QCOSTARICA POLITICS – For President Luis Guillermo Solis the subject of “maritime” does not sit well with him, a subject that is causing him much controversy.
With his coming out of choppy waters, after being declared an enemy of “tiburones” (sharks), Pacific artisanal fishermen now accuse his sister, Vivienne Solis, of hijacking the Instituto de Pesca y Acuicultura (Incopesca) – Institute of Fishing and Aquaculture, taking advantage of her ties to the president.
Vivienne Solis is a biologist and founder of the CoopeSoliDar cooperative, who together with the Incopesca, consulted in drafting a bill to allow shrimp trawler fishing, banned by the Constitutional Court in August 2013.
However, Guanacaste and Puntarenas (the two provinces with Pacific coastline) fishermen are accusing Solis for using her relationship with the President to impose “their views” on Incopesca.
“Vivienne Solis Rivera, with the power of being the sister of the president, which ipso facto becomes the new power of Incopesca for the next 4 years, is the goddess Calypso and Tethys, driving at will her policy on fisheries and state guidelines, whose sole purpose is to reactivate shrimp trawling, contrary to vote of the Constitutional Court,” five Puntarenas fishing organizations said in a statement.
In a similar vein, organizations in Guanacaste expressed the same position.
Asked about the accusations, Vivienen Solis and Incopesca president, Gustavo Meneses, rejected the criticism of a supposed advantage of the filial bond with the President, adding that the roundtable discussions sponsored by CoopeSoliDar were transparent and decisions were reached by “total consensus”.
Vivienne Solis said “as a woman and professional in this country, I demand respect and recognition of my professional work that does not start in the political period of this administration.”
For now, President Solis is not commenting publicly on the situation.
Source: La Nacion
