SINTRAJAP photo November 2013. Photo by Carlos Brenes Vargas.

When APM Terminals representatives talked about jobs, attendees began drowning them out with noise. The Costa Rican government has continually undermined the dockworkers union SINTRAJAP in the controversial port concession. Photo by Carlos Brenes Vargas.

COSTA RICA: Some 600 people attended a public hearing on Saturday at the Eddy Bermúdez Gymnasium in the Caribbean port city of Limón to discuss environmental and economic issues related to the construction of a nearly $1 billion mega-port in Moín.

APM President Paul Gallie began the public forum at 8:40 a.m. with a talk about the projected benefits for employers and an increased ship capacity for Costa Rica to expand its presence in international trade. But opponents of the project began drowning him out in mid-sentence with noise from trumpets, whistles and rattles.

The crowd seemed to be rowdy and rambunctious, and whenever company representatives talked about jobs, attendees began drowning them out with noise.

“We want to make sure that the entire country and the mass media learn that the majority of the people [in Limón] are opposed to the project,” said José Luis Castillo, finance director of the port union SINTRAJAP.

Behind him port renovation opponents chanted the popular rally cry:“Un pueblo unido, jamás será vencido”: A people united will never be defeated.

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