Costa Rican president used rumored drug associate’s private plane
Costa Rican president used rumored drug associate’s private plane
By Agence France-Presse
Thursday, May 16, 2013 22:30 EDT
Costa Rica’s President Laura Chinchilla was embroiled in scandal Thursday amid revelations that she used a private jet made available by a Colombian suspected of links to drug trafficking.
The disclosure has prompted the resignation of her communications minister and sent Costa Rica’s intelligence officials scrambling to explain how the trips escaped their scrutiny.
Chinchilla made two separate trips — one to Venezuela and another to Peru — aboard a jet owned by Gabriel Morales Fallon, a Colombian who had introduced himself to Communications Minister Francisco Chacon under a false name.
Costa Rican officials say that while Morales does not have a criminal record, he has been linked to questionable criminal activities that would have turned up if he had been properly vetted.
In a statement late Wednesday, Chinchilla blamed a “chain of lapses,” saying her closest aides had failed to check into the Colombian’s background and his links to “illicit activities.”
More:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/16/costa-rican-president-used-rumored-drug-associates-private-plane/
