Environmental
Authorities Close Three
Hotels in Caribbean
The Ministerio de
Ambiental y Energia (MINAE)
- Costa Rican
environmental authority
- say they have closed
three hotels in the
Caribbean for causing
environmental damage.
One of the hotels closed
was recently built,
constructed on the
wetlands of Playa Negra,
185 kilometres southeast
of San José. The
extensions of two other
existing hotels were
also closed.
The MINAE action came on
Thursday and releasing
information to the press
on Friday, saying that
irregularities were
detected. In the case of
the newly constructed
hotel, the MINAE said it
was the construction of
a three kilometre road
across a land-sea zone,
that according to law,
must remain in its
natural state.
As to the other two
hotels, construction on
the expansion was halted
after MINAE officials
found a large number of
trees cut down for use
in the construction.
The MINAE press release
implicated the Hotel
Almendros y Corales
which has a "four" leaf
out of five-leaf
certification for
sustainable tourism.
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