Costa Rica paralyzed the construction of a Spanish Hotel due to poor worker conditions

Costa Rica paralyzed the Spanish construction of a hotel at the poor conditions of workers. The 1,500 workers at the site, one of whom died last week, living in overcrowded shacks. The Costa Rican Ministry of Health on Monday ordered the Spanish company Riu to halt construction of the hotel on the Pacific coast due to poor sanitary conditions in which some 1,500 workers lived. Costa Rican Health Minister, Maria Luisa Avila, said to the national press that the decision was taken after detecting that the laborers were crowded into barracks. This noticed after last week's death of a Nicaraguan worker suffering from severe vomiting, fever and diarrhea. Many other workers also suffered in recent weeks of health problems. As a result, the authorities had ordered closure of the barracks that housed more than 1,500 laborers who built the Hotel Riu, a complex of 700 luxury rooms in Matapalo beach in the Pacific north coast of Costa Rica. The company had suspended work last week, and workers had to return on Thursday to continue construction, but the minister indicated that the continuation of works on that date was unauthorized. "They were sent instructions to close barracks, bathrooms, kitchen and dining room until they resolved a series of questions on how these people work," she said. The company also has been asked to report on the origin and immigration status, social security and medical coverage of the workers. So far, Riu has not commented about the incident and has not disclosed the results of the autopsy on the deceased worker.