Costa Rican Foreign Ministry concedes diplomatic asylum to rebel CTV leader Carlos Ortega

www.vheadline.com Posted: Saturday, March 15, 2003 By: Roy S. Carson

Costa Rican government official Miguel Diaz has confirmed that fugitive Venezuelan Confederation of Trade Unions (CTV) president Carlos Ortega has been afforded "diplomatic asylum" in the tiny central American state of Costa Rica.  The news comes as Accion Democratica (AD) said they had appointed Ortega as "honorary president" of the discredited political party which is largely responsible for Venezuela's international image as a corrupt backwater of Latin America.

Interior & Justice (MIJ) Minister Lucas Rincon Romro says the government is so glad to get rid of Ortega that it will more than willingly issue a 'safe conduct' for Ortega to travel to Caracas (Simon Bolivar) international airport at Maiquetia to go into self-imposed exile.

Just  weeks ago, Ortega (who had evacuated his family to the Dutch Antilles island of Aruba), had gone underground emphatically stating that he would never abandon Venezuela or his fight to remove democratically-elected President Hugo Chavez Frias.

Costa Rican ambassador Ricardo Lizano has been less than forthcoming about his temporary guest at the embassy in Caracas, but Costa Rican Foreign Minister Roberto Tovar says his country is extending asylum privileges to Ortega "for humanitarian reasons." and he will remain at the Embassy as a guest  until such times as the necessary documents have been prepared for his safe removal from Caracas to San Jose."

Ortega fled to the safety of the Costa Rican Embassy in Caracas last Thursday (March  13) claiming he was afraid for his personal security as Venezuelan security agencies closed in on his hideaway.  Questions have been raised as to why Ortega had not been arrested earlier, but a government official simply said he was not considered important enough and that "things will take their natural course!"

Earlier there had been several calls for Ortega to give himself up and face justice.  Fellow anti-government rebel Fedecamaras president Carlos Fernandez was arrested just two weeks ago while feasting at a luxury restaurant in Las Mercedes and is currently languishing in luxury house arrest at his $-million villa near Valencia (Carabobo State) where he was taken by helicopter after a Caracas judge allowed him the unusual privilege on claims that a high blood pressure condition made his incarceration a risk to his physical well-being.