● Mel Gibson Meets With Costa Rican Leader .
The Associated Press Tuesday, July 10, 2007; 12:57 AM
● SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - Actor and director Mel Gibson met with Costa Rica's president on Monday to discuss making a financial donation to help the Central American nation's Indians.
He wants to help the indigenous population here and wants to know how to channel the funds," President Oscar Arias told reporters outside his home, where he met with Gibson for about an hour.
Arias said Gibson who starred in such Hollywood blockbusters as the "Lethal Weapon" series and directed last year's Mayan epic "Apocalypto" would return to Costa Rica in a month to arrange how much money he would donate and to which organization.
Published News. Billion Dollar invest in Costa Rica.
Gibson has avoided the press in prior trips to Costa Rica, but spent a few minutes answering questions from reporters.
Asked about Arias, the winner of the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on a peace deal that ended Central America's civil wars,
Gibson said: "I'm a fan." The actor acknowledged buying a house in Guanacaste on the country's Pacific coast, and jokingly asked reporters if they wanted the address.
SAN JOSE: US actor and director Mel Gibson has purchased a $25.8 million ranch that sprawls across 163 hectares (402 acres) on Costa Rica's Pacific coast, the Spanish news agency EFE said.
The property was acquired by a corporation controlled
by the director of 'The Passion of the Christ',
and the purchase closed on April 30.
The ranch faces Barrigona Beach in Guanacaste province on
Costa Rica's northern Pacific coast,some 300 km west of San Jose and where urban and touristic development is minimal.
In the area where the property is located, most of the inhabitants live off ranching and farming in a wooded, mountainous
Locals seemed enthusiastic about their new neighbour, but some say the purchase of the ranch will cost them jobs, since apparently Gibson has no plans for any type of economic activity on his property and will only use it as a vacation home.
The previous owner had houses on the land for rental by
tourists and engaged in other tourism-related activities that kept 13 workers employed, a number that will drop to six as Gibson takes over.
In recent years the actor has been a frequent visitor to Costa Rica, which led to speculation in the press that he was looking for possible locations for his movies or was seeking investment opportunities
