On Tuesday, October 7^th, hundreds of university students will take to the streets to protest against planned budget cuts to the public education system of Costa Rica. The students will have the support of President Luis Guillermo Solis, who is facing a very difficult task in curbing the mounting national deficit at a time when the country is facing an economic crisis of high unemployment, limited budgets, low revenue, high inflation, and diminished industrial output.

 

As reported by Manuel Sancho of online news daily CRHoy.com, President Solis announced his support for the protest on Monday morning and reiterated his position in the afternoon after meeting with various labor union leaders. He was also quick to mention that people in Costa Rica should not expect his support on other items related to the national budget, which he is willing to trim to a certain extent. The President and the labor unions want to funnel nine percent of the country’s gross domestic product to the Ministry of Public Education, one of the Costa Rica’s major employers.

 

Several legislators, including the leader and founder of the political party that President Solis aligns with, are not in agreement with the budget proposed by the Executive Branch, which they claim allocates funds to institutions that are mired in lofty pensions and bureaucratic spending, such as the Ministry of Public Education and La Caja (Costa Rica’s national public health system).

 

Otton Solis, leader of the Citizen Action Party (Spanish initials: PAC) and mentor of President Solis, is a harsh critic of the annual incentive bonuses paid to public educators in Costa Rica. Under the current bonus system, 99 percent of educators are getting extra pay, which is something that Legislator Solis believes should be cut from the budget.

 

Other legislators opposed to the budget proposals tendered by the Presidential Office criticized the President’s support of university students, hinting at favoritism. President Solis is a political history professor who has enjoyed tenure and is set to draw pension benefits. His planned budget cuts do no extend to either La Caja or public education.