Real corruption in Costa Rica

and this has to do with tourism, how???

if you want this man's email address, you will have to search for it like the rest of us. better yet, why don't you come on down and look him up and give him a piece of your mind in person!

can we not get into a long and sordid discussion of the rights of indigenous peoples when we all know what has happened to them all over the world? not only that -- this is just the beginning of the story and we don't know what will happen on page 2.

It seems a little hypocritical that bribing a cop receives so much criticism on this forum but indigenous people being taken out of their homes is not worth discussing...

And yes, I realize that this subject deviates from the typical, "how does my 12-day itinerary look?" post.

being arrested for bribing a traffic cop is an appropriate topic for a tourism forum because some tourists would be inclined to do this so it's just a warning.

removing indigenous peoples from their land is not an appropriate topic for this forum. maybe we could then discuss the investors in a ponzi scheme here who are still trying to get their money back.

and yes, this forum is actually for people who want to ask about their travel here.

someone was critical of your stance on bribing traffic police, ludwip. just get over it. people criticize stuff here all the time.

I wasn't aware this was a tourism forum, I thought it was a travel forum.

Glad to see this mentioned. I read about it first thing this morning and couldn't believe it.

to me that is interesting information. In 2009 I was illegally detained, (mildly) physically abused, and robbed by the Police of Puerto Viejo following an incident in Hone Creek, which is very close to BriBri. In fact, I was directed by a lawyer to go to the government office in BriBri to file a "denuncia". I was not arrested - I had committed no offence (although I was repatedly told that I had done). The reason for my abduction was that I had witnessed said police beating on a local. I must say that the police seemed very comfortable with the whole process of beating up locals in the middle of the street, abducting foriegn nationals and having their petty power-trip ways. They seemed quite expert, in fact. Following all this I went to a clinic in Hone Creek and the English-speaking doctor told me he was "sick and tired" of examining people who said they were victims of police brutality.
When they returned my belongings to me and all grins about their job well done, told me to get going, I left the comiseria, walked 30 meters, and encountered the smell of marijuana wafting through the air.
That smells like corruption to me.
It seems to me there are real issues with corruption around BriBri (why wouldn't there be - there are everywhere else?) - so be careful - CR has a reputation for stability that the other CA countries don't have, but that's a thin veneer around BriBri.
I'm with ludwip on this one, wiremu - I don't think the forum's guidelines would exclude this kind of dicussion.

LP guide book, 9th edition, Oct 2010, chapter on The Culture, boxed text page 45, titled Endangered Cultures, touches on the government policies regarding indigenous people in Costa Rica.

Lonely Planet is not famous for its anti-corruption or anti-environmental descecration positions. I quote:

"The Honduras & Bay Islands Lonely Planet features a Green Iguana, tethered in preparation for sale or consumption on its front cover. The Green Iguana is a protected species in Honduras and this is both an illegal and cruel activity. Once a Green Iguana is captured the tendons are cut out of the back legs and used to tether them together. Pregnant females are particularly valuable and so their stomachs are tied to prevent them from laying their eggs. They may be left in a pile, alive, until they are to be sold or eaten.

There are wonderful conservation efforts all over Central America to protect this species. Lonely Planet should do the right thing. They should withdraw all copies with this cover and make a sizeable donation to Green Iguana conservation in Honduras. They should not be profiting by promoting their book with a photograph of an illegal and cruel activity. Will they be putting photographs of dolphin slaughters on the next cover of their Japan edition?"

They also permit a certain element to advocate the wholesale extermination spiders and snakes.

It's a travel guide not a cookbook. Get over it.
http://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-Honduras-Islands-Country/dp/174059150X/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311132312&sr=1-7#reader_174059150X