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A.M. Costa Rica third newspage
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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, March 21, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 57

Shriners give girl orthopedic care she needs so she can walk

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Another child is off to the United States for medical treatment, thanks to the Shriners Club de Costa Rica.

The Shriners are better known for helping children who have been burned, but they also operate an orthopedic hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana. In fact that is the organization's first hospital, opened in 1922.

That's where local girl Ericka Castro, 7, went March 5, according to William Schiller, club secretary.

The girl was born with a truncated left leg, and the hospital staff will fit her with a prosthesis so she can walk, said Schiller. With her is her mother and Shriner Frank Siaca, who served as a guide for the pair, said Schiller.

"There is no charge for any medical treatment for the child," said Schiller. "All medical treatment is provided absolutely free of charge." TACA Airlines provided the airline transportation. Additional funds for the her transportation fund were provided by the congregation of Unity in Piadades and the members of the club, he added.

As the girl grows, she will return to the hospital once a year to get a bigger prosthesis to match her size. To date, the Abou Saad Shrine in Panamá, together with its subordinate Shrine Clubs in Central America, have sent over 388 children to Shreveport for orthopedic care and nine children to Galveston for emergency burn treatment, said Schiller.

Among these was Santos Bonilla Aragón, then-2, who went to the Galveston, Texas, Burns Center. He was the youngster badly burned when a propane tank went out of control in his home.

Shriners also sent a girl with third degree burns over 34 percent of her body to the Galveston hospital Saturday

Ericka Castro and a Shriner's hat shortly before she left

along with her father by private air ambulance. She pulled a pan full of hot cooking oil down off of the stove top badly scalding herself, said Schiller, noting that again Shriners paid for the door-to-door transportation as well as assisted with the passports and visas.

Study finds support that tanning could be an addiction

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

A new study suggests that tanning may be an addiction for some people.

Dermatologists have long suspected that some people may be addicted to tanning — similar to addictions to drugs or alcohol — and refuse to alter their behaviors, even knowing they have an increased risk of developing skin cancer.

The study says that a percentage of college-age students test positively for a substance-related disorder involving ultraviolet light. The study also said that female tanners and indoor tanners report the highest tendency for addiction.

The study is entitled, “UV light abuse and high-risk tanning behavior among undergraduate college students.” A summary appears in the March issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. The researcher was Robin L. Hornung of the Division of Dermatology at the University of Washington and a physician at the Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, Wash.

Dr. Hornung used a four-question standardized testing tool to gauge the presence of a substance-related disorder as a means to determine whether some of 385 college students could be hooked on tanning.

Some 76 percent of female students who participated in the study reported purposely tanning their skin against 59 percent of male students. In addition, 42 percent of the female students reported using indoor tanning devices compared to only 17 percent of the male students.

When the responses to the four addiction questions were examined, 12 percent of the total sample of students (18 percent of the students who reported regularly tanning in outdoor sunlight and 28 percent of indoor tanners) scored positively indicating substance disorders with ultraviolet light. Of the students who reported purposely tanning their skin, 22 percent of female outdoor tanners had positive results, compared with only 8 percent of male outdoor tanners.

Interestingly, students who reported using indoor tanning devices were much more likely to be identified as having a possible ultraviolet light disorder than nonusers, 28 percent vs. 12 percent.

Exposure to ultraviolet light can cause the release of endorphins, which make people feel good, said the researcher. The result is the same as the runner's high that people often experience with intense exercise, she said.

While a known family history of skin cancer is a risk factor for developing future skin cancers, the students in the study who reported a family history of skin cancer were significantly more likely to engage in tanning than
those students without a known family history of skin cancer, according to the report.

Of the students with a positive family history of skin cancer, 77 percent purposely tanned their skin outdoors

'I gotta have more sun . . . NOW!'

Test yourself
for tanning addiction

The four questions that were designed to measure ultraviolet light addiction were:

• Have you ever felt you ought to cut down on your tanning?

•Have people annoyed you by criticizing your tanning?

•Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your tanning?

• Have you ever thought about tanning first thing in the morning?

and 45 percent used indoor tanning devices. “This finding infers that even a personal experience with skin cancer failed to alter tanning behavior in this population, despite an increased health risk,” said Dr. Hornung.

Dr. Hornung added that almost half (41 percent) of the students who tan reported doing so to relax, which is a strong motivating factor that has been noted by numerous studies examining tanning behaviors and also is consistent with other addictive practices.

“The fact that tanning may be addictive for some individuals should strengthen the argument for stricter regulations on the indoor tanning industry,” said Dr. Hornung. adding: “Education alone is not enough to stop high-risk tanning behavior, and skin cancer rates will continue to increase markedly without proper intervention.”

The American Academy of Dermatology summarized the study in a news release.

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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, March 21, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 57

Case involves alleged payoffs for cell phone deal here
U.S. grand jury issues new indictments in Alcatel scandal

Special to A.M. Costa Rica

A federal grand jury in Miami has returned a superseding indictment charging an additional former Alcatel executive with making corrupt payments to Costa Rican officials in order to obtain a mobile telephone contract from the state-owned telecommunications authority, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday.

The 10-count superseding indictment returned Tuesday charges Edgar Valverde Acosta, a Costa Rican citizen, along with Christian Sapsizian, a French citizen who was previously charged on Dec. 19, 2006, with conspiring to make over $2.5 million in bribe payments to Costa Rican officials in order to obtain a telecommunications contract on behalf of Alcatel, making corrupt payments, and laundering the bribes through a consultant.

Until Nov. 30, 2006, Alcatel was a French telecommunications company whose American depositary receipts were traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Sapsizian was employed by Alcatel or one of its subsidiaries for more than 20 years. At the time of the conduct alleged in the indictment, he was the deputy vice president responsible for Costa Rica. Valverde, Sapsizian’s subordinate, was the senior country officer at Alcatel de Costa Rica, Alcatel’s local affiliate, which handled Alcatel’s day-to-day operations in Costa Rica.

The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, known as ICE, the state-owned telecommunications authority in Costa Rica, was responsible for awarding all telecommunications contracts, including mobile telephone contracts.

The superseding indictment alleges that from February 2000 through September 2004, Sapsizian and Valverde conspired to make payments to a member of ICE’s board of directors, who was also an adviser to a more senior official in the Costa Rican government. The payments were intended to cause the ICE official to exercise his influence to initiate a bid process which favored Alcatel’s technology

and to vote to award Alcatel a mobile telephone contract, the indictment said.

Although the U.S. Department of Justice did not name the Costa Rican individuals in the announcement, the ICE board member is José Antonio Lobo, who said he passed a substantial sum on to then-president Miguel Ángel Rodríguez. Both are facing Costa Rican criminal action.

Sapsizian and Valverde are charged with offering the ICE official 1.5 percent to 2 percent of the value of the contract in exchange for the ICE official’s efforts in assisting Alcatel to obtain the contract. The superseding indictment further alleges that Sapsizian and Valverde were aware that the ICE official intended to share the corrupt payments with a more senior Costa Rican government official.

Alcatel was in fact awarded a mobile telephone contract in August 2001, which was valued at $149 million. According to the superseding indictment, Sapsizian and Valverde authorized one of Alcatel’s Costa Rican consulting firms, which was managed by another individual, to funnel the payments to the ICE official. Sapsizian and Valverde are charged with conspiring to launder money for allegedly causing Alcatel CIT to wire $14 million in so-called commission payments to the consultant. The consultant, in turn, wire transferred $2.5 million to the ICE official.

The conspiracy and corrupt practices charges each carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The money laundering charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The case is being prosecuted by Deputy Chief Mark F. Mendelsohn, and Trial Attorneys Charles Duross and Mary K. Dimke of the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, Washington. The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Assistance was provided by the Southeast Regional Branch of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice said.

Fidel Castro appears to be making a comeback from surgery

By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

Foreign and domestic officials close to Cuba's ailing president, Fidel Castro, say he is recovering from his intestinal operation last year, and may resume some of his official duties in Cuba's government soon. But the new leadership is already putting its stamp on the government in Havana.

Castro's health has been a key topic of conversation about the island since the 80-year-old leader underwent surgery in July. Officially, Cuba's government says his physical condition is a state secret. But top officials and foreign leaders close to Castro say he is gaining strength as he continues to recover from the intestinal operation.

In a recent speech, Bolivian President Evo Morales said he expects Castro to return to power in the Communist government by late April. And Cuba's National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon says he is certain Castro will be well enough to assume his responsibilities.

If Castro does return to power, he can expect to face continued questions about his health, says Andy Gomez, assistant provost at the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies.

"The question we need to be asking ourselves is: Is he going to be strong enough and mentally capable enough to demand to run Cuba, as he's done for 50 years," said Gomez.

If he returned, Castro would have to retake control from his brother, Raúl, who has been running the nation since Fidel's operation.

Many observers say that since the handover of power last July, changes have already begun to take place on the island. One of the most notable changes is in the relatively low-key leadership style of Raúl Castro, said Brian Latell, a former U.S. intelligence analyst.

"The era of charismatic, caudillo leadership in Cuba, I think, is over," said Latell. "I don't think he is going to come back, and I don't think his successors are going to pursue the same kinds of policies."

Castro is famous for delivering lengthy harangues intended to call international attention to the U.S. embargo and other restrictions against the island. Latell said the current Cuban leadership is focusing on domestic issues, such as stabilizing the economy and youth employment.

As Cuba's government begins to transform, Gomez said U.S. policy towards the island should change as well. "We need to start thinking about the future, and about what we as a country in the international community can do, at a time that is crucial given what is happening in Latin America, to accelerate change in Cuba," he said.

Gomez says he feels the United States should begin revising the strict policies that prohibit most trade and activity with Cuba.

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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, March 21, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 57

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A.M. Costa Rica Second newspage
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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, March 21, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 57