In fact, the proposed general strike will cause great damage to the country, said Rodrigo Arias, the minister of the Presidencia. “It is disloyal to Costa Rica. To interrupt basic services causes great damage to the citizenry,” he said.

Officials announced they have taken steps to eliminate the source of one rallying cry by the anti-treaty protesters. The Consejo de Gobierno and President Óscar Arias Sánchez approved three measures Wednesday that would prevent the production of firearms in Costa Rica.

Opponents of the treaty have claimed that if the Asamblea Legislativa ratified the pact, the way would be open for multinationals to set up arms fabricating plants here.

Arias said after the meeting with his consejo or cabinet that it was unlikely that he, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has pushed for years to curtail the international arms trade, would want to bring such plants to Costa Rica.

However, proponents of the general strike said they have received a favorable response from citizens on the issue of arms fabrication here, even though the idea may be a fabrication itself.

One measure approved as a decree Wednesday tells the  Ministerio de Comercio Exterior to prevent arms plants from locating in the various free zones where foreign firms produce goods for export.

The second measure creates a commission to study the Costa Rican weapons laws with an eye towards passing an amendment to prevent arms manufacturer.

The third measure gives control to the Ministerio de Salud, the health authorities, for control of any plant that might manufacture arms. Previously the Ministerio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública was in charge.

The government also said that anyone who fails to report for a regular work shift on Monday or Tuesday would not be paid.

Rodrigo Arias said that the strike would cancel 89,000 medical appointments, postpone 1,160 surgeries, delay 279,000 lab exams and prevent the delivery of 307,000 prescriptions.

In addition, he said 900,000 school children would be affected. Teachers are expected to join the protest even though there is nothing in the free trade treaty that affects public education.

Union leaders, principally from the Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos y Privados, say they want agricultural producers to take a lead role in the general strike to show that the issues are far more than just employees of government monopolies who oppose the treaty.

Strikers are expected to occupy key highways and block traffic. In the past employees of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, the telecommunications monopoly, shut down the Internet. Utility workers could cut power and water supplies.

And those planning the general strike say that the one next Monday and Tuesday is just a start of a continual series of disruptions that will take place until the government rejects the free trade treaty.