At the end of the past week in which the government of the Republic listened to representatives of the productive, labor, and social sectors and received more than 700 proposals for the recovery of the country after the scourge of the Coronavirus pandemic, President Carlos Alvarado affirmed that “in the face of this calamity, political flags remain small and the country grows large.
With this phrase, Carlos Alvarado reiterated the call for the whole of Costa Rican society to continue working to rebuild the social fabric and the economy, starting from total opening, on September 9, in the midst of a very complex health situation due to the speed of spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus throughout the national territory.
Alvarado has insisted that the situation requires extraordinary efforts to overcome the profound crisis generated by the novel Coronavirus pandemic in the country and in the rest of the world, indicating that the effects of the global crisis will be felt in due course. Costa Rica registered during the last week, a daily average of a thousand new cases of COVID-19, for a total number of 38,500 confirmed cases, as of August 28.
The last forum of the process “Costa Rica listens, proposes and dialogues”, was on the axis of Public Finance, the controversial loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international financing sources such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which the Vice Minister of the Presidency Silvia Lara presented the details about the process of these forums.
In the closing forum, Carlos Alvarado had former presidents Laura Chinchilla and Miguel Ángel Rodríguez as guests at the virtual meeting, with whom he talked about public finances and the negotiation of the agreement with the IMF. the forum was moderated by journalists Glenda Umaña and Henry Rodríguez.
Former President Laura Chinchilla highlighted the political challenges to reach an agreement that will test the responsibility and maturity of democracy, in the face of the profound transformations and challenges facing our country.
“It seems very good for me to listen, propose and dialogue, but without a doubt the most important thing will be to act … and one of the (decisions) without a doubt is how we are going to finance the enormous responsibilities that the Costa Rican State has”, said the ex-president.
Strong challenges ahead
President Alvarado pointed out that the challenges that the pandemic has generated are not only related to health but also economically, against which the primary responsibility is to protect people, especially the most vulnerable.
“We need to take a series of measures to avoid a scenario where our economy, our indicators and where no Costa Rican wants us to arrive, which is an impact on interest rates, a devaluation of the colon, which triggers unemployment to others levels and that poverty grows,” said the President.
The former president, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, focused his attention on defending big business and then advising Alvarado on the “unpopular” but “necessary” decisions that sometimes a President must take with a long-term vision.
Finally, Alvarado stressed that the pandemic has served to make the potential we have as a country even more visible. And he pointed out in the development of equine plasma for therapy against COVID-19, a development of which there are only 3 in the world, the increase in hospital capacity that doubled intensive care beds in six months, and multiplied the capacity for intermediate care, as well as the creation of the digital platform that has benefited more than half a million people, such as the “Bono Proteger”, among others.
The reception of proposals remains open in the areas of “Economic Reactivation” and “Creation and Protection of Employment”, until next September 15. People interested in obtaining information and submitting their proposals can visit the link: https://gobiernoabierto.go.cr/costa-rica-escucha-propone-y-dialoga/
