Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis will visit the southern Pacific region of Osa tomorrow, June 15, and local residents said they will hold a protest in “defense of the rights of nature and the right of future generations,” reported local media today.

The peaceful march will begin at 8:30 a.m. leaving the old South Pacific Lyceum and arriving at the Municipality of Osa. The motto of the march is, “For Osa, For Costa Rica, For Our Planet.”

“We are not willing to allow manipulations in favor of pineapple. They will not be allowed to jeopardize the future of our families and young people by condemning them to a future as farm laborers. The shadow of the Banana Republic must disappear, and policies with no vision as well,” said the event organizers.

The activity is being organized by different peasant organizations, local businesses, educators, ecologists, student, and indigenous groups.

The specific project that is the object of the protest is the proposed planting of 600 hectares of pineapple in the Diquis delta which was approved in December 2016, and was recently halted.

Two protests of the planned pineapple expansion have been held in downtown San José, and ecologists have filed applications to annul the projects environmental permits.

On June 5, Board Front Legislator Edgardo Araya requested an investigation by the Attorney General of the Republic into the officials at the Ministry of Agriculture’s environmental technical secretariat (SETENA) who granted the environmental feasibility permit.

The protestors in southern Costa Rica hope to underscore the general feeling in the region that pineapple monoculture production threatens the region’s natural ecosystems and its cultural heritage.