200 squatters evicted from property near Liberia

January 8^th, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) Police officers of the Fuerza Publica in Liberia, Guanacaste carried out the eviction this week of some 50 families consisting of some 200 people that had illegally claimed land in El Aguacaste, located about six kilometers northwest of Liberia, on land adjacent to the Pan-American Highway.

The eviction came after a complaint filed by the owner of the property, Adolfo Baltodano, who asked the courts several months ago to recover his land from the squatters.

The squatters, for their part, claimed the land was unoccupied and they had put the land to agricultural use, asking the state to grant them land rights to the property.

Several of those evicted refused to leave, forcing officers to arrest them on charges of resisting a police officer.

Makeshift dwellings constructed by the families were later dismantled and burned.

Last month, a group of hundreds of squatters successfully expropriated a 425 hectare property from a group of Dutch entrepreneurs after two years of conflict.