The organizations that have joined the protest include the National Civic Committee umbrella group, the Union of Small and Medium Farmers, the National Association of Public Employees (ANEP), and the Internal Front of Workers of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), the state-owned power and telecommunications company.

”The government and citizens are walking through a minefield. By some miracle we have not stepped on any of those mines, which would make the country blow up,” sociologist Francisco Escobar, a former director of the doctoral program at the Costa Rica-based Autonomous University of Central America.

Marjorie Lizano, president of the Chamber of Transport, issued a new call to engage in talks, but tempers flared after the early Wednesday police crackdown on demonstrators in the provinces of Cartago and Limón.

Edgar Brenes, assistant secretary of ANEP, told Wednesday morning, several organizations decided to join the protests, including the Union of Employees of Costa Rica's Social Security Institute (UNDECA), ICE employees, and students from the state University of Costa Rica and the Technological Institute.

Protests are planned for Thursday in several regions, and a ”massive march” will end at the Casa Presidencial in San José.

”It's time for President Pacheco to pay attention to the widespread discontent among the Costa Rican people, who are opposed to the neo-liberal (free market) measures applied to the economy by a group of people who govern the country as a parallel” power structure, said the trade unionist.

”Many Costa Ricans already have to give up products like milk in order to pay their electricity bill,” due to the high cost of living, he added.

”The government gave public employees a raise of 5.4 percent, while inflation currently stands at 7.7 percent and we'll end the year with an inflation rate that could climb as high as 13 percent. The people can't take any more, and the government has to understand that,” said Brenes.

”Nobody even knows what the protests are fighting for any more, because each group is expressing its own complaints,” he said. ”Not even the government itself understands what is the main point of debate.”

But he added that ”The people are taking to the streets because of the lack of representation they perceive in Congress, where the lawmakers do not represent their interests but those of the groups in power.”


The roots of the unrest that began to chrystallise on Monday have been growing over the past 20 years in response to factors like the incapacity of the political class to resolve specific problems on the health, education and economic fronts, said the analyst.

”People who have ties with the politicians are named to technical posts, rather than those who are qualified to come up with solutions to the day-to-day problems faced by Costa Ricans,” he said.