“My lawyer has asked
me not to give any statement,”
said former president Oscar
Arias
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By the
A.M. Costa Rica staff
Former president Oscar
Arias went to testify before the
Deputy Prosecutor 's Office of
Gender on Wednesday. He had to
give his statement on two cases of
sexual misconduct against him. The
first accusation is for rape and
the second is for sexual abuse. No
precautionary pre-trial measures
were requested by the Prosecutor's
office against Mr. Arias.
At 7:30 a.m., Mr. Arias arrived at
the prosecutor's office in the
company of his lawyer Erick Ramos.
At the exit of the court, Mr.
Arias gave a brief speech
explaining why he cannot give more
statements about these two
accusations against him.
"In the last 50 years, in the
different positions that I have
occupied in my public life in this
country, I have always answered
for the journalists all the
questions that they have asked me,
nevertheless on this occasion my
lawyer has asked me to not give
any statement, so I ask you
(referring to reporters) to
understand why I will not give any
statement," he said.
Attorney Erick Ramos reaffirmed
what was said by Mr. Arias.
"We have already made the
declaration in the Public
Ministry's court, we are not going
to do any more, we want you (the
reporters) to understand these
circumstances," he said.
Asked about the details of the
former president’s statement
and/or if he opted not to make any
statement, lawyer Ramos said, "in
those circumstances, we cannot
reveal to third parties that
information because it is in a
phase of the investigation.
Believe me that I would love to
talk about the whole process and
provide the information, but at
this time we cannot. Later we will
review the situation and we will
gladly communicate what is
relevant."
With regard to the reaction of
deputies of the National
Liberation Party on this issue,
Ramos said, "those are peripheral
issues that do not matter. The
country deserves a response from
the court when it resolves the
matter. We cannot refer because
there are two people who exercised
their right to access justice to
file complaints and we must be
respectful of those two people.”
Mr. Arias won the country's
presidency from 1986 to 1990. His
role in the negotiation of a peace
agreement to stop the Central
American Wars earned him the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1987. In 2006 he
won re-election as Costa Rican
president from 2006 to 2010.
As A.M. Costa Rica has reported,
the Prosecutor's office for Gender
registered two criminal complaints
against former president Óscar
Arias Sánchez for alleged sexual
assault. One complaint was made by
a woman surnamed Arce and the
other by a woman surnamed
Morales. Those accusations
were registered as file
#19000098994-PE in the
Prosecutor's office and are
subject to investigation.
The first formal complaint was
made by a woman surnamed
Arce. She filed a rape
accusation against Mr. Arias.
According to Arce’s testimony, "he
grabbed me from behind and touched
my breasts. I told him no and that
he was married, that was my no. I
did not know what I really did,
and I thought that it was the only
line of defense, because I had
this fear: if I refused he would
not cooperate with us anymore. He
kept touching me, he has put his
fingers in my vagina and he
touched me and kissed me. And then
he told me to wait a moment and he
left the office. I was like I did
not know what to do, I felt
trapped at that moment."
The second official denounced for
the alleged crime of sexual abuse,
was made by a woman surnamed
Morales. According to her, the
events took place in 2015 at the
home of Arias after he had sent
her a message on Facebook, and
invited her to visit him so he
could give her a book.
"He stood in front of me next to
the door that was closed. I'm
taller than him, however, he
grabbed my head, I had loose hair,
he grabbed me, he forced me to get
closer to his body, then with one
of his hands he touched my breasts
over my clothes and then he kissed
me against my will, I was frozen,
I did not know what to say, the
only thing I could think was to
tell him 'Don’t Oscar, I have to
go', he did not tell me anything,
he did not move away, I was
shocked, I did not expect
something like this from a person
so recognized and whom I admired
very much."
Other women made accusations of
similar behavior but did not file
complaints at the prosecutor’s
office. Instead, they went public
in newspapers.
Another woman, also surnamed
Morales, published an article
entitled "My bad experience with
Óscar Arias" in the magazine
Profile (Perfil). In the article,
she explained that in 2013 she
"had an interview with Arias about
the arms trade treaty at his
house. When at the end of the
interview he sat at his desk to
look for some photos on his
computer. He said to me (with a
gesture) that I would sit on his
leg so we could see the screen. I
remember that I mentioned
that: if his wife was not
going to get angry? His wife was
on the cover of our magazine in
February of that year, I told him
that I had interviewed her and
that she was an admirable lady.
The situation did not go further.
There was no sexual assault,
luckily," she said.
Another was journalist Emma Daly,
who works for the Human Rights
Watch organization and who made
public accusations in an interview
in the Washington Post. According
to Ms. Daly, Mr. Arias groped her
in 1990 when she was a reporter
covering Central America issues,
and Mr. Arias was also at the
Intercontinental Hotel in Managua,
Nicaragua. Ms. Daly said she asked
a question and instead of
answering the question, Mr. Arias
put his hand between her breasts
and exclaimed, "You're not wearing
a bra." Ms. Daly said that she
responded, "Yes, I am."
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A.M. Costa
Rica wire services photo
"My lawyer
has asked me to not give
any statement, so I ask
you (referring to
reporters) to understand
why I will not give any
statement", said Mr.
Arias.
Another was a woman
surnamed Antillón who,
in an interview covered
by local newspaper La
Nacion, said that when
she was 25 years old,
she was working as a
press adviser for Arias
in the electoral
campaign of the National
Liberation Party before
the 1986 elections. "I
was sitting in front of
his desk, he came to me,
took my hand and put it
on his erect penis, I
pushed him and I stood
up and he threw himself
at me, grabbed me by the
shoulders, threw me
against a closet and
began to touch me. With
the noise, somebody
began to knock on the
door. From then on I did
not accept to be alone
with him," said Ms.
Antillón.
Another was a woman
surnamed Marroni, who
worked in 2012 as the
editor of the book of
former president Arias
entitled: "Con Velas,
Timón y Brújula." She
said former president
Arias touched her leg
and offered her to give
a massage.
Another was a woman
surnamed Fontana who
published her accusation
on social networks at
#YoTeCreo, which is
similar to #MeToo.
According to Ms.
Fontana, 38 years ago
she worked in the
offices of the politic
party Vanguardia Popular
in Barrio Escalante in
San José. According to
Ms. Fontana, when she
left work Mr. Arias
followed her in his car
and invited her to get
into his car. This
happened two times.
"On two occasions one of
the guys got out of the
car, he made some
compliments and asked me
to get on his car, I did
not agree, this guy was
Óscar Arias, who
continued, following me
with his car, on Monday
nights," she said.
Mrs. Fontana finished
her story by saying
"Thank you all for
breaking the silence and
positioning ourselves as
human beings."
The last published
sexual assault
accusation, the eighth
so far , was published
by the New York Times.
According to the
publication, "Carina A.
Black, 52, a political
scientist at the
University of Nevada,
Reno, told the New York
Times that Mr. Arias
tried to grope and kiss
her in 1998, when he
visited the university
as speaker."
This is an excerpt from
the report "The Hurdles
Women Faced in Accusing
to Nobel Laureate of
Sexual Misconduct."
As she took Mr. Arias
around to meetings and
events, Ms. Black said,
she found herself alone
in an elevator with him.
He pushed her against
the wall, put his hand
across her chest and
tried to kiss her, she
said.
"I pushed him, and I
smacked him in the
face," she said.
Because she was not
injured, it never
occurred to her to file
a report, Ms. Black
said. She has decided to
tell her story, she
said, in part so people
will believe his first
accuser.
"Arias is so powerful,"
she said. "He has huge
land ownership. He is so
revered. In Latin
America, the power is so
tilted on the side of
men. This behavior is
what most women have
grown up with."
As result of those
complaints, the National
Liberation Party
confirmed that Mr.
Arias, who was a leader
in that party, will
distance himself from
the party until the
situation of formal
accusations of sexual
harassment have been
clarified.
The party made a
statement on its formal
position regarding Mr.
Arias and his possible
separation from the
party. The statement
referred to "elementary
prudence and respect for
the principle of
innocence" adding that
it is reasonable to give
the process time and
wait for the facts to be
revealed.
With regard to former
president Arias’
situation, President
Carlos Alvarado said
that all the rights must
be respected for the
complaining women as
well as for former
president Arias.
"There are two central
elements that must be
considered. One is
giving guarantees for
women in this and in any
case, to proceed as
appropriate, there must
be all the guarantees
for that to happen. In
the case of the former
president, his right to
defense must be
guaranteed. This is
something that is
already in the courts,
by the part of the
judiciary process and
there to establish the
truth of the facts. We
have to see it with that
prudence as a country,"
said President Alvarado.
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Is Mr.
Arias' political career
over because of these
scandals? We would like
to know your thoughts on
this story. Send your
comments to: news@amcostarica.com
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