“The Chamber of Commerce of Costa Rica condemns the disrespect and attitude of the protesters towards President of the Republic, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, as he was leaving the National Theater. We reiterate that these actions go beyond legality and good intentions and are far from the right to strike that the working population of the public and private sector have. Above all, the President’s Charge should be respected, whether or not we agree with his positions, actions or behavior, under any circumstance should the President of the Republic be object of insults, aggression or disrespectful manifestations. We urge the authorities to act firmly and with determination against these acts and we ask an investigation to be open and those involved to be charged with all the severity of the law for participating on this disgraceful for the country and that does NOT represent us.”

The above is the position stated by the Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce with regards to the situation faced yesterday by President Carlos Alvarado in San Jose, when he was insulted and threatened by a group of protesters.

Costa Rica’s Ombudsman’s Office (Defensoria de los Habitantes) also described the acts registered the morning of this Wednesday as “serious and shameful”, while the heads of the political parties represented in Congress also condemned the aggression, among them, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, of the National Liberation Party who stated: “Violence is not justifiable, they are a few that think they represent many, but they don’t represent anyone. A few troublemakers capable of setting a country on fire, blocking boarders, destroying fuel and reacting in an anti-democratic way”.

The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) referred to the situation considering that some of the protesters seen in the video are wearing ICE clothes: “We see with great sadness the acts of violence that took place today, which do not reflect the values of ICE or what Costa Ricans have been known to be historically. We condemn all acts of violence, and even when we respect the citizens’ freedom to express their opinion, we will not tolerate in the institution these types of actions. I want to let Costa Rica know, that as Executive President of ICE I have asked to open an internal investigation and necessary administrative actions will be taken”, expressed Irene Cañas, Executive President of ICE.