ICE Will Be Closed, Without Exception, Monday And Tuesday Union Rep Says
If you need to visit an Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) agency for any telephone service, including paying your bill, better do it today or tomorrow, because come Monday and Tuesday, ALL ICE agencies will be closed.

The notice came from Jorge Arguedas, representing the Frente Interno de Trabajadores del ICE - the workers union - who explained that during the two days of protest next week, all ICE offices will be kept closed and will only deal with emergency service to hospitals, the Red Cross and the fire department (bomberos).

All other services will be offline for Monday and Tuesday (October 23 & 24) and the union rep is asking for people to avoid complications for their telephone service and visit an ICE office before the closings or have to wait until next Wednesday.

Arguedas took the opportunity to speak out against the privatization of ICE, the monopoly on telecommunications and electrical energy - that will occur if the Tratado Libre de Comercio (TL) - free trade agreement with the United States (CAFTA) is passed.

Arguedas pointed to Nicaragua and Panama, where electrical service and telecommunications is privatized. In Nicaragua daily power outages of up 12 hours has been normal during the past several months and in Panama only one telephone company now takes in all the money.

The union rep said that he expects the full 12.900 ICE employees to be on hand on during the protest. ICE workers or the "yellow" wave because they all wear their yellow company t-shirts, have been a major force in the protests against the TLC.