A bill that aims to build a technologic park and a university center for technological training on El Calvo cemetery in San José raises controversy.
The initiative, under file 20.037, was presented by the Municipality of San José and it aims to stop 1,600 square meters of the cemetery from being a public domain asset to be a patrimonial asset.
Freddy Pacheco León, a former professor from the National University, warned that in that part of the cemetery, there are thousands of corpses who have been buried in the last 100 years at a depth of 1.90 meters.
There are corpses everywhere, so how is it going to be built there? Can you imagine how macabre it would be to work in that place?
declared the professor.
He recalled that the municipality tried to do the same thing 5 years ago, but it was rejected by the Constitutional Chamber, the Comptroller General of the Republic and the Ombudsman’s Office.
He also expressed his concern about the loss of spaces to bury bodies in the future.
Legislator Ligia Fallas, who opposes the initiative, said that, if it becomes a patrimonial asset, the land can be sold.
However, legislator Marcela Guerrero said that according to the Ministry of Health, the land that would be used does not contain human remains.