After weeks of pressure from the unions, Dr. María del Rocío Sáenz was dismissed from the presidency of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund on Wednesday.
The unions have been pressing for weeks, annoyed by the decision of the Board of Directors of the entity to increase by 1% the amount of workers contribution to the quota of the Invalidity, Validity and Death (IVM) regime. The decision was taken by the CCSS after receiving a study prepared by the University of Costa Rica (UCR) indicating the fragility of the regime and the need to increase the income of the pension scheme.
Sáenz always maintained that the decision of the increase was technical and not political, but President Luis Guillermo Solís always supported the more political argument that sought not to create tension in public opinion and to please the sectors that protested.
On Wednesday, Sáenz was dismissed for her resistance to reversing the decision and for constantly expressing her opposition to what she believes is a violation by the Presidential House to the institutional autonomy of the CCSS.
Mario Devandas, a member of the Board of Directors of the CCSS on behalf of the workers, said that Sáenz was forced to resign, and her place will be taken by Fernando Llorca, the current Minister of Health, who would preside over the Board session tomorrow.