I am a little confused about this whole mess concerning Roberto Dobles, who just stepped down as the head of MINAET, Costa Rica’s Environment, Energy and Telecommunications Ministry. He is also a second-cousin to Costa Rica’s President, Oscar Arias. Okay according to reports in La Nación and The Tico Times, Dobles and his family are shareholders and/or officers of various corporations that own a corporation that owns a corporation that requested a concession to draw water from the Aranjuez River. Well this corporation, called Agricultura Mecanizada Chapernal, S.A., withdrew its request and instead joined with other corporations, all of whom had an interest in diverting water from the river to various agricultural and sugar mill operations, to form a corporation called Sociedad de Usuarios de Agua Rio Aranjuez (which means Rio Aranjuez Water Users Corporation). This corporation was granted the concession in 2003. Well recently it has been determined by MINAET that actions by these entites under this concession have caused irreversible damage to the river and biodiversity in the area. The report used very strong language stating that “disastrous harm” and a “serious crime against an important ecosystem” had occurred. Dobles may be in serious legal trouble as his actions may have run afoul of Costa Rica’s anti-corruption law, as well as an ethics decree signed by Arias when he took office. So now Dobles has resigned, but claims he did nothing “illegal.” Turns out that Oscar Arias himself may not be entirely clean in the matter either as he and his family also have ties to this web of corporations. I guess a really good question to ask Dobles is, “if you did nothing wrong, why did you resign?” It is deeply troubling that the Arias administration is implicated in these environmental problems. I have in the past written favourably about Costa Rica’s president and former Nobel Peace Price winner. Under his watch I have seen dramatic improvements in the country’s infrastructure, which had been allowed to deteriorate to intolerable levels under the previous Pacheco administration. Arias talks a pretty good environmental talk, but actions speak louder than words. Problems such as the granting of “national convenience” decrees giving green lights to environmentally questionable projects like the Las Crucitas mine and Steve Case’s Punta Cacique development keep cropping up. And now this far more serious and potentially criminal matter. It is a “black eye” on the environmental record of this administration that probably won’t heal any time soon. Costa Rica cannot afford this type of nepotism and political corruption, especially concerning the most precious resource it has. Dobles should resign and if he ran afoul of any law with respect to this concession, he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And as for Arias, I can only hope that his decision to appoint his second-cousin to the important role as chief environmental watchdog doesn’t in the end turn and bite him on the $%#.
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