The Problems
Within this dispute, the Asociación de Desarrollo Integral de Garza (Garza’s Integral Development Association) is fighting to defend, according to their viewpoint, a 1,500 square meter property that they have managed for over two decades and on which they had a basketball court for several years that was used to hold various activities in benefit of the community. Ana Mendoza, Rodolfo Duarte’s wife and the first person to be evicted, is also fighting for her home. Along with the Asociación de Desarrollo de Garza, she paid the royalty charged by the Municipalidad between 1983 and 2008, after having obtained a concession from the Municipalidad of Nicoya itself. With this payment, many of the property’s residents believed that they would be able to go on living there both peacefully and legally.

Why is the Municipalidad charging a royalty?
A royalty is paid to the Municipalidades in place of property taxes. If a property is located within the Maritime Terrestrial Zone (as stated in law 6043, which was created in 1977), it is part of the National Heritage. Thereby, the municipalidades run these properties and may grant concessions and /or rights of use charging a royalty in return.

The property in dispute is located within the Maritime Terrestrial Zone. Nonetheless, according to the records at the Registro Nacional, it is under Luís Diego Francheski Chacon’s name and was registered before the law’s creation in 1977.

According to Franchesky, the current Mayor of Nicoya explained that “those collections should have never been made and that the Municipalidad recognizes him as the only owner”.

The current situation
Now, the situation has changed. The Consejo Municipal ordered a legal process to unregister the property which, according to them, may include public property since, as it was previously mentioned, the property is located within the Maritime Terrestrial Zone, making it non-lapsable. This decision was taken by the Consejo Municipal on April 12th.

“We are fighting so that the Asociacion can regain control of the property. For many years, it has been used as the site of several community activities. Now our goal is that the Municipalidad solves this situation”, explained Jeannette Rodríguez, President of the Asociación de Desarrollo de Garza.

On Wednesday, April 14th, Francheski hired a backhoe to demolish Ana Mendoza’s home since, according to Franchesky, she repeatedly returns to it in spite of having been evicted. But Ana, along with family members and friends, resisted the machine by blocking its path with a barricade of trunks and sacks. One of the people who participated in this action was holding half a gallon of gasoline in order to light the sacks on fire in case the machine insisted on coming through.

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