on doing this may think twice. If this developer is guilty, they should be shut down, either return the lands or sell assets to pay the value of the stolen property. All the foreigners coming here wanting their beachfront properties have created this market, you’ll have some good guys and some bad guys mixed in there. Maybe a luxury tax on beach fronts to compensate future claims, wait a minute , that $$ will disappear too.
I think Latins in general are used to corruption , fraud , bribes , scandals, you name it . My tico friends and family don’t say much either about this, except the occasional jue…. Gringos !
Charlie, I believe that saying that Latins in general are used to corruption is a very prejudice remark, a lack of respect to other people’s cultures and a very ignorant statement on your behalf. Allow me to remind you that some of the biggest corruption, scandals, frauds and bribes in the World have been done by Americans. Here’s a list of American companies involved with Corporate Scandals found on the Forbes website: Enron, Adelphia Communications, AOL Time Warner, Arthur Andersen, Brystol Myers, Halliburton, Qwest, Xerox, Worldcom, Tyco, Qwest, Reliant Energy and others. Not to mention the War on Iraq, Watergate & Richard Nixon, Assasination of JFK, the CIA, the Teapot Dome Scandal, Whitewater, Koreagate scandal, Pardongate, Abu Ghraib prison torture and prisoner abuse, Guantanamo Bay POW camp, Mark Foley sex scandal, Lawyergate, etc. In the World’s corruption control rankings Costa Rica places 67th and the US places 89th. FYI, Costa Rica is the least corrupt country in North, Central and South America.
Would the U.S. government imprison an expresident for corruption? The Costa Rican Government did it with the Alcatel and Ericsson bribery scandals involving Expresidents Rafael Angel Calderon and Miguel Angel Rodriguez. We are definitely not used to corruption and we don’t tolerate it.
Those are all great corporate scandals, but I’ve never experienced such a blind (or accepting) eye to bribery and corruption that affect the average person since being in Costa Rica. Ask any foreigner and ‘gouge the gringo’ is a game that’s played nearly every single day down here – hence why some have very strong opinions on this issue.
The ex-presidents was a nice change for sure, but that’s more of a recent development than a historical representation on the stand against corruption.
That aside, Costa Rica is still a nice place to live.
Alvaro,
As one of the few Ticos active on this site, I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that we truly appreciate your participation. To be sure, your frequent comments are usually well thought-out and informative, and offer us Gringos a valuable Tico viewpoint.
However, I have to take issue with your statement that “I believe that saying that Latins in general are used to corruption is a very prejudice remark, a lack of respect to other people’s cultures and a very ignorant statement on your behalf…We are definitely not used to corruption and we don’t tolerate it.”
C’mon maje. Tico drivers are not used to offering a few colones to the Oficial de Transito to get out of a traffic ticket? Tico importers are not used to using their “patas” to lower their import taxes? Tico voters are not used to their politicos siphoning off taxes for personal benefit? Wake up and smell the cafe con leche!
These are examples of endemic governmental corruption that exists all through Latin America, and are due primarily to chaotic legal systems. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think that any Latin American country, except perhaps Cuba, has undergone a true constitutional reform. Instead, the old Roman Codes upon which they were founded have been patched multiple times throughout the decades, resulting in a system where it is nearly impossible to do business in a completely legal fashion. Codes, laws and administrative rules are simultaneously archaic, contradictory, and vague. Bribery, therefore, becomes the grease which keeps the wheels turning.
This kind of corruption in the U.S. is rare. Our constitution and body of laws, while not perfect by any means, are at least more easily followed by people trying to conduct business, to the point where bribes are (usually) unnecessary. Furthermore, our public employees are well-paid, and are therefore not seduced by petty offers to turn a blind eye.
That said, of course corruption thrives on an entirely different level – where big business meets government. There is no such thing as a completely libertarian or laissez-faire system, where the government is completely hands-off business. In my opinion there can’t be, as businesses themselves require a common legal framework to operate. Otherwise they become mafias. Furthermore, many industries, from pharmaceuticals, to energy and nuclear power, to banking, to military-industrial complexes, simply could never have come about without strong governmental/industrial partnerships.
These partnerships exist all over the world, including the U.S. and CR, and probably represent a more insidious type of corruption than offering 1,000 colones to the Transito on the way to Guapiles.
Finally, corruption also exists equally throughout the world at the regular business level. Both the Gringo & the Tico businessman encounters the same quandary. Do I spend a bunch of money to conform to the law, or do I skirt the law and save the money? The answer depends upon the likelihood of getting caught, and the extent of the resulting penalty. If you can make more money by operating illegally, even after paying any fine, the answer is obvious, no matter what language you speak.
Let’s continue to speak frankly and honestly, and think twice before denouncing others.
On petty corruption, Latinos beat us Gringos hands-down. On businesspeople looking for loopholes, we’re probably even. On institutionalized corruption (and certainly the military-industrial complex), Ticos simply can’t touch us. However, they may be able to gain some ground by dumping the system of publicly financing elections, and allowing money to more completely control public policy, like we do here in the U.S.
I only wish we would have the courage to throw a few of our politicians in jail, like you guys did. Bravo!
Tuanis!
Alvaro, I am sorry to have offended you. I wasn’t trying to say that Latinos in general are corrupt, just that corruption is everywhere and it is in the news media on a constant basis here.
I’ve worked in the latin community in Chicago for many years offering financial assistance and counsleing. I can tell you the day in and day out stories I heard from these folks getting the shaft back home and also getting it in the states too. Many would never pursue action against the scumbag American business people / businesses because of 2 big reasons ( fear, maybe they weren’t legal or the other main reason they always give me, it happens back home all the time . )
excellent reply gringotico. i really respect and envy persons who are articulate and organized enough to express what many of us know to be representations of the way things are. thank you for an argument that will clarify my own expressions to help enlighten others with what i view as restricted viewpoints. i have a philipino friend that i go round and round with re: the corruption issue. hard to bribe a cop in the u.s.but we aren’t pristine, just different level and scale. only the wealthy, for the most part, can subvert justice here. maybe latin american(among others) corruption is more egalitarian. power to the people! je je.
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