In this article taken from the Facebook page of Captain Paul Watson, he tells a story about his issues with the Costa Rican Government and blasts them for not doing… Read more » Continue reading →
In this article taken from the Facebook page of Captain Paul Watson, he tells a story about his issues with the Costa Rican Government and blasts them for not doing more for the murder of environmentalist Jairo Mora Sandoval.
At the request of the Japanese government, the Costa Rican government seemingly spared no expense in tracking me down and having me detained in Germany in May of 2012.
They have spared no expense in making sure their prosecutors and courts continue to pursue me to bring me to justice for intervening against an illegal shark finning operation in Guatemalan waters at the request of the Guatemalan government. They have even changed the nature of their charges three times. Not able to pursue their original charge of attempted murder in 2002, they changed the charge to assault a few days later and when that was dismissed they changed the charge to interference with navigation in 2012, a decade later.
All of this expense and politically motivated effort for a charge of interference with navigation. No one gets extradited through Interpol for interference with navigation.
The question is why? The answer is the influence that the shark-finners have on the government of Costa Rica. Killing sharks for their fins brings in a great deal of money and that money buys influence.
When celebrity Chef Gordan Ramsey was doused with gasoline and his life was threatened when he tried to expose shark finning in Costa Rica, the police did nothing except to advise him to leave the country.
When Jairo Mora Sandoval requested protection from the police and the government because his life had been threatened by narco-poachers, the police and the government did nothing.
When he was murdered a few weeks after his request for protection, a Costa Rican government Minister at first called it an accident and then made the insensitive statement that Jairo had placed himself in a dangerous situation by continuing to guard turtle nests on a dangerous beach.
It has been a month and a half since Jairos body was found on the beach he loved and protected and still the police have not made any progress in apprehending his killers.
The government is seemingly hoping that time will make the controversy disappear.
If the Costa Rican government and police cannot solve this crime maybe they should put in a request to the FBI in the United States for assistance.
Surely there are people involved in the narcotics and poaching underworld, who know what has happened. Are the Costa Rican police so incompetent that they do not have any informers? Have these criminal organizations not been infiltrated and if not, why not? One thing for certain is that conservation and environmental groups in Costa Rica have been infiltrated.
As long as this despicable and cowardly murder remains unsolved the suspicion will grow that this investigation is not being taken seriously, or worse that there is complicity involving special interests.
If drug traffickers are landing on Costa Rican beaches why did the government remove the Coast Guard patrols of these beaches?
If Columbian and Panamanian drug runners are running drugs onto these beaches, why are there not police there to intercept them?
If turtle eggs are being served in restaurants on the Caribbean coast, why has the government not stepped in to stop this trade. If a tourist can see turtle eggs on a menu why cant the police see the same thing?
President Laura Chinchilla was quick to denounce me for saving sharks but I have not heard a word from her about the importance of bringing these murderers to justice.
How much influence do the narco-poachers have over the government and the police? It appears to be considerable. Or perhaps it is simply incompetence. Either way it does not look good for Costa Ricas reputation.
I believe that the government of Costa Rica is corrupt. There are reports in the Costa Rican media of President Chinchilla being flown without charge on private planes connected to drug traffickers.
In May of 2012 I met with then Minister for Costa Rican Foreign Affairs Rene Castro. He is today the Environment Minister for Costa Rica.
This is the conversation:
Captain Watson: In 2002 we simply intervened against an illegal shark finning operation on Guatemalan waters and we did so at the request of the Guatemalan government.
Minister Castro: There is no evidence that the boat was in Guatemalan waters or that it was doing anything illegal.
Captain Watson: We filmed it. The film has been aired in the documentary Sharkwater. We filmed the GPS coordinates of our vessel in the same frame as the Varadero I. The film clearly shows them finnng sharks in Guatemalan waters.
Minster Castro: We disagree. These were just Costa Rican fishermen fishing legally in international waters. They were not criminals.
Captain Watson: The Varadero I was arrested and prosecuted, found guilty and fined for poaching in the Galapagos Marine Reserve in 2001, the year before this encounter. The vessel was at the time a convicted poaching vessel.
Minister Castro: This is simply your story.
Captain Watson: And easily verified by the Galapagos National Park.
Minister Castro: You will have an opportunity to present your case to the Costa Rican court.
Captain Watson: I will come to Costa Rica and appear in your court if I am not detained or extradited onto Japan and if I can be guaranteed that my life will not be put in danger. The shark-finners of Puntarenas put a $25,000 bounty on my head so going to one of your jails could be a death sentence.
Minister Castro: You need not worry. We have a former President and former members of previous governments in prison and many people hate them and they are protected. We are a civilized country and the government is not corrupt.
Captain Watson: If the government is not corrupt then why are former Presidents and former members of government in prison?
Minister Castro: That was a previous government, not ours.
Needless to say there was no reasoning with Rene Castro. The party line was that the fishermen were innocent and I was guilty.
The situation in Costa Rica is serious. Conservationists cannot be guaranteed safety and habitats, protected, threatened, and endangered species cannot be given adequate protection. In fact it seems that the narco-poachers enjoy much more government and police protection than the environment and those courageous individuals trying to stop the illegal activity.
There is no excuse for the failure to solve the Jairo Mora Sandoval murder. There were five men involved with the murder. There were witnesses. A cell phone from a volunteer was stolen by one of the party responsible. People talk and leads present themselves. The men who committed this murder are not that intelligent that they would have left no clues.
Perhaps the international conservation movement should hire a private investigator to do the job that the police seem incapable of doing.
I believe the Costa Rican police and the government could solve this murder if they invested the resources to do so. And they need to do so. Jairo is no longer simply a murder statistic. He is now an icon, a symbol of conservation, of passionate volunteerism and he is in every way a son of the Costa Rican people, a hero and an inspiration.
If this government in Costa Rica cannot solve this case than perhaps it is time for a new government to be elected, a government that truly cares about Costa Rica the country and the Costa Rican people.