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Costa Rican President Arias Wants To Know If
Catholic Church Is Spending On The Poor
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Costa Rican
President Arias Wants To Know If Catholic
Church Is Spending On The Poor
Costa Rican president, Óscar Arias,
yesterday vehemently rejected the call of
the Catholic Church to form a national
consensus to address the problems of the
country, considering it "difficult,
ineffective and unrealistic."
"Consensus is the denial of leadership. It
means giving the power of veto any
individual or group and that I will not
allow. Democracy is for the majority, but
with respect for minorities," said Arias.
The prez spoke to the press for more than an
hour on the subject, at his private home in
Rohrmoser, west of San Jose, and challenged
the Church to demonstrate their investment
of money for the poor.
"When the Church tells me I have to spend
more on the poor, the should tell me where
to get the money. I would like to know if
the church is spending on the poor. I'd love
to know if they do. I personally do so,"
said the president.
That was the response by Arias on the speech
given by the Archbishop of San José, Hugo
Barrantes, on May 1, calling for a dailogue
between all the social groups.
Arias said that for all the various
"pressure" groups, with different interests,
to sit at a table and to reach a consensus
is very difficult and unrealistic.
Notwithstanding, in May 1 speech to the
Legislative Assembly, Arias committed
himself to meeting union leaders to listen
to their ideas on how to manage the economy
during the crisis.
"If there are good proposals, I will
consider them", said Arias as to the
upcoming meeting.
The president, during the press conference,
was accompanied by a number of his cabinet
members, also lashed out against the leader
of the Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC),
Alberto Salom, who strongly criticized the
government on Friday.
Arias said that people like Salom only see
the negative, do not know how to build and
have a small spirit. The president compared
Salom to Humberto Arce of four years ago and
asked the press if they know where Arce is
today.
Neither Monsenor Barrantes, nor monsenor
José Francisco Ulloa were availabe for
comment to the statement by president Arias.
For his part, Salom said that the president
"should be a little bit more humble". |
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