The name Juan Carlos Bolaños has been appearing in all media outlets throughout Costa Rica almost daily for the past six months; he is the main character in the corruption scandal known as “Cementazo”, but who is this man? And, why, all of a sudden has he become one of Costa Rica’s most polemic characters.

Juan Carlos Bolaños was born in San José, Costa Rica in June,1979 and he was raised by his middle class family in Grecia, Alajuela; he went to law school but never graduated, he has been married to Ana Laura Suárez since 2007 and has three children with Ana.

His career as a businessman began around 2002, when he invested in acquiring construction equipment which he rented in the areas of Limón and San Carlos to build canals in pineapple plantations; with the profit from this business he was able to purchase more equipment and strengthen his business. He founded JCB Corporate Group in 2004 and JCB Distribuidora S.A. as one of its businesses with offices in La Uruca dedicated to renting construction equipment, excavators, backhoes, wheel loaders, compactors, bulldozers, forklifts, among others; some of the equipment was imported from China.

It was while doing some construction work at the dam in Nosara, Guanacaste (after winning a public tender of the National Emergency Commission), when he became interested in the cement business; Bolaños in an interview with Semanario Universidad explains that he requested a quote for cement for the two companies that had the duopoly in the country, Cemex and Holcim, and it was then that he realized that “they had it all fixed”, and decided to import the cement he needed at a cheaper price. After seeing the results he decided to look into the possibility of importing the cement to sell in the country and with this end he created Sinocem in November, 2014.

The problem he encountered at the time, as we have explained in our other articles regarding the China Cement scandal is that a law in the country prevented the entry of cement that which was over 45 days from the date of fabrication (cement can spoil with time); the law which prevented the cement to be imported from such a remote destination and  allowed Holcim and Cemex to maintain the duopoly. This law, coincidentally, was changed in 2015, since the Government wanted to open the market to offer better prices, resolution that helped Sinocem. (Several visits from JCB to the Presidency are registered prior to the approval of the change in regulation).

What happened next has been explained thoroughly in our previous articles.

Bolaños has stated several times, that he has done nothing wrong and that everything that has happened started out due to a dirty commercial war created by Cemex and Holcim that according to him used their “influences” in media outlets such as CRHOY and Diario Extra.

The fact of the matter is Bolaños does have important friends in high places, ministers, congressmen, members of different political parties, etc.

Bolaños lives in Escazú with his wife and children, but has properties in Grecia, Atenas, and reportedly Guanacaste where he also owns a luxury vacation home with helipad. Luxury cars, purebred horses, a helicopter and a plane are part of his assets and also part of what has called the attention over Bolaños.

Juan Carlos Bolaños was detained November 3 on charges of embezzlement, influence peddling, criminal simulation and false accusation, and has been sentenced to three months of preventive prison which as of yesterday he is discounting at the San Sebastián jail.