Following several failed attempts, a majority of council members agreed to move forward with the process to purchase land for the new municipal cemetery.
During the session of the Municipal Council this Monday, April 28, Santos Juarez, president of the cemetery commission, presented the approved, up-to-date land survey that the municipality intended to purchase.
However, Ana Lizeth Espinoza, president of the council, once again moved to reject the authorization of Marco Jimenez, the municipal mayor, to complete the transfer of the property through the Procurement Department.
Espinoza repeated her doubts about the legality of the land survey. Councilor Carlos Medina also expressed his opposition, due to the presence of important water resources on the three-hectare property that the municipality intends to purchase, which belongs to Mario Rojas.
Both council members assured that they had seen technical studies on the presence of aquifer recharge zones on the land. However, neither could specify to which documentation they were referring or in what circumstance the studies had been completed.
The president decided to request the opinion of Alexander Gutierrez, legal advisor for the council, regarding the legality of the property’s survey. Gutierrez affirmed that the document “is valid, with the date of April 22 of this year; for that reason I don’t see any obstacle to proceeding with the purchase of the property.”
Regarding the rejection of the agreement, council member Rodolfo Orozco said that the councilors Medina and Espinoza “are not interested in building the new cemetery for the city of Nicoya, as neither of them live in downtown Nicoya, but I am interested because if someone from my family, or even I die, I wouldn’t have somewhere to be buried.”
For their part, the councilors Juan Luis Aguirre and Juan Edwin Yockchen decided not to speak on the subject. Yockchen ceded his right to speak to Santo Juarez, who forcefully explained that the accusations of Medina and Espinoza are false, as the land is not close to a source of subterranean water. He reminded them that as councilors they should be worried about Nicoyans’ health and security.
The final vote was 3-2 in favor of moving forward with the process of purchasing the land and transferring the deed.
Marco Jimenez said that he feels satisfied, but not completely “because this [the vote] should have been unanimous. These are people who find hairs in their soup.” He then stated, “This kind of person should leave Nicoya’s municipal council and give their space to someone who wants to work.”
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