{"id":181601,"date":"2018-09-15T00:10:33","date_gmt":"2018-09-15T04:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=181601"},"modified":"2018-09-15T00:10:33","modified_gmt":"2018-09-15T04:10:33","slug":"costa-rica-shaken-rare-unruly-unrest-labour-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/09\/15\/costa-rica-shaken-rare-unruly-unrest-labour-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"Costa Rica shaken by rare and unruly unrest, labour strike"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Here are the people demanding no more taxes on the working class, no more burdens on workers.” (File Photo<\/a>: Trevor Huxham\/Flickr<\/a>, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica \u2014 Thousands marching in the streets. Flaming barricades. Clashes between demonstrators and riot police in darkened streets. A semi-truck hollowed out by fire.<\/p>\n

Costa Rica has been rocked this week by the kind of protests rarely seen in the country in comparison with its more tumultuous Central American neighbours. It comes during a labour strike that went into its fifth day Friday with no apparent end in sight.<\/p>\n

Spurred by calls from public sector unions, demonstrators protested again outside the presidential residence and blockaded roads in different parts of the country to demand President Carlos Alvarado scrap a proposed fiscal reform before congress that includes new taxes.<\/p>\n

Costa Rica’s government is struggling with a deficit estimated at 7.1 per cent of GDP this year, which has pushed up the public debt load and increased its need for revenue.<\/p>\n

Alvarado is proposing to implement a value added tax to replace the existing sales tax and expand it to goods and services that are currently exempt. One of the most controversial measures is a 1 per cent duty on basic foodstuffs.<\/p>\n

Those and other changes that would limit unemployment assistance and the payment of some salary bonuses have met with vigorous opposition from public sector unions. Social security officials reported a daily staff absentee rate of 13 per cent to 26 per cent, causing dozens of surgeries to be postponed.<\/p>\n

“Here are the people demanding no more taxes on the working class, no more burdens on workers,” said Melida Cedeno, president of the APSE teacher union.<\/p>\n

“This strike is indefinite,” she added, “and will end only when the government has the will to sit down at the table to talk with all the workers … and withdraw the proposed law.”<\/p>\n

Ahead of the strike’s start Monday, Alvarado ordered police to reinforce ports and oil installations to keep protesters from disrupting commercial activity and fuel distribution.<\/p>\n

In a televised address, he called the strike “illegal,” promised to guarantee public order and said the reforms are “the only way to avoid an imminent crisis. … Today their approval is not only necessary but also urgent.”<\/p>\n

Protests intensified Wednesday with a mass rally of public employees who filled a main avenue in the capital, San Jose. The march ended outside the Legislative Assembly with some clashes between protesters and police.<\/p>\n

There were reports of some injuries this week among protesters detained in clashes at a university, but none were said to be serious. In the Caribbean coastal province of Limon, a supermarket was sacked.<\/p>\n

Authorities confirmed Friday that they were investigating the death of a 17-year-old in Limon as possibly related to the disturbances. The same day, roadblocks forced the suspension of the annual bearing of a torch to mark the eve of the country’s independence day.<\/p>\n

Universities and Roman Catholic authorities have offered to mediate.<\/p>\n

The unrest followed a bitterly disputed presidential election in April that has left a polarized electorate in its wake.<\/p>\n

Political analyst Gustavo Araya said the strike represents a resurgence of activity for the unions, which enjoyed a close relationship with former President Luis Guillermo Solis during his 2014-2018 administration.<\/p>\n

Araya added that labour is more skeptical of Alvarado for being in a coalition government and for having as his Cabinet chief Rodolfo Piza, who is considered a right-wing ideologue by union leaders.<\/p>\n

Despite the pressure, the measure has advanced apace in the Legislative Assembly.<\/p>\n

“The bill has resisted a week of strike, the motions continue to be processed quickly and there have been no signs of any willingness to negotiate,” Araya said. “Under this panorama I would expect one more week” of protests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica \u2014 Thousands marching in the streets. Flaming barricades. Clashes between demonstrators and riot police in darkened …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":181602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-181601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-javier-cordoba","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}