Holding Court

WHAT IS IT ABOUT PEACEFUL COSTA RICA THAT seems to invite abuse? In March a group of Nicaraguans took over their country's embassy in San Jose, held 24 people hostage for 13 days, then fled with $250,000 in ransom. Last September a Honduran kidnapped Interior Minister Luis Fishman. Then last Monday five heavily armed gunmen slipped into the Supreme Court building in San Jose and took 19 magistrates and five assistants hostage. Initially the kidnappers tried to pass themselves off as Colombians, demanded $20 million, safe passage to a South American country and the release of prisoners from local jails, which fueled suspicion that they belonged to a Colombian drug cartel. Not so. They all turned out to be Costa Ricans. After four days of negotiations, they bagged $150,000 in ransom and released their hostages, only to be captured by authorities, who tricked them into giving up their arms in exchange for the promise of safe passage to Guatemala. In a note left behind in the courthouse, the gang's leader said he needed the money to treat his cirrhotic liver. "Forgive me, Costa Rica," he wrote.