By Blake Schmidt and Katherine Stanley

Tico Times Staff

Thousands of Costa Ricans hit the streets yesterday to protest the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) under discussion in the Legislative Assembly.

The protests were the result of months of planning by unions and university leaders, who lead several diverse crowds of protestors, including legislators, public workers, university students, anarchists, farm workers and musicians alike.

The protests started in the morning outside of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) in Sabana Norte, in western San José, at 9 a.m.

Across town, protestors also gathered at the traffic circle in front of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) campus in the eastern suburb of San Pedro. Before the group of thousands began their circuitous route from UCR to the Legislative Assembly, a megaphone-equipped organizer told participants to ignore President Oscar Arias’ request, expressed in an open letter to union leaders Oct. 19, to keep half of all roadways open to traffic.

“We’re not going to play along,” said the organizer, high-school social studies teacher Eliel Villalobos from the Anastasio Alfaro School just up the road. “We will walk along the entire width of the road.” And they did, winding through the eastern and northern sectors of the capital.

Very few police were visible along the route, and those who did appear used a hands-off approach.

Marcela Segura, a member of the non-governmental Costa Rican Human Rights Commission who attended the UCR march, told The Tico Times that she had not seen or heard of any violent interactions between protestors and police, but that “what worries us isn’t today, it’s tomorrow, because there will be blockades.”

Jesús Vásquez, leader of the Association of Secondary School Teachers (APSE) and a member of the committee overseeing the protests, the National Coordinator of the Fight Against CAFTA, told The Tico Times late yesterday afternoon that the time, place and nature of today’s protest activities had not yet been decided. Committee members planned to meet last night to hash out the details, he said.

However, Vásquez said that in San José, activities will likely take place in Central Park, outside the ICE building in La Sabana and in San Pedro, starting at 10 a.m. He said the committee is not likely to endorse plans to blockade roads or highways.