Hunger Strike To Demand Return of Their Land
Five Guanacastecas representing forty two families in the area of Simón Bolívar de Sardinal de Carrillo (Guanacaste) have been on a hunger strike outside the Legislative Assembly in San José since Tuesday in protest that the local mayor has forced them out of the lands they build their homes on.

The five women are identified as Irene Gutiérrez, Nelsy Amador, Rosaura Gutiérrez, Aracelly Acevedo and María Leal Gómez.

The women are hoping to get the attention of the heads of the Liberación Nacional and Unidad Social Cristiana parties, Carlos Ricardo Benavides and Lilliana Salas, respectively, to pressure their mayor, María Guevara Navarrete, in getting back their land.

The women say the hunger strike will continue until all the families affected have had their problem resolved.

Apparently, the families had built their homes, that included connection to water and electrical power, on land donated to them as part of a housing project some six years back. However, the municipality has decided that it now wants the land cleared.

The women have now gone more than 48 hours without food, only drinking water to avoid dehydration and are asking the Crus Roja (Red Cross) for help in the event any of them become ill.