EscucharSAN JOSE - The Costa Rican Health and Social Security Institution (CCSS in Spanish) entered action against Costa Rican Airlines (LACSA) because the carrier owes the institution $1.44 million in employer fees.
This is confirmed by File 4699-96 of the Finance Court, to which La Nación had access. The action was entered by attorney Oscar Arias-Valverde the past December 19, 1996.
According to certification Number 1008 of the Administrative Collection Section of the CCSS (included in the file), the overall amount owed by October 29, 1996 was more than $1.44 million.
Turbulence
In addition to the action against it entered by the CCSS, LACSA's wings were sternly pulled by the General Board of Civil Aviation last Saturday, because the airline -- as a member of the TACA Group -- published two advertisements in La Nación announcing flights to Bogota, the capital of Colombia, although neither the Costa Rican nor the Colombian governments had approved such flights yet.
La Nación made efforts to contact LACSA's general manager, José Guillermo Rojas, to talk about both issues, but he was not available for comment.
The Public Relations manager of the airline, Mario Cordero, asserted yesterday evening that Rojas is likely to make comments on the two issues in the coming days.
CCSS spokesman José Luis Valverde explained that while the action against LACSA had been entered last year, such procedures take a long time. He refused to disclose the current amount of the debt, claiming that such information is confidential.
On the other hand, the past October 24 the Public Relations Office of the Judicial Branch disclosed that the CCSS had requested last September 1 a declaration of bankruptcy for the other Costa Rican international airline, Aero Costa Rica, because it owes the social security institution more than $453,000.
Down draft
The Technical Council of Civil Aviation and the Civil Aviation Board last Saturday published a paid advertisement pointing out that the publicity LACSA had made last October 15 and 17, in which it announced daily flights to Bogota, was not in accordance with the General Law of Civil Aviation. This because the airline has not been granted proper authorization to operate that route.
Civil Aviation director Héctor Monge remarked that it won't be approved until next November 4-5 when delegates from the governments of Colombia and Costa Rica will meet here to analyze the issue.
``In this kind of agreement, the diplomatic part comes first. That is why it was not convenient to publish the advertisements,'' Monge said.
