Costa Rica News – Who is surprised about this? I know that I for one am not. Costa Rica has recently pointed out a loophole that allows shark finning in their waters, but has not made any attempt to close that loophole. Sea turtles are dying by the 100s in the Costa Rica waters from long line fishing and nothing is being done. Sea turtle eggs are being used in the drug trade and those protecting the eggs are being killed like Jairo Mora.
Costa Rica still tries to maintain their “green”image but the truth is being revealed. Captain Watson & the Sea Shepherd Organization have been strong advocates to try to expose Costa Rica and get them to start addressing the environmental issues that are destroying the flora and fauna in CR.
Costa Rica wants to protect their honeypot that got them a new national stadium and lines the pockets of Costa Rican government officials. It would be interesting to do an audit on where the millions of dollars of Chinese loans that were “gifts” to Costa Rica.
Paul Watson was arrested in Germany, spent a month in jail, was released to house arrest, and then fled the country by land and spent 15 months at sea. He finally came ashore last month to testify in a U.S. case Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research had against him. He also visited family.
Watson is the 62-year-old founder of Sea Shepherd. When he arrived in the States he was welcomed by Robert F. Kennedy and other supporters. He was not arrested in customs and said, “The Interpol Red Notice from Costa Rica has been dropped.”
After only a week on U.S. soil, Costa Rica formally requested an extradition so that he could face charges of endangering a ship’s crew at high seas. This allegedly happened in 2001, off the coast of Guatemala. “Finding the accused [Watson] in the United States, we request his immediate capture, and once that has been executed the procedure for his extradition will begin,” the request from First Circuit Judge Jorge Cordero stated.
The U.S. has not yet made an arrest or responded to the reactivated international arrest request through the diplomatic channels. Federico Morales, his lawyer, said the statute of limitations expired in 2004 or 2005 and that they would challenge the request.
If he is found guilty of endangering a ship and crew he could spend 15 years in prison. Watson and his crew accused the Varadero l’s crew of illegal shark-finning. The fishermen said that the Sea Shepherd’s members tried to kill them by intentionally ramming their boat and blasting them with water canons. During the incident of Watson taking the law into his own hands, a Costa Rican fisherman was injured.
But lets be honest, if Captain Watson went to prison in Costa Rica he would never see his release date. An “accident” would happen while in captivity and he would most likely be killed. Captain Paul Watson would never survive prison in Costa Rica……in my opinion the government of Costa Rica would make sure of that.
