Not Again Costa Rica

News as heard from a second hand source, my mother in law:

Yesterday morning, a bridge collapsed in Orotina with a bus carrying over 30 people. Six people died, according to channel 7 news yesterday around 1 pm (not sure if the death count has gone up since that time.)

Now, I don't watch or listen to much Costa Rican news, it's too depressing. However, I tend to get my news second hand from my in laws, who watch enough of that depressing stuff for all of us (even back in the states, watching my local 10 o clock news left me feeling sad, so I only limited my intake of news to one channel, once a day).

While the news is informative, the latest report and death toll really pissed me off. Now, according to my mother in law, the Costa Rican government KNEW that the bridges (and that's ALL BRIDGES) were bad and in dire need of repair or of being rebuilt). But oh no, guess what? When it comes to Costa Rica and their people's safety, the government wants to cry broke. According to them, the money isn't there to fix the bridges. So guess, what, they'll just let people die in the process until they reluctantly come to their senses and fix the damn bridges.

If you've ever been to Costa Rica or you live here, you know just how scary some of these bridges are. Some are so old and rickety, they sway back and forth while you drive over them, appearing as if they could buckle at any moment. Some are so small only one vehicle can pass at a time. And some are so terribly built, they have holes in every part of their structure. Have you ever seen a bridge so old and built out of rotting wood that was a main bridge used daily by cars, trucks and buses? A bridge in such disrepair, yet it's the only way from point A to point B, it makes you want to piss your pants every time you cross it. Well, welcome to Costa Rica. Shame, Shame Shame on you!!!

I don't know the inner workings of the Costa Rican government (I'll be the first to admit this). But from my understanding and from the outside looking in, how can they not have the money to repair the bridges when people's lives are at stake?

They are building a brand new highway that I am sure is costing millions of dollars. While the new highway (thanks to the information from a fellow CR blogger) is needed, I am sure it's not a life or death situation. Fixing the bridges are.

Those poor people on that bus yesterday, going about their every day life, not even thinking for a second that that day would be their last. Riding a bus that I myself could have been on, only to find themselves in that predicament. Granted, the bus usually lets people off and then allow them to board again once it has safely crossed the bridge. But it doesn't matter why, of all days, the driver crossed the bridge full of passengers on that day. If the bridge is bad, it would have collapsed either way, with or without the people on board.

It doesn't matter what the government wants to say (one theory being put out there is that the bus was overcrowded with under 40 people, when generally speaking a bus can carry a load much larger than that). The blame falls where it needs to, squarely on the government's shoulders. They know the bridges are bad, and yet let people drive over them on a daily basis. Yes, it's the government's fault, plain and simple.

Are there no funds at all, you're telling me Costa Rica. You would rather have a mounting death toll than fix the problem? It might not be easy, but it sure as hell is important.

I am shocked by the cavalier attitude the Costa Rican government is taking, like so many other governments around the world. They just don't give a F U C K! And that is what it boils down to.

The Japanese or the Chinese is funding the construction of a brand new and beautiful stadium in Costa Rica (right there in Sabana). It's a gift. Why not ask them to help fund the reconstruction of bridges instead.... wouldn't that be an even better gift to Costa Rican's everywhere? Do we really need a new stadium at this stage when the bridges should take precedent. Is the government so ignorant as to not think this?

It just boils my blood because Costa Rica is filled with hard working people who don't deserve this kind of treatment (no one in any country should be treated like this). They deserve better, as do we all.

People need to travel to and from their homes and work places and across bridges... how are they supposed to feel knowing that at any moment it could be their lives hanging in the balance because their government ceases to care. It could have been any one of us on that bus. Or it could have been a car full of kids or a family van with babies in the back seat. Why let things get this far before doing something. Why do people always have to die for governments to realize that it is their job to take care of their people.

So Costa Rica, listen up... find the damn money to fix the damn bridges. Or I pray and hope that if you don't, you'll have a revolution on your hands. In a peaceful country such as this, how do you think you'll look to the world and your American buddy if your people are in turmoil? Listen up, take notice and start to give a shit.