QCOSTARICA – After 15 days of blockades in many points across the country, for this Thursday, the Ministerio de Seguridad Publica (MSP) – Ministry of Public Security – confirmed the total clearance of highways throughout the country.
According to the MSP, the last of the blockades, located in Brasilia and Loma Verde de Pérez Zeledón, were opened Wednesday night at 9:45 pm
“The country closes the day without blockades,” said Jaime Sibaja, the press officer of the Fuerza Publica (National Pollice).
Earlier in the day Wednesday, the so-called “Movimiento Rescate Nacional” (National Rescue Movement), asked its followers to “take a break” from the protests.
“The movement has called a meeting tomorrow (Thursday) with leaders from all the country’s territories. Decisions will be made regarding the new measures,” the National Rescue Movement posted on Facebook.
The total free movement in the country occurs one day after the Constitutional Court, also known as Sala IV, declared condemned the ministries of the Presidency and Public Security for not lifting the blockades.
The magistrates of the Sala IV also censured the actions of the groups organizing the closures and pointed out that those responsible for inciting the protests had the clear objective of disturbing public order.
The Minister of Security, Michael Soto, affirmed that they will maintain a presence in different parts of the country to guarantee all national roads will be open.
“Hopefully that is the constant for the coming days. If it is not, we will continue to work hard to guarantee the mobility of Costa Ricans,” Soto added.
Soto stressed that it was a “complicated” day because there were strong attacks on officers of the Fuerza Publica in two areas of the country.
In Paquita de Quepos, Puntarenas, a group of people attacked a truck of the National Police Academy that was heading with supplies and food to various police delegations.
“The criminals intercepted and broke the windshields, hijacked the two officers in the truck and dropped them off nearby,” said the MSP statement.
In the town of Santa Lucía de San José, in Upala de Alajuela, near the San Juan river and border with Nicaragua, a group of police officers was shot at by several protesters who were blocking the road.
The last 15 days
In what has never been seen before in Costa Rica, the country lived through 15 days of violent attacks on police officers, indiscriminate criminal acts against property and persons, human rights violations, the collection of illegal “tolls”, millionaire losses in the transport of merchandise, and even the infiltration of narco groups from different territories.
Police vehicles, Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) vehicles carrying medical supplies, and even ambulances and fire trucks were denied passage at many blockades, even to attend emergencies.
A mother who had just given birth to twins in an ambulance, experienced moments of anguish when the ambulance was trapped in a blockade in the middle of a police intervention with tear gas.
In different parts of the country, such as Limón, Abangares and San Carlos, the vandals burned police vehicles, commercial vans and even private vehicles, amid the blockades.
On the southern border, protesters left mountains of dirt to prevent the transit of cargo between Panama and Costa Rica.
Until this Tuesday, more than 130 police officers were reported injureed, several of them seriously and at least 140 people arrested for acts of vandalism.
They even set a police vehicle on fire with a Molotov cocktail with officers inside.
Criminals who joined the protests provided the weapns to confront the authorities.
All this occurred despite the fact that President Carlos Alvarado, on the night of day five (Sunday, October, 4) announced the withdrawal of the proposal before the International Monetary Fund (IMF), what would include new taxes, among other items, the detonater for the protests and the ensuiing violence that only got worse as the days passed.
However, this Wednesday, after two weeks of chaos, the country intends to return to a normalcy that, since March, has been affected by the pandemic.
