Taxi Drivers Went to War

The concessionaire Sociedad Portuaria de Caldera S.A., a Colombian-Costa Rican venture, took over management of Caldera, the Pacific coast’s main port, in August. Nearly 1,000 government workers were laid off.

The Caldera privatization was the first part of long-discussed plans to privatize management of the nation’s ports.

Port workers in the eastern province of Limón began working at a turtle’s pace in October in a month-long protest against plans to privatize management of the nation’s two biggest ports on the Caribbean: Moín and Limón. The protests clogged up the Caribbean ports, cost exporters millions, scared away a cruise ship set to dock in the port city and resulted in 17 arrests.

The protests overshadowed the administration’s November announcement that it planned to seek a private concessionaire to build and manage a $100 million Caribbean amega-port.