Dokument #1041264
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
Two Costa Rican newspapers reported that
Banco Nacional in Puerto Cortés (also known as Ciudad
Cortés) was robbed by four individuals on 17 February 1998
(La Nación 18 Feb. 1998; La Prensa Libre
18 Feb. 1998). According to the reports, the robbers escaped with
more than $2 million from the bank's cash registers. The
individuals, who were heavily armed, also took five hostages, two
of whom were drivers of an ambulance (ibid.). La Prensa
Libre states that those taken hostage were Alvaro Chaves
Bonilla (driver of the ambulance), Rónald Mora Corrales,
Kattia Cordero, Eduardo Pérez Membreño (security
guard of the bank) and Luis Guillermo. Near the scene of the
robbery, the robbers attacked a Canadian citizen, Andren Arthur
Normand or André Normando, and took his car to continue
their escape from the authorities (18 Feb. 1998; La
Nación 18 Feb. 1998). All hostages were eventually
released (ibid.). La Prensa reported that members of the
public and the Banco Nacional's alarm system alerted officials the
Public Forces (Fuerzas Públicas). The report, however,
mentions no name as to who alerted the police.
Another La Nación report
states that four officials of the Fuerza Pública de Quepos
mistook a Canadian tourist, David Danyen, as one of the robbers of
Banco Nacional (19 Feb. 1998). In Cortés' south zone, police
officers had shot at Danyen's vehicle, shattering one of its
windows, and wounding his arm (ibid.). Eventually, the Public
Ministry seized the firearms of the four police officers and opened
an investigation to determine whether the officers had committed a
crime (ibid.). The report also states that officials of the
Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) de Corredores
arrested a Nicaraguan man suspected of participating in the bank
robbery on 18 February. The whereabouts of the other suspects
remained unknown at the time of publication of the latter La
Nación report.
Additional information on the investigation
of the bank robbery could not be found among the sources consulted
by the Research Directorate.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the
list of additional sources consulted in researching this
Information Request.
References
La Nación [San
José]. 19 February 1998. Adrián Meza Granados. "En
persecución de delincuentes: Turista herido por error tras
asalto." [Internet] http://www.nacion.
co.cr/ln_ee/1998/febrero/19/pais8.html [Accessed on 5 July
1999]
_____. 18 February 1999. Adrián
Meza Granados and Alberto Cole. "3 milliones a banco en Ciudad
Cortés: Atraco con rehenes." [Internet] http://www.nacion.
co.cr/ln_ee/1998/febrero/18/pais8.html [Accessed on 5 July
1999]
La Prensa Libre [San
José]. Esteban de J. Castro. "50 hombres tras asaltabancos."
[Internet] http://www.prensalibre.co.cr/1998/2/18/sucesos1.html
[Accessed on 5 July 1999]
Additional Sources Consulted
Central America NewsPak
[Austin]. February 1998-March 1998.
Latinamerica Press [Lima].
1998.
Two sources consulted did not provide
information on the requested topic.
Electronic Sources: IRB Databases,
REFWORLD, LEXIS/NEXIS, Internet and WNC.
The following information is additional to
that already found in CRI30928.E of 20 January 1999.
In a 11 June 1999 telephone interview, a
lawyer with the Department of Human Rights at the National
Institute for Women (Instituto Nacional de la Mujer), a government
agency in San José previously known as the Centro Nacional
para el Desarrollo de la Mujer y la Familia, stated that there are
no special protection measures available to women in Costa Rica who
have been sexually abused or mistreated by police officers. She was
aware of cases of women who had been repeatedly sexually abused by
officers of police forces under the Ministry of Security
(Ministerio de Seguridad), but not by police officers of the
Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ), which falls under
the jurisdiction of the judicial power of the Supreme Court of
Justice. The lawyer related the case of a woman who had made a
request for employment as a police officer last year, who was then
forced to spend the night in the police station (Comandancia) and
was then raped by police officers. She added that the case was
currently being processed before the Ministerio de Seguridad.
She stated that most of the women abused by
police officers were sex workers. The Latin American Institute of
Health Prevention and Education (Instituto Latinoamericano de
Prevención y Educación en Salud, ILPES), a
non-governmental organization in San José, provides legal
assistance and counselling to female sex workers who wish to
denounce police abuse. However, according to the lawyer, most women
do not denounce police abuse because of the entrenched "macho"
attitudes prevalent in Costa Rican society and the belief that
these institutions will not protect them. The lawyer further stated
that women abused by police can make a complaint to the Female
Victims Delegation (Delegación de Mujeres Agredidas) within
the National Institute for Women. Otherwise, women have to pursue
the conventional judicial channels to obtain legal protection
against police abuse.
A lawyer with the Defensoría de la
Mujer at the Office of Public Defence (Defensoría de los
Habitantes) in San José stated that the office has not
received any complaints from women who had been repeatedly violated
by police officers of the OIJ. The lawyer related the same case as
the lawyer at the National Institute for Women of the woman who had
been raped by police officers in a police station last year in San
José (14 June 1999). In this particular case, the woman is
only pursuing the case administratively before the Ministry of
Security and not via the judicial channels. Currently, the Ministry
is investigating the case.
According to the lawyer, there are no
special protection measures in place in Costa Rica for women who
have been repeatedly sexually abused by police officers.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the
list of additional sources consulted in researching this
Information Request.
References
Defensoría de los Habitantes, San
José. 14 June 1999. Telephone interview with a lawyer.
Instituto Nacional de la Mujer, San
José. 11 June 1999. Telephone interview with a lawyer.
Additional Sources Consulted
Central American NewsPak
[Austin]. 1999.
La Nación [San
José]. 1999.
Latinamerican Press [Lima].
1999.
Office of the Public Defence Annual
Report 1998-1999. [Internet] http://www.nacion.co.cr/ln_ee/ESPECIALES/informe1999/indice.html
Electronic Sources: IRB Databases,
REFWORLD, LEXIS/NEXIS, Internet and WNC.