Arsenic in Guanacaste water supplies, Constitutional Court puts pressure on Chinchilla to act

A common symptom of arsenic poisoning. For illustrative purposes only.

April 19^th, 2013 (InsideCostaRica.com) Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court (Sala IV) issued a Writ of Amparo against President Laura Chinchilla and various government agencies because they have failed to do anything about the fact that various water supplies in Guanacaste and northern Costa Rica contain dangerous levels of arsenic, even though the President declared the situation an emergency more than a year ago.

Though both President Chinchilla and the Minister of Health, Daysi Corrales, signed an emergency decree over the situation more than a year ago, nothing has been done to remedy the situation.  The Constitutional Court now says that President Chinchilla, the Minister of Health, and other government agencies have three days to explain themselves to the Court.

A large portion of the population in communities in Guanacaste and San Carlos, Alajuela are receiving arsenic-contaminated water from the taps in their homes.  The World Health Organization calls arsenic a carcinogenic poison.

The affected communities include Bagaces, La Cruz, and Cañas in Guanacaste, as well as San Carlos, Alajuela.

The problem was recognized by both President Chinchilla and the Minister of Health when they signed an Executive Decree in March of last year, calling the situation a “health emergency.”

“The Executive Order was signed on March 22^nd, 2012.  It’s been over a year and yet no real solution to this serious problem has been presented.  People are walking slowly toward their death because of the dereliction of duty of public officials,” a group of affected citizens said in documents submitted to the Court.

“As a simple comparison, we note that the government recently issued a similar [emergency decree] due to coffee rust.  The health of a bush gets more attention and more budget than the health of the citizens of the Republic.  This infuriates us and we cannot let it continue.  We wish the officials and their families were ingesting water with arsenic, so they could feel what the people in these communities feel,” the statement continued. “It was the President who signed the Decree.  That makes [her] directly responsible.”

“Unfortunately, the government policy has been to keep the problem hidden or low profile.  Several times we have heard, ‘don’t alarm the people.’  There are people who are not even aware they are affected,” the plaintiffs continue.