“I don’t let go of the tail, even if my hand gets pooped on.” With this purely Guanacastecan phrase, Carlos Segnini, minister of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT – Ministerio de ObrasPublicas y Transportes) emphatically stated that he is not afraid of the recent criticism of his management made by some legislators and the mayor of Nicoya.
The minister’s visit to the canton of Nicoya on Wednesady, November 11, was seriously questioned by the municipal mayor, Marco Antonio Jimenez Muñoz, who wrote a letter on November 10 requesting Segnini’sresignation because of his mismanagement of MOPT, and “…forcoming to Nicoya for political election reasons, under the excuse that it was a national legislator who had invited him.” (See letter, below.)
The meeting was organized by FrenteAmpliolegislatorSuray Carrillo. In attendance at the event was her husband, Wilmar Matarrita, who is a candidate for mayor of Nicoya, a situation that Jimenez called a political act due to the fact that he was not invited to participate in the meeting as the canton’s mayor.
However, Matarrita responded to the accusations, saying, “Although we are in the midst of an election campaign, we’re not here for that; we all live in this district, here our cars are being destroyed.”
Segnini had previously told Jimenez that he did not have to request permission to visit the canton of Nicoya and said he left the meeting with residents “satisfied.”
During the meeting, Wilmar Matarrita reminded the minister that in 2013, residents of the San Antonio district closed the Limonal crossing, causing the president at the time, Laura Chincilla to hear their demands for paving route 150; it was later paved. With that reminder, Matarrita did not leave out a possible closure of roadways in the case that the minister fails to fulfill an agreement.
Segnini responded that residents should be patient and that he does not want to react or work on roads due to closures, but instead because of orderly processes.
“I am askingyou to have perseverance and let’s keep working; as a minister I do not want to react to closures. Let’s talk and have a bit of patience until the machinery arrives. I am very motivated because I spoke with residents and as Guanacastecans we are well-mannered and courageous in solving our problems.”
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