News Briefs

Honesty is the best policey

I am an environmentalist through and through. But as I have researched this debate I find myself torn. I wholeheartedly support what Paul Watson is trying to do, but if the allegations are true he rammed a small fishing vessel with his much larger vessel, then I question his tactics just as much as I may support his motives. It's a tough issue all the way around. But there is no excuse for endangering human life while claiming to be seeking to protect other forms of life

La Nacion had an interesting article last Sunday about the crew of the Varadero. http://www.nacion.com/2012-06-03/RevistaDominical/La-pesadilla-del-Varadero-I.aspx

Paul Watson was summoned for 7 accounts of attempted murder. See the video from the movie Shark Waters to judge yourself (audio is low). View the video at 4:47

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Here in Cost Rica, Pretoma and Incopesca have their ongoing battle and President Laura Chinchilla distances herself from this important matter as well as Paul Watson's ordeal. It would be a prudent move for her to pardon Paul, state her intentions to patrol her countries waters with Costa Rican authorities to deal with illegal shark finning operations and long liners with their by-catch that is severely upsetting the marine ecosystem of the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. It is pure greed on the part of the shark finners as well as the Costa Rican government looking the other way and ignoring the issue.

Two wrongs don't make a right, but if the Costa Rican judicial system will prosecute Paul Watson, then they equally have to prosecute the captain of the Varadero who was illegally shark finning (caught on video).

A few years ago, there was a mega-Tuna ship caught illegally fishing in the vicinity of Cocos Island. The Panamanian flagged ship was forced to Puntarenas where the laws of Costa Rica would have placed a fine of 25% of the ship's value. The judicial system let the ship free because the Costa Rican authorities said they did not have the financial resources to hold such a large ship. The ship was valued around $20 million or so and 25% would have been $5 million; certainly a sum to help pay for CR authorities to hold the ship. The fine was not delivered, the ship went free and the judge in Puntarenas should be under indictment for his lack of upholding CR law and investigated for possible kickbacks/bribes from the Panamanian tuna industry.

President Laura Chinchilla has changed 11 out of 18 ministers in her short reign and she is in the midst of a scandal with the environmental disaster of the road along the Rio San Juan built to provide a future "dry rubber canal" to transport sea containers from coast to coast on trucks in comparison to a "dry canal" using rails proposed recently by Nicaragua's president Daniel Ortega. Laura's administration is in trouble and she needs to listen to her heart and the people instead of the big business leaders who are motivated by greed, otherwise this country will keep selling itself out with concessions after concessions. I feel sad for the leadership of this country when 145 leaders will retire with a $400,000 annual pension. It is pure greed with disregard to the masses. The leaders show they are heartless and the bankers with their 56% APR usury on the Ticos - don't get me started, that is another story...

This comment doesn't bode well for anyone crossing the powers that be in Costa Rica!

Paul Watson cannot rely on promises by the executive branch


Paul Watson, the aggressive conservationist, is being asked to accept Costa Rica justice and return here to face allegations that he attempted to sink a Costa Rican fishing boat in Guatemalan waters.

Watson is being assured by high government officials that he will receive a fair deal here. Watson should be made aware that the Costa Rican judicial system is seriously flawed.

Watson could contact Sheldon Hazeltine, who has been in the courts for 16 years fighting to hold on to a piece of property in the central Pacific coast. Hazeltine has been acquitted twice of an apparently bogus allegation of falsifying a document. Even the prosecutor backed Hazeltine. But both times an appeals judge has voided the acquittal and remanded the case for another trial on minor technicalities.
Of course, sometimes the justice system here can be lenient. Watson should know about Eliseo Vargas, the former deputy and head of the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social. Vargas has been convicted three times of playing fast and loose with public money. The last conviction was several weeks ago. But he still is free. Or he could talk to two ex-presidents who were involved with Vargas and who still are free.
In addition, there does not seem to be any penalty exacted for lying in court. Watson runs the risk of facing a fabricated case without any recourse, as does anyone else here.

Then there is the problem of preventative detention. Foreigners get the full treatment. A bar owner in Playas del Coco was faced with a man threatening him with a knife. The police came and took away the man, but for some unexplained reason released him a few hours later. The man announced to police that he was going to return and kill the Canadian bar owner. When he tried to do so, the bar operator shot him dead in front of witnesses.

All corroborated the bar owner’s story. Judges still sent the bar owner to prison for more than a year awaiting trial. He probably would have been convicted except prosecutors knew newspeople were watching. The bar owner, Roger Crouse, lost all he had while jailed.

Watson said he fears that he would be killed if he returned to Costa Rica. Supporters said that the shark-finning mafia have designs on his life. If may be that the fishermen involved in his high seas confrontation just want money. A curious aspect of Costa Rican law is that criminal charges can go away for a price. For example, Luis Milanes, the casino owner, fled, returned and then bought his way out of an allegation that he defrauded hundreds of investors to the tune of $200 million. He paid off and is paying off at the rate of a few cents on the dollar.

Luis Enrique Villalobos, the Costa Rican who handled about $1 billion in investor money, fled a fraud charge more than 10 years ago rather than face Costa Rican justice.

The International Police Agency lists 73 persons who chose to flee instead of face Costa Rican justice. There are 13 who are suspects in crimes against life, as INTERPOL puts it. The Poder Judicial also has released a list of persons who are wanted as criminal suspects here.

Both the foreign ministry and Casa Presidencial have made a point to distance themselves from the Paul Watson case. The judicial is independent, they said. That’s true, and it means that whatever promise elected officials or executive branch officials make to Watson about getting justice do not bind the courts.

The deaths of the Costa Rican fishermen would have been called an act of heroism. The death of sharks would be, in their minds, a tragedy. It seems a little out of whack.

Ramming a wooden fishing boat with a steel hulled ship could have resulted in the deaths of these fishermen. Now, could Mr. Anderson explain what he means by " a death sentence, literally, etc." for this arrogant pirate ?

Costa Rican fishermen may be criminals, but this Paul is even more criminal than these poor fishermen

Paul Watson, may have good intentions, I met Paul in Vancouver in the 60's and was aboard his ships in Seattle, but he has pushed the maritime laws beyond the limits for years. He is proud of the Skull and cross bone flag he flies abourd his ships, well pirates were delt with over the centuries including today and he has I do have one thing to say to the Costa Rican Government, follow through with Paul, but you must not continue to allow the shark fin industry to prevail and run the coast line with no fears.