By Wendy Anders

Taxi drivers are making good on their promises to stage a protest tomorrow, Thursday, October 20, in downtown San José.

Taxi unions stated that at 9:00 a.m. they would begin “marching” east up Paseo Colon from the La Sabana Park’s eastern edge, reported the Costa Rican mainstream daily La Nación.

The drivers are planning to stop at the Department of Revenue on 2nd Avenue across from the National Theater, and then head further east to the Constitutional Court.

During a protest in early August on the same issue, Costa Rican police arrested 78 taxi drivers who engaged in violent and disruptive activity, as reported in various local media.

The protesters plan to request that tax authorities open an investigation into Uber’s tax liabilities in Costa Rica, said La Nación.

Gilbert Ureña, president of the National Taxi Drivers Forum, said that the protesters would also appeal judges to reject a constitutional motion filed by legislators last October.

Two months after Uber began operating in Costa Rica, Libertarian Party Legislators Otto Guevara and Natalia Diaz filed a motion to declare several laws regulating public transportation unconstitutional. They are claiming that the laws impede free trade, business freedom, and consumer choice, stated La Nación.

The press office of the Constitutional Court reported that the motion is under consideration, and that there is a deadline for its resolution.

Ureña said the activity would not block streets, and that no tactics to slow down or block traffic would be employed as part of the protest, added La Nación.