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Left-leaning presidential candidate Villalta meets with concerned business sector

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Presidential candidate, José Maria Villalta. (Archive photo).

Presidential candidate, José Maria Villalta. (Archive photo).

December 12th, 2013 (InsideCostaRica.com) Left-leaning presidential candidate, José Maria Villalta met with the directors of the Costa Rican Union of Chambers and Associations of Private Enterprise (UCCAEP) this week.

 

The candidate was called on by business leaders to address doubts about his positions on the business sector in the country.

 

One of the business leaders’ chief concerns is Villalta’s opposition to increased involvement of the private sector in electricity generation.    Juan Ramon Rivera, vice president of UCCAEP, said the issue is one for which his organization has fought hard, and Villalta’s position is only to strengthen the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE).

 

Another topic of discussion raised by UCCAEP is Villalta’s interest in renegotiating terms of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA, known locally as TLC) with the United States.

 

For his part, Villalta assured business leaders that he would keep the channel of dialogue open with the business sector.  Villalta also assured the attendees that he has “no plans to nationalize anything,” but to focus on strengthening the institutions in charge of providing essential services to Costa Ricans.

 

Villalta also recognized that business is what creates wealth in the country, and is necessary to fight poverty.

 

The presidential candidate described the meeting as “cordial,” saying he “clarified and answered all questions.”

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  • sloth1

    The problem being that so many socialist / communist political figures have done a complete turn around in their 4 year or more tenures. The business community has a right to be concerned.. Although the article does not say it would be interesting to hear his dialogue with business leaders from companies like Amazon, Intel, HP others who employ a lot of other people. Yes free enterprise is necessary to fight poverty , something a lot of quote / unquote leftists seem to ignore or don’t understand.

    It doesn’t preclude that you have to ignore the dire aspects of poverty and the disenfranchised, It means working with business leaders to expand their businesses, profit greatly and get them involved with the dialogue to help socially. Engaging them to help youth in entrepreneurship in schools and Universities. And this is not done by nationalizing everything .Free enterprise is both creative, challenging and hard work. It frees us from being slaves to having no choice at all.

    Although I have always used ICE for phone service and will continue to , ,there is no question of a doubt that the recent competition has catalyzed them to be a better company in many regards. There is always the manifestation of greed in Capitalist , Socialist ,or what ever systems and sometimes the manifestation of greed is not so apparent because it does not take on the form of money but power. And once someone is in power as we all know. their true colors are displayed especially when they have 4 years or more .

    • ben jones

      Business community has been screw over the poor for so long where sick and tried of it. PLN are puppets of USA intrests.

    • Charlie

      What Villalta proposes is cracking down on business who violate existing labor and environmental laws. Progressive tax reform, complying with constitutional mandate for social expending, and increased government transparency. Costa Rica is not Venezuela. A president here cant get anything done without the support of another party, and the Sala iv always has the final say.

  • NorthendFool

    I wonder if he endorses squatters. You cant say you are all for investors and then say its OK for peasants to take someone elses land and home. You cannot pick and choose which squatter is legit. For instance, the Nicas take the land south of the rio and start dredging. Chinchilla cries foul and goes to the international court for help. Another group of Nica peasants takes a large parcel of land from a Dutch investment firm and Chinchilla says its OK. Typical wishiewaashie bullshit.

    • ben jones

      Please stay out of Costa Rica we all dilike USA citizen in Costa RIca

      • Yeims

        Yes, I would tend to agree with you. My personal belief is that the charateristic is firmly established in the genetic makeup, as well as of course, the culture. In contrast with the expat experience here, virtually every tico who lived in the States I have ever talked to, has indicated the experience was a very positive one, and all in all , they were treated well and with respect.

  • ben jones

    Alright USA citizens we like you but you should stay out of our politics. The poor have been screwed over by you North America Citizen to long. HP and Intel or Amazon are layng off worker left and right they hate the fact they have to pay higher wages than India. We are taking back our land fron the USA citizen that steal it on the beach. And to NorthendFool and sloth1 never come to Costa Rica.

    • sloth1

      Big assumption on your part that sloth1 is not from costa Rica. And if you really look at the polls the majority of people do not want Villata as President.

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