Unpermited taxi drivers protest outside Casa Presidencial

A group of some 50 unlicensed taxi drivers since Sunday night have protested outside Casa Presidencial, in the southeastern San José district of Zapote, demanding the government grant them permits to work.

Demonstrators are drivers who do not have permits to work as taxi drivers, but instead work part-time for permit owners. Some of them told local news station Telenoticias 7 that they “want the government to grant them some of the 2,000 permits still available of a total of 4,100.”

José Guillermo Martínez, one of the drivers, said permits “are usually sold to the highest bidder [by permit-owners], and also rented while government officials turn a blind eye.”

Protesters spent the night in tent camps, and the street in front of Casa Presidencial remains blocked to traffic. Police officers placed barriers at two main access points to the area.