Costa Rica’s Tourism Crippled By National Labor Strike Calls For Open Dialogue Between The Government And Labor Unions To End The Strike
by Heather Cassell
Costa Rica is best-known for its peacefulness and its eco-tourism has been rocked by a nationwide labor strike that has turned violent this past week.
The strike began September 10 after months of negotiations between labor union leaders and government officials over a proposed tax bill currently being reviewed by the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly broke down.
One-day strikes mostly centralized in San Jose, the country’s capital city, called by labor union leaders since the spring were ineffective.
All public facilities, including public transportation, hospitals, universities, and more have been shut down by protesters for nearly a week.
The shutdown and protestors blocking roadways has disrupted the tourism industry, one of the country’s top three industries that contribute economically overall to the country, according to Costa Rican Economy.
Costa Rica has propped up its natural gems having 11 of 13 of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems in the world all within its borders. The country’s natural beauty, relative safety, and its slogan “Pura Vida,” translated “Pure Life,” attracts travelers from all over the world, especially from the United States.
However, this week hasn’t been very peaceful or easy for travelers and the strikes are damaging the Central American country’s image.
Sary Valverde, president of Canatur, the Costa Rican National Tourism Chamber, agreed, cited the damage the strike was causing and called for both sides of the debate to come together.
“The country is in a critical moment, in which all citizens must commit to the benefit of the country, which means that we all have to give in to certain degree. We believe these types of demands and pressures of the labor unions are not the route towards solutions, but instead, going against the society and the national economy,” said Sary.
She continued noting the country’s travel industry was suffering huge financial losses due to the strike and its image is being tarnished.
“We believe they are not even considering how badly this affects the image of the country,” Sary continued.
Wary Travelers
Travelers’ discomfort and news of the strike hitting major newspapers around the world have caused a 50 percent drop of sales to travel agencies, cancellations of tours, and delays in transportation of tourists visiting Costa Rica, reported Canatur.
A group of travelers were forced to walk over half a mile in the sun to make it to their flight on time at Juan Santamaría International Airport in Alajuela outside of San Jose during the second day of the strike, reported the Star.
Airport representatives made bus service available to transport tourists that were walking with their luggage in the middle of the highway.
Inbound and outbound flights at the most popular international airports, Juan Santamaría and Daniel Oduber in Liberia, Guanacaste, were allegedly operating normally last Monday and Tuesday, according to Captain Guillermo Hoppe, general director of civil aviation, told the newspaper.
Costa Rica is usually quite peaceful and safe compared to its neighbors, which are rife with corruption and violence, but this week it saw riots break out in front of the Legislative Assembly in San Jose and at least two days of violence in a popular tourist destination Limon, reported The Costa Rica Star.
In Limon, rioters set a trailer truck and a communications tower of the Costa Rican Electric Institute on fire. It was the second trailer truck protestors lit on fire in Limon this week, reported the newspaper.
Authorities have taken six suspects into custody for violent attacks in San Jose.
The arrests help, but Limon hotels reported to Canatur up to an estimated 75 percent cancellations and commerce reported a 30 percent drop in sales due to closing early for security reasons.
Not Pura Vida
(Photo: Courtesy of EFE)
Protestors expressed shame for Costa Rica touting its image of human rights and eco-tourism when the government isn’t taking care of its own people.
“As a Costa Rican and activist, I feel quite ashamed of how our government normally portrays itself as this paradise with human rights and complies with everything when they are basically doing the complete opposite toward our population,” said Beatriz Zuniga, a 28-year-old Costa Rican bisexual feminist activist told Girls That Roam last Monday.
“I do believe that it’s a country that has a lot of potential, but not with the government we currently have or the past ones. We definitely have to break the circle,” she said not believing the government is open to a discussion.
“Even though the government says that they are ‘open to talk’ about the stuff we really don’t feel that they are willing to do so,” she said. “We got to a point where the dialogue is definitely not working. It is not open. It is not fluid. So, we need to take other actions.”
Ships Sailing By
[Updated: September 17, 2018]
As of Monday morning, September 17, Celebrity Cruises announced it would skip docking its Infinity liner with 3,500 passengers on board at the call to port in Puntarenas, reported Q Costa Rica.
The ship was scheduled to dock at 6 a.m. today. Juan Ramón Rivera, executive president of the Costa Rican Institute of Ports of the Pacific, confirmed the company Celebrity Cruises notified that the ship would not dock in Costa Rica on Monday.
The cruise line decided to bypass the Costa Rican port to avoid any potential delays due to the strike that would impact the cruise’s itinerary.
The ship was supposed to be in port for 10 hours where passengers would take tours and shop at local artisan boutiques.
“That’s the damage that these strikers do to the country, right?” Juan asked Q Costa Rica. “The most booming industry in this country, which is tourism, they are damaging it.”
Enoch Quesada, a member of the Cámara de Turismo Puntarenense, translated Puntarenas Chamber of Tourism, called the impact “enormous” telling the media outlet that small and large tour operators, taxi drivers, restaurants, souvenir shops are all affected.
“Many families and businesses were heavily dependent on this ship,” before the slow months leading up to December, said Enoch.
Juan called the situation “very regrettable.”
“We are sorry because we want to promote tourism so that Puntarenas has more jobs and move away from the socio-economic problems it has, but they put stones in the way,” he said.
Celebrity Cruises is the first vessel to cancel docking on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, according to officials.
A smaller cruise ship, Golfito, is still en route to dock in Puntarenas.
[End of update]
Another Call For Peace
Newly elected President Carlos Alvarado, who is only in his fourth month in office denounced the violence, saying the Costa Rican government would not stand for riots.
“The history of Costa Rica has been marked by dialogue and peace,” he said. “We live in tumultuous times, but we will move forward. The Government of Costa Rica continues to be open to dialogue, but when the protests stop and a climate of peace reigns.”
Last week he called the strikes illegal and along with seven ministries filed a request of a declaration of illegality of the strike with the Costa Rica Attorney General’s Office.
Additionally, 17 institutions of the decentralized public sector filed before the Labor Courts, Steven Nunez Rimola, minister of Labor and Social Security, said late Monday, reported the newspaper.
The attorney general and the courts haven’t ruled on the legality of the strike on the eve of it entering its second week.
The strike has cost Costa Rica millions of dollars.
Yesterday, Carlos reiterated his openness to a dialogue with labor union leaders only if the demonstrations are called off.
Labor union leaders and demonstrators are only willing to end the strike if the Costa Rican government eliminates the “Plan Fiscal (Tax Reform),” that will tax the working class without equally enforcing and taxing corporations and the wealthy, reported the newspaper.
Carlos continues to refuse to scrap the fiscal plan believing it is the only way to avoid an impending financial crisis.
Book your next trip to Central America with Girls That Roam Travel. Contact Heather Cassell at Girls That Roam Travel at 415-517-7239 or at .
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