IV
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. CON. RES. 306
Expressing the sense of Congress that the Government of Costa Rica should
take steps to protect the lives of property owners in Costa Rica, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 23, 1998
Mr. BONILLA submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on International Relations
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of Congress that the Government of
Costa Rica should take steps to protect the lives of
property owners in Costa Rica, and for other purposes.
Whereas although the United States embassy in Costa Rica
had forewarned Costa Rican officials about threats on
Max Dalton’s life, on November 13, 1997, 78-year-old
United States citizen from Idaho and World War II vet-
eran Max Dalton was surrounded and murdered in a dis-
pute with squatters, some of whom were illegally occupy-
ing his property in the Pavones region of Costa Rica;
Whereas the murder of Max Dalton was the tragic conclusion
to a seven-year assault perpetrated against Mr. Dalton by
the squatters in an attempt to steal his property, and
•HCON 306 IH
Costa Rican citizen Alvaro Aguilar was also killed in the
incident;
Whereas the initial investigation of Max Dalton’s death was
flawed in that investigators failed to take fingerprints,
collect bullets, and secure the scene of the crime;
Whereas landowners, including United States and Costa
Rican citizens, have reported harassment and invasions
by squatters in areas of the country, other than Golfito
in Pavones, including Cocotales in the North East, the
Caribbean cities of Cahuita and Cocles, and Jaco on the
Pacific Coast;
Whereas the squatters’ tactics have included stealing and
starving livestock, burning homes, leveling crops and fruit
trees, death threats, machete attacks, and, in the case of
United States citizen, murder;
Whereas Costa Rica has a long history of democratic govern-
ance, respect for human rights and close, friendly rela-
tions with the United States; nonetheless, successive
Costa Rican governments have failed to deal with squat-
ters invading property held by foreign and Costa Rican
landowners;
Whereas although Article 45 of the Costa Rican Constitution
states that ‘‘no one may be deprived of his [property] un-
less on account of legally provided public interest and
after compensation in conformity with the law’’, this Con-
stitutional guarantee has been eroded by the broad inter-
pretation of the Agrarian Code by individuals who have
used it as the basis for aggressive squatter campaigns
against landowners;
Whereas United States citizens who were drawn to Costa
Rica by the relatively reasonable cost of living and prop-
•HCON 306 IH
erty, particularly for retirement, report spending tens of
thousands of dollars in legal costs to pursue repeated
challenges in the Costa Rican courts without achieving
permanent solutions to the squatter problems on their
lands; and
Whereas a concerted national effort on the part of the Gov-
ernment of Costa Rica to deal with the legal confusion
and enforcement issues relating to property expropria-
tions by squatters is necessary and desirable: Now, there-
fore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that the Gov-
ernment of Costa Rica should—
(1) in the interest of justice to which Costa
Ricans have long been committed, consider fun-
damental reform to protect the property rights and
lives of all law-abiding residents and property own-
ers of Costa Rica from acts of intimidation, violence,
and property invasion; and
(2) conduct a complete and thorough investiga-
tion into the death of Max Dalton.
Æ