Residents of Costa Rica's old capital are angry at President Luis Guillermo Solís for not doing more to create jobs, improve infrastructure in the province.
Six out of 10 private employers in Costa Rica said they disapproved of President Luis Guillermo Solís at the end of his first year in office, according to a recent poll. Still, the survey results suggest moderate optimism among the business community about the country's near-term economic future.
Lawmakers revived the bill to replace prison time with monetary fines for blocking roads the day before private chauffeurs or "porteadores" protested a new special taxi regulation by blocking public roads across the country, snarling traffic.
President Luis Guillermo Solís ordered roads cleared Wednesday evening of private chauffeurs staging protests. He blamed them for the difficult emergency response to a deadly accident, in which an injured child had to be transported by helicopter to the National Children's Hospital.
Christian Democratic Alliance lawmaker Mario Redondo presented a report also stating that “officials from 13 ministries have taken 1,654 trips during the first year of the current administration.”
More than 76 percent surveyed in a recent University of Costa Rica poll said they did not think Solís would be able to bring about the change he campaigned on.
Solís' Cabinet remake — and reshuffling – comes after five ministers and 16 high-level officials have either resigned or been asked to leave during the president's first year in office.
Minister Rosendo Pujol Mesalles said the legislators’ request was inappropriate. "Resigning at this time for me would be like playing the game of those who do not trust the system and who do not believe in the changes we are implementing," he said.
She speaks for the president but few have ever heard her voice. Estefanía Carvajal, 28, is the first official Costa Rican sign language interpreter for Casa Presidencial.
Sergio Alfaro leaves his post as executive president of the National Insurance Institute (INS) to take the job, replacing Melvin Jiménez Marín, who submitted his resignation on Thursday at president Solís’ request. Alfaro is a lawyer and former legislator for the ruling Citizen Action Party from 2007 to 2010.
