Costa Rica’s new president, Luis Guillermo Solís, on his first day on the job, faced a group of protesting teachers demanding payment of their wages.
The teachers have been protesting since Monday demanding the government make good on their salaries, some which have not been paid since the beginning of the school year in February.
The teachers have blocked Avenida Central, starting from La Merced park and congregating in front of the Ministerio de Hacienda a few blocks away, every day this past week, except for Thusday, the day of Solís’ inaguguration and that the Hacienda was closed.
The Chinchilla administration, in its last days, explained that there had been a problem with a change of techonology that excluded a group of new teachers from the payroll, but the problems were fixed and teachers were going to receive their salaries on May 14.
About 7.000 teachers or 10% of the Ministerio de Educacion Publica (MEP) payroll are affected.
The teachers didn’t buy the promise and continued their protest.
On Friday, representatives of the teacher unions met with the President and the new minister of Education, Sonia Marta Mora, for four hours at Casa Presidencial, in Zapote.
After the meeting, Gilberto Cascante, head of the teachers union, the Asociación Nacional de Educadores (ANDE), “the protest continues”. Cascante said that talks will continue with the government.
