www.CostaRicaTicas.com

what a fitting response ID, perfect....wished Florida was alive to get a chuckle out of it thanks, you made my day

I contribute on that blog, but that particular article is not mine but the other writer's. I do happen to know the man whose passport was confiscated. As far as the 'why' question goes, I suspect the guy who had his passport confiscated wonders this as well. As far as raids go, they do occur. I was at VIPs one night when the police showed up. I was allowed to leave after they wrote down all the information from my cedula, though I was doing nothing remotely illegal, unless the drinking age here is over 62.

I see the point of the article being that you can be messed with by the police and you really have little recourse if they decide to give you problems. There were a lot of other things in the post I don't have any personal knowledge of, but I do know the guy who this happened to and he is a frequent tourist and property owner down here. He spends lots of time in the USA and doesn't consider himself a 'resident' down here, certainly not full time.

Anyway, my advice to all is to realize that you have few if any rights in this country, and justice, if you want to call it that, is arbitrary. They will probably leave you alone, but they have nothing to fear if they decide to be pricks or try to shake you down.

BTW, I am not a Chinchilla fan, but I think it's a little early to blame her for everything that goes wrong... YET. If things continue to deteriorate, as I expect they will, I will join the chorus bemoaning her election.

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"The only normal people are those you don't know very well." Joe Ancis

speaking of Florida, notice how we can only quote a max of 3 quotes...whereas, Florida would often quote dozens of prior posts in a giant cluster quote?


*sigh*






ok, back to the topic.....we were talking about Arizona?

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The difference between a Sea Story and a Fairy Tale is that a Fairy Tale starts out 'Once Upon a Time..' and a Sea Story starts out 'This is no Shit...'

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I agree with Orange. Something doesn’t ring true; something like that probably occurred, but I think some important information was inadvertently left out; information that would close the loop so the story could be understood and rationalized.

According to the article the guy was ordered to show up at Immigration which he did. The passport wasn’t confiscated in the field. The guy presented his passport the next day at the Ministry of Immigration office. Because there was a conflict between the entry stamp and the Immigration entry record the Immigration people seized the passport presumably for investigation.

Since the passport is an official U.S. document, owned by the United State and issued to the holder, the question is whether or not Costa Rican Immigration officials have the legal authority under international treaty to confiscate the U.S. owned property, e.g., passport.

A plausible defense on the part of Costa Rica would be that they believed the passport was a forgery and not in fact a U.S. Passport; further that the seizure of the passport was pursuant to an investigation. My guess is those scenarios are all covered somewhere under international treaties.

You da man Bilko. Your comments were cien-por-ciento-correctamundo, “you have few if any rights in this country, and justice, if you want to call it that, is arbitrary. They will probably leave you alone, but they have nothing to fear if they decide to be pricks or try to shake you down.”

Costa Rica is a good place to be but it ain’t the US of A and we don’t have US of A protections.

The question remains, where did this go down?

The hypothesis seems to be that the powers that be have created a special task force to crack down on 'perpetual tourists.' They might leave obvious tourist traps like the Del Rey alone, but if you are walking in a non-tourist area of town, they may decide to check to see if you have overstayed your welcome. Just a hypothesis, but apparently this task force does indeed exist, and the new immigration laws also exist. It's not unreasonable to suspect a connection between those two items.

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"The only normal people are those you don't know very well." Joe Ancis

DonCarlos your additional information makes a lot of sense and completes the story. Thanks for the input and the Nacion link.

More thoughts --

After reading the article it sounds more like this “new version” of the old immigration police is being set up with forensic investigators, e.g., accountants, who will focus more on illegal aliens who are tied to organized crime.

If you recall a few months ago an OIJ detectives, who was on a stake out, was assassinated in front of the home of a suspected drug lord from Jamaica. The government is increasingly aware that what the government calls mafia are quickly obtaining a grip on the nation and as a result violence is increasing.

In the end, government including policing is a numbers game: to get more funding you have to show you are doing something. Old perpetual tourist gringos in the gulch are a far easier target than dangerous Mafioso.

It is insignificant where it happened.

If I can be so presumptuous as to think that a lot of readers believe it was KL, Sportsman, Del Rey etc then I just want to remind all readers of the CRT site/blog whatever it is, that there a thousand bars, restaurants, hotels, mp's etc , both straight and gay that tourists frequent...could be any one of those.

venture out a little bit and enjoy the other venues that San Jose offers and get your heads out of the sand

a blackmarket US passport is worth 5k in CR?

_________________
The difference between a Sea Story and a Fairy Tale is that a Fairy Tale starts out 'Once Upon a Time..' and a Sea Story starts out 'This is no Shit...'

(export version only, some restrictions may apply, some assembly required, not valid where the sun don't shine...

if you live in the states of Poverty, Darkness or anywhere outside of The Blessings of Civilization Trust, Inc...other rules may apply)

Actually, I think that's only 3 embedded quotes (one inside the next, etc.).

I think if you individually add individual quotes from the thread while writing your post, it might not be limited. And I just proved that with this post.

Although I don't want to downplay anyone's run in with the Immigration Unit, it seems that the idea that Gringos are being singled out is a little overstated. I see many more latinos (presumably Nicas and Colombianos) being stopped on the street and having their papers examined than Gringos. Take a walk from the Del Rey to Parque Central on any given afternoon and chances aren't bad that you'll see a group of policia examining someone's papers.

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It's faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, and more money--Tom T. Hall
No man is a failure who is enjoying life--William Faulkner

DonCarlos, good information, thanks.

In the politics of policing in Costa Rica, it is often very difficult to trace chain of command.

Do you know where the "food chain" ends in the new Immigration Police? In other words is it up through Don Mario Zamora at Immigration and then to Laura or by some odd quirk do they veer off to the Judicial branch?

Did you get your info from Nacion or some other source? I probably should have paid closer attention to the paper.

The fact that field officers in the Fureza Publica are not authorized to investigate on scene at the time of the crime is structural silliness.

Excuse me, but why would anyone be surprised at the behavior of an unconstitutional police force abusing their power?

I hope that gringos aren't being targeted, but then again we must remember that Presidente Chinchilla's platform included very strong anti-prostitution planks. Never mind that the offspring of the multitudinal mothers of C.R. are largely fed by our largesse, because Costa Rica's system of support for single moms is sorely lacking. Never mind that while other tourist venues are facing fallout from the Great Recession, Gulch venues continue to thrive.

As for this blind fuc, until I read that the treaty between the U.S. and C.R. is no longer valid, I _will not_ carry my original passport while playing in the Gulch and other adult environs. The risk of theft of the original document is too great, because it's street resale value is so high...thousands of dollars.

Furthermore, whether they are despotic or not, I will respectfully relate to the police in San Jose just as I would police anywhere. I will demand badge numbers, officer name and name of immediate superior. I will request a telephone number where I can make a complaint.

And I will do it all in Spanish. I wouldn't try it without knowing the language. The above is just my opinion and is worth the paper it's printed on.

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Pura Vulva! Wandering through the dark, I am El Ciego.

Sold!

_________________
The difference between a Sea Story and a Fairy Tale is that a Fairy Tale starts out 'Once Upon a Time..' and a Sea Story starts out 'This is no Shit...'

(export version only, some restrictions may apply, some assembly required, not valid where the sun don't shine...

if you live in the states of Poverty, Darkness or anywhere outside of The Blessings of Civilization Trust, Inc...other rules may apply)