corruption

Land case stalled

Alcides Linares is not giving up in his pursuit of justice to determine how land on Isla Taboga belonging to his mother was taken away from his family.

But he said lack of cooperation from government officials is making his task difficult.

Linares said he has not been able to meet with the director of the Registro Público, Álvaro Visuetti, about his case, as he was promised. Linares said there was a preliminary meeting in early January, but that Registro Público officials never followed up on it.

Since then, he has sent a letter to Defensor del Pueblo Ricardo Vargas asking for help.

A source from the Registro Público explained that the law prevents it from nullifying documents without a court order once they are registered. Therefore, Linares has to wait for a court decision before the Registro Público can address the issue.

Officials there said they would help Linares with his case once he receives that court order.

Linares discovered that his mother's signatures had been forged on documents that transferred her land after her death in 1996.

To make matters more complicated, the lawyer to whom the land was transferred and the notary who witnessed the signing have both since died, leaving the status of the property up in the air. The Registro Público employee who accepted the documents in November 2007 has been fired.