OAS BRIBERY SCANDAL UPDATE:

The resignation of Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General Miguel Angel Rodríguez amid accusations that he received bribes while he was president of Costa Rica is making big headlines. But too little attention has been paid to the French telecommunications giant Alcatel, which reportedly paid the suspected bribes. . . .

But that’s only the beginning of the story. Rodríguez supporters say Costa Rica’s current president, Abel Pacheco, demanded Rodríguez’s resignation from the OAS last week as a way to divert attention from his own Alcatel payment scandal.

It turns out that Pacheco, as well as his rival in the 2002 election, received a $100,000 contribution from Alcatel that he failed to report to election authorities. Pacheco has conceded that he received the Alcatel money for his 2002 campaign, but says that the payment was not conditioned to any favors on his part.

”I told them they didn’t need to give a campaign donation to be treated fairly, but they said they wanted to contribute to democracy anyway,” the president was quoted as saying by the daily Al Día.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Bad link above. Fixed now. Sorry.