The relatives of the tourists who died in the rafting tragedy that occurred on October 20th, 2018 in Quepos are willing to do anything to denounce the alleged negligence committed by the Costa Rican State by promoting itself as one of the best tourist destinations.
That day, four American tourists of Hispanic origin lost their lives in the raging waters of Naranjo River. The victims were identified as Jorge Caso, Ernesto Sierra, Sergio Lorenzo, and Andrés Dennis. All of them were part of a group of 14 friends who had come to Costa Rica to celebrate a bachelor party.
The heavy rains in the high parts of the mountain caused a flood in the river. However, despite these conditions, the tourist company in charge of the rafting tour decided to go out into the water. The balance could not be worse: the boats overturned.
Almost four months after the event, the families of the victims took on a very strong campaign against Costa Rica’s tourism promotion activities . For example, this year they already visited international fairs in Madrid (Spain) and New York (USA) with a clear message that “in Costa Rica, tourism equals death”.
This was expressed by the parents of Jorge Caso and Ernesto Sierra, who on Sunday were part of an extensive report prepared by the program ‘Aquí y Ahora’ of the US network Univisión.
The relatives of the deceased visited the fairs with personalized t-shirts with the faces of the victims accompanied by a series of messages that describe the Costa Rican government as irresponsible. In addition, they insist that there are no regulations that keep licenses or security measures at bay.
It’s very difficult. It is something that cannot be imagined. I have to take my strength, because first we have to do justice and then prevent other young people from going to Costa Rica to die (…) In Costa Rica there is terrible indolence, the human being is worthless in Costa Rica, the human being only matters to them as a tourist who is going to give them money (…) We are going to unmask them. We are not going to allow them to continue promoting their murderous and fraudulent tourism,”
said Margarita Estrada, Sierra’s mother.