Thursday, A Day
Of Protests,
Strikes And
Violence In
Costa Rica
In the rest of
the country and
in San José
where the
majority of the
protests took
place, there
were no violent
acts, however,
roads in
downtown San
José were
blocked by
porteadores and
Avenida Segunda
closed off to
traffic as the
protesters
marched to the
MIDEPLAN offices
from the Parque
Central.
At issue in
Thursday's day
of strike and
protests were
the teachers of
the APSE union
against a
proposed law
that would
create a unified
pay scale for
public servants
and municipal
workers in
opposition to a
new law
permitting the
privatization of
services that
have been the
exclusive domain
of municipal
governments.
In addition to
the teachers, a
number of other
public service
sector employees
took part in the
strike, fearing
that the law
would erode
their earned
benefits and
possibly the "aguinaldo",
the annual
Christmas bonus.
The strikers
were appeased
when the
ministro de
Planificación
(Planning
Minister),
Roberto
Gallardo, told
the striking
public servants
that the law
would eb
submitted to the
public employee
unions for their
approval before
being formally
introduced to
the Legislature.
Joining the
teachers in
protest, the
Porteadores -
the informal
taxi operators -
took the
opportunity to
make their voice
known against
the government's
stalling of
their request to
legalize their
services.
The porteadores
accuse the
government for
failure to keep
their promise of
removing from
legislation the
inclusion of the
ban of
porteadores
carrying
passengers, a
move that would
make their
operations
illegal.
Rodrigo Arias,
the ministro de
la Presidencia,
said that the
porteadores are
in error, the
government is
moving ahead
with a plan to
legalize their
operations, but
it will now be
up to the
incoming
government to
deal with the
issue.
Although the
leaders of the
porteadores had
promised no road
blocks, that was
not the case. In
many areas
around San José,
the Central
Valley and
others parts of
the country,
porteadores
applied "tortuguismo",
moving slowly
through traffic
and in some
cases completely
blocking off
intersections.
Separately
taking part in
the day's
actions were
environmental
activists
protesting
against a bill
to downgrade Las
Baulas National
Marine Park to a
wildlife refuge.
Related stories:
Crisis In Limón!
Protests In San
José!
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