LatinNews Daily - 29 August 2024

*Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Costa Rica’s capital, San José, demanding more investment in education and a ‘national pact for public education’, which was first proposed in June 2023 by the so-called Mesa Nacional de Diálogo Social y Productivo (MNDSP), a grouping of social organisations and unions. Protesters are complaining that investment in education was just 5.2% of GDP in 2023 despite a constitutional requirement to assign 8% of GDP to education at all levels, which a statement by the umbrella trade union Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos y Privados (Anep) warns represents a setback of almost 20 years. The Anep statement highlights that the aim behind the national pact is for it to unite the government, private sector, unions, municipalities, social movements, political parties, among others, to “progressively resolve the current education crisis”. Protests are due to continue today in San José, and different parts of the country, including in the cities of Limón (capital of the eponymous province), Liberia and Nicoya (Guanacaste), and Puntarenas (Puntarenas), among others.