QCOSTARICA – Alexánder Arrieta, 41, tried to get his wife who about to give birth to the hospital on Monday, but a group of protesters blocked their way at El Tanque in La Fortuna de San Carlos.
Not happy with just blocking passage, the protesters also broke the car windows at the man’s insistence due to the condition of his wife who was bleeding and in severe pain, to let them pass and at the.
A police patrol just stood by, doing nothing.
Arrieta said that his wife, María Luisa Flores, 34, went into labor Monday afternoon but there were no ambulances available due to the blockades.
So, he decided to take his wife in his vehicle from the local clinic to the San Carlos Hospital, but, when he reached the El Tanque blockade, around 5:15 pm, he asked two young men to give way because his wife was in labor.
“They tell me that I need a note from the clinic (hospital), I explain again that the water is already broken, she is bleeding and in pain and that it is illogical that they ask me for a note and that I return to La Fortuna.
“One of them told me that she had a very small belly and did not think she was going to give birth. The other noticed and said ‘I have two children and I know perfectly well when a woman is going to get better.’ I thought I was being not serious.
“He told me that to believe me I had to bring a note from the clinic or else it (passage) would not happen. I got angry and started the car, I advanced three meters, the two young men break my rear windows, even knowing that there was a pregnant woman on board,” Arrieta told La Nacion. See the video here.
“There was glass all over the inside of the car and I couldn’t move. There was a group of high school kids, who had clubs, when they saw that those two men hit the car, they all came in droves.
“They came from the passenger side of my wife and started hitting the car. She was screaming. They damaged the side of the car.
“I got out of the car, I yelled and yelled, telling the students that there was a pregnant woman. I had to open the car for them to see her because the passenger’s windows were tinted.
“Some of them were with their parents, but when they saw they had done, they fled. The people from the houses came out to give my wife water; the people of the town took the glass off her,” said the neighbor of San Carlos.
He indicated that a local lent them a car to take her wife back to the clinic, since they were not allowed to pass anyway. He followed in the destroyed car. At the clinic, there was an ambulance that took her to the hospital immediately.
“The man did me the favor of taking me in his car behind the ambulance. My son, Josué, was born today (Tuesday) at 6:15 am.
“It was difficult for my wife to have the baby, my wife had a nervous breakdown, because of everything that had happened. She was kept for one more night under observation. My car, destroyed, was left in the clinic. I am fed up, indignant, I can’t explain it. It’s incredible,” he said.
Arrieta added that he is still in the San Carlos Hospital and that, as soon as he leaves, he will file the complaint using the videos, witnesses, and photos as evidence.
“I hope that the parents of these young people will take responsibility for what their children did. Right now, I don’t have a job and I have a newborn and responsibilities.
“I want to see who will be responsible for the damage to the car and thank God that my family is fine. I just hope that those irresponsible pay the damages, I will charge them. Those irresponsible are the ones who teach their children to be like that, useless,” said Arrieta.
