Saudi Arabian Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal Visits Costa Rica

Al-Waleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s richest men worth approxiamtely US$21 billion arrived in Costa Rica at 2130hrs last night (11th August 2007) in his enormous private jet with 48 others to visit the Four Seasons Hotel in Costa Rica.

According to Wikipedia “Saudi Arabia is the world’s leading petroleum exporter and petroleum exports fuel the Saudi economy. Oil accounts for more than 90 percent of exports and nearly 75 percent of government revenues, facilitating the creation of a welfare state, which the government has found difficult to fund during periods of low oil prices. Saudi Arabia is generally perceived in western countries as having a poor human rights record; human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have repeatedly expressed concern about the states of human rights in Saudi Arabia, although these concerns have been dismissed by the Saudi government.”

Owning 22% of the shares, the 52 year old prince from Saudi Arabia is the largest shareholder in the Four Seasons Hotel chain. The room rates in Costa Rica start at US$470 per night

The most luxurious bus available in Costa Rica plus 18 brand new rented Toyota Prados were waiting for the Prince and his entourage.

Unlike you and I who have to spend our valuable time waiting in line to be processed by the immigration authorities, the Prince and his associates remained on ther luxurious plane (on which he had spent a mere US$80 million on the interior design alone) whilst Costa Rican immigration officials visited them and processed their passports.

The Saudis have proven to have many special privileges when it comes to air travel, which some might find disturbing … “Considering that 15 of the 19 hijackers responsible for the 9/11 attacks came from Saudi Arabia..” And “According to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the acknowledged mastermind of the 9-11 attacks and suspected to be member of al Qaeda even before the attacks took place, used the visa express program to enter the United States in July of 2001.”

It’s “Visa Express allows residents of Saudi Arabia, including non-Saudi citizens, to apply for non-immigrant visas at private travel agencies.” “Saudi Arabia – a feudalistic monarchy – is the only country in the world that enjoys such privileges when it comes to visas…” to enter the USA.

“On September 24, 2001, the German newsmagazine Focus reported that Mohammed Atta, the suspected terrorist ringleader, was under FBI surveillance while he was living in Hamburg during the months before he moved to the United States. Sourced to German police investigators, Focus reported that from January to May 2000, “U.S. agents followed him around the greater Frankfurt area and “Particularly strange is that Atta received approval for his visa from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin on May 18, 2000, exactly when, as Focus put it, “his designated agent from the US secret service was observing his suspicious chemical buying.”

“On orders of the Bush administration, a 28-page section dealing with suspected Saudi ties to the 9/11 plot was blacked out of the declassified version of the congressional report.”

While the Bush administration threatens Iran with nuclear armageddon and claims Iran is contributing to the anti-US violence in Iraq for which it can offer no proof, it is proven that the “… Saudi government provides generous aid to Iraq’s Sunni minority, which Riyadh fears is being overrun by Iraq’s Shiite-controlled government. You can be certain that little effort is being made to ensure that the Saudi aid does not find its way to Sunni insurgents who are killing American troops.”

According to the U.S Department of State “Saudi Arabia is a monarchy without elected representative institutions or political parties.” And “The Government prohibits the establishment of political parties and suppresses opposition views.” But apart from all this obvious suppression, aren’t the Saudis are our friends in the war on terror, right?

“Al-Qaeda would not exist absent Saudi money and membership.” Apart from the fact that Osama bin Laden is from Saudi Arabia, “The Saudi government has been the principal financial backer of Afghanistan’ s odious Taliban movement since at least 1996.”

Some people argue that “Saudi Arabia and its militant Islamic doctrines constitute a clear and present danger to the United States and the international community. The U.S. should demand a full accounting of Saudi complicity in the September 11th terrorist attacks. We should no longer accept the status quo and forcefully pressure the kingdom to cut its ties to terrorism.”

The staff of Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal booked 48 of the 153 rooms available at the hotel.

Written by Charlie McCormack* (and heavily edited by Scott Oliver) who is ex-Special Forces now happily ‘retired’ in Costa Rica. Charlie considers himself an “angry American” and uses a pen name because he says he would prefer not to end up in a Halliburton detention camp or be put in a “Free Speech Zone” when he travels back to the USA.

Please feel free to post your comments about this article in the Discussion Forum here.

Our thanks to our friends at La Nación – Costa Rica’s largest Spanish circulation newspaper for their permission to include their photographs.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.