The leader of ANEP labor union, Albino Vargas, considered the country wide movement that started this Monday as a “success” and stated in interview that the effects suffered in institutions such as public schools and public hospitals “are necessary”.

The rain forced the protesters to conclude their movement at around 1:40 p.m.

Vargas also confirmed that the protests will continue this Tuesday starting at 5 a.m. with the same logistic, involving groups leaving from different parts of the country in route to La Merced park in San Jose and then to the Legislative Assembly building. The labor unions will only agree to drop the movement if the Government is willing to eliminate the fiscal plan.

According to the Government, most of the services today operated normally, President Alvarado was clear that they could not and would not take back the fiscal plan. Options for dialogue are open if the protests stop. By the end of this Monday a total of 24 institutions had presented the request to the courts for the strike to be declared illegal under the premise that the movement does not comply with the minimum requirements established by the Costa Rican Labor Code.
The labor unions now have three days to justify their position to the court.’

After verifying data received from the different schools in the country, Minister of Education, Edgar Mora, informed that close to 34.8% of the personnel in the different public schools had joined the movement, these represents close to 7,847 people. The Ministry set up the phone line 1311 for parents to report schools that are closed or teachers that didn’t show up to work; Mora also called on parents to send their children to school, and stated that the investment made by the Government every day to keep each school open is of millions of dollars and therefore every day a school remains closed its damaging to the children and the country in general.

80% of the Municipalities in the country worked a normal schedule.

The Social Security Service authorities also asked patients not to skip their appointments and go to the respective healthcare institutions to receive the necessary attention.