Gas Prices Major Contributor to Pacheco's Low Popularity, Vice President Says
According to Costa Rica's vice-president, Lineth Saborío. the low popularity of president Abel Pacheco and the government is directly related to the high cost of gasoline, caused by the high prices of crude oil on world markets.

Saborío reminded her audience at the weekly press conference that the price of a barrel of crude surpassed us$60 earlier this year, that directly impacted the economy in Costa Rica, which not only increased the cost of gasoline, also the cost of living.

Saborío headed the press conference while president Pacheco is in Cancun, Mexico, along with the other presidents of Central America, Colombia and the Dominican Republic, attending an energy summit to analyze the so-called Mesoamerican Energy Initiative and committed to progress in integration.

The host of the summit is Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, who earlier this year made the proposal for an agreement among the 10 countries of projects, that would include a refinery in Central America, a gas pipeline, and a thermoelectric and electrical interconnection system.

The vice-president added that the government had to respond to a number of "emergencies" like the weather that has caused chaos in the country's road network, worsening a situation that was already fragile for several years.

These and other factors attributed to the low popularity.