Justice Can be Intimidated in Costa Rica
Labor negotiations have a tendency to get ugly and Costa Rica is no exception. The plan to privatize the port of Limon exploded into violence just as an agreement was reached. The problem is that union leaders were replaced just before the agreement was inked that would payout the current public sector workers.
There are the same labor leaders that said they would be “very expensive prostitutes” if the government attempted a payout. It’s not that hard to figure out why union members voted to replace their leadership given the planned refusal of the $90,000 payout proposal.
As a result of the internal union shakeup approximately 50 individuals took to the street and torched seven tractor trailers. Three police officers were also gunshot in a melee where police showed great restraint in not
returning fire.
Traditionally Limon is a hot providence, but this morning it burned.
According to La Nacion, at the end of the day Thursday police had confiscated 40 Molotov cocktails, three handguns, and had arrested 28 people.
On Friday the situation took a tale for the absurd when another group of protesters converged on the headquarters of the Judical Police in Limon. A cordon of officers to protect the headquarters from the another mob which threatened to storm the building.
Despite heady promises that the mob would be brought before the Tribunal de Flagrancia for speedy justice a judge released all but one of the protestors. This is the same mob that set fire to tractor trailers and brought handguns to confront the police.
For a nation with a supposed tradition of peaceful protest the people in Limon are a real special group of idealists. In this sector of the tierra de Pura Vida the natives pick up guns and throw fire bombs when diplomacy doesn’t work.
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Filed Under: Local News
The people of Limon are mostly the people of Kingston, some of the most violent in the Caribbean. Limon is not "Pura Vida".
I agree it's a difficult situation. Limon is just so vital to the country because so much of what we enjoy here is imported into the country. The port is archaic, and must be expanded to meet the needs of the country.
I’m not so confident that the next bunch of people they move in to run the port will do a better job, but am certain that the current group has no vision for the future.
Hopefully the expansion in Caldera will make us less dependent on Limon.
The people of Limon have been marginalized and at least psychically brutalized since they were brought here. I don't condone the violence but I sure do understand it.. BTW they haven't been the "people of Kingston" for 100 years–you put any group in the situation the folks of Limon have suffered and they'd react pretty much the same way.
I have the feeling that there is a lot more to this story than just watching a protest get ugly. It's like the big oil slick in the Gulf… it's easy to see there's a problem, not quite so easy to see why it happened. I am not fluent enough to know whether the local press is going into any detail or background, but if they are, then they are a lot different than the US media.