The Sámara Chamber of Tourism removed the president of the Playa Sámara Integral Development Association, Patrick McGoey, in retaliation for statements made to The Voice of Guanacaste. According to McGoey, the board of directors of the chamber made the decision because he expressed to The Voice his disagreement with the bill that would allow furniture to be placed on the country’s beaches since he considers it a kind of privatization of the Maritime Land Zone (Spanish acronym: ZMT).
The notification, sent to McGoey by the chamber on October 24 and signed by the group’s advisor, William Juárez Mendoza, indicates that the dismissal is in accordance with the association’s constitutive pact, which penalizes “immoral conduct that threatens the good name of the association or for carrying out activities contrary to the stability and harmony of the associates” (paragraph 2, article 8).
In addition, the letter detailed that the action is “as a result of the defamation with an interview with the voice of Nicoya.” McGoey specified that he only spoke with The Voice of Guanacaste, and not with the Facebook page mentioned in the letter. The Voice confirmed that the social media page does not have any posts mentioning McGoey.
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Open in new tab When asked by The Voice about the retaliation, the president of the Chamber of Tourism, Massimo Gambari, refused to comment on the issue, considering it a private matter.
The Playa Sámara Chamber of Tourism is a private association regulated by Law 218 and has its own legal mechanisms for affiliation and disaffiliation… It is inappropriate for us to have to give explanations of internal matters, of a private association, to the press,” said Gambari via WhatsApp.
However, the group looks after community interests and coordinates actions with public institutions. Their purpose, as described by themselves, is to “promote local commerce, conserve and preserve the tourist sites that they have in the area, promote the economic development of the area in the area of tourism, work together with the local government and the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (Spanish acronym: ICT) to promote the business development of small and medium-sized businesses.”
Since July of 2024, the board has been made up of Massimo Gambari (president), William Juárez (fiscal advisor), Philippe Brison (vice president), Angélica Esquivel Coronado (secretary), David Ortega Fallas (treasurer), Jennifer Chiapetta (1st vocal member), Carla Jiménez Pallmueri (2nd vocal member) and Alejandra Flores Sandival (3rd vocal member). All of them are representatives of business locations in Sámara, some of which are located in the concession area of the maritime land zone.
Opposing positions on development
According to McGoey, his position made the chamber uncomfortable because “they have many personal interests in profiting from this (the Maritime Land Zone) and that’s why they reacted so strongly by sending me a message and silencing me.”
In addition, he believes that the chamber’s measure is not only revenge for opposing the bill, but also for not agreeing with the Vistas de Sámara real estate project, a complex that intended to build a total of 3,000 rooms on land where a mangrove is buried.
McGoey was one of the local residents who, during a hearing before the Municipal Council of Nicoya, demanded that they look after the community’s natural resources, confronting the building procedures that the developers intended to raise.
This type of censorship by the Chamber of Tourism shows that it isn’t an association for the people, nor for the good of Sámara. They have their personal interests in their businesses that don’t tolerate different opinions,” pointed out McGoey.
McGoey has until November 7 to present his defense before the Chamber of Tourism. He affirmed that he will challenge his disaffiliation to “show that they can’t silence me so easily and that I really did nothing wrong. Let them tell me where the defamation is. I don’t mention names (in the interview given to The Voice of Guanacaste).”
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