Yearbook 2019
Costa Rica. During the year, the government was subjected
to a series of protests against proposals aimed at boosting
economic growth. In August and September, the teachers'
unions organized major protests in the capital, San José,
against the government's proposal to restrict the right to
strike in certain key sectors, such as health care and
schooling, and Education Minister Edgar Mora was forced to
resign. At the same time, health care workers were striking
in protest of the tax reform, including a tax increase,
which the government managed to vote in Congress as a result
of an agreement with the opposition in December 2018, and
transport workers blocked roads around the country for the
same reason.
According to
CountryAAH, furthermore, the high unemployment rate and rising cost
of living overshadowed the success that President Carlos
Alvarado, after all, noted during the year. The tax reform,
for example, was a great cross-party success that several of
his predecessors tried to implement, as well as the fact
that the number of homicides in the country fell for the
first time in five years. The latter was attributed to 30
successful "mega operations" by the police against organized
crime.
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