More than 20.000 Protestors Expected On Monday and Tuesday
The protest against the Tratadlo Libre de Comercio (TLC) or free trade agreement with the United States (CAFTA) is ready for tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday, as public employees walk off work that will affect services at all public institutions.

The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) - the state telecom monopoly - will shut its doors for two days, as more than 12.000 ICE employees will be the major force behind the protest.

Workers at the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) will join the protest leaving hospital and clinics without services, that will include in some case doctors. Those who have appointments at public hospital and clinics - some waiting more than a year - for October 23 and 24 will have them postponed to another day.

School teachers will leave the classrooms empty. The AyA (water and sewers company) and the CNFL - the power and light company - will handle only emergency repairs to their systems. Workers of the Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS) - the state insurance company - will be out in protest instead of attending to the needs of their customers.

The "Coordinadora Nacional de lucha contra ese tratado comercial" expects more than 20.000 to take part in the protest on each day. The Coordinadora made public the points of gathering in the San José area, as protestors then will unite in a their march to the Asemblea Legislativa (Legislative Assembly) in a show of force to pressure legislators into not approving the TLC.

The areas of gathering are in front of the ICE building in La Sabana, as the group will then move alon Paseo Colon and Avenida Segunda to the legislative building.

The other group will gather in front of the La Hispanidad rotonda in front of Mall San Pedro, while the third in front of La Pacifico train station and the fourth in front of La Republica newspaper. A fifth group will gather at the Parque La Paz in Desamparados.All the groups will move along the major streets to the legislative building, meeting with the ICE group.

Needless to say, traffic in the downtown and surrounding areas of San José from La Sabana to San Pedro will me a nightmare.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias called on the union leaders on Friday to leave one side of the roads open to vehicular traffic, saying that the protestors have a right to protest but it shouldn't inconvenience all Costa Ricans. Arias also called for the full force of the Policía de Tránsito (traffic police) and the Fuerza Pública (police) to ensure a peaceful protest, saying that police will not be armed during the protests.

Germán Marín, director of the Policía de Tránsito, said 400 traffic officers will be assigned to the detail, that is one of half of the full force if all the traffic officials were to be at work. Marín is asking for drivers to use alternate routes and be armed with patience as traffic jams will be unavoidable.

According to the Coordinadora the protest will be a peaceful one.

However, the Ministro de Seguridad Pública, Fernando Berrocal, said that his police force, though not armed, will be ready to intervene if required and will ensure peace is maintained. The police force used the Unidad Intervención Policial (UIP) unit in the event of riots and major scale problems. The UIP is usually in the background and kept out of sigh, ready to assist police officials in the front line.

"The UIP will only intervene is absolutely necessary", said minister Berrocal.

The government announced last week that it will dock salaries from those who take time off work to join the protest movement. President Arias made his feelings clear that in a democracy the people have the right to have their voices heard, but it shouldn't be to the detriment of the rest of the population.