Costa Rican Libertarians Keep Poor and Handicapped Out of Jail
In early March, Costa Rican Libertarians stopped a bill in Congress which
was intended to send to prison all sellers and buyers of illegal lotteries
and raffles.
Libertarian Congressman Otto Guevara - the only Libertarian among 57
Congressmen - worked hard to warn the public about the consequences of this
bill. In Costa Rica, "informal" (i.e., privately-run) lotteries and raffles
are the major income -- in many cases the only income -- of handicapped and
elderly people and single mothers who can't work.
"The government will send single mothers and
handicapped people to the same prisons where it sends murderers, rapists,
burglars and kidnappers -- only because they are making an honest way of
living," Guevara said in one of his speeches.
The efforts of Guevara and other libertarians aroused public opposition to
the bill. Other Congress members were deluged with letters and faxes until
the government withdrew the bill.
But Guevara is going further - demanding the legalization of the lotteries.
Currently only the government can legally runs lotteries. Most of the
revenue from these government monopoly lotteries goes to welfare programs.
Guevera points out the irony of this: "I don't get it. It is right for
these people
to be recipients of governmental charity -- but it is immoral for them to earn
their own money?" he asks.
Thanks to Guevara and other libertarians, a large movement is growing to
legalize these popular lotteries.
(Source: Movimiento Libertario, email newsletter of the Libertarian Party
of Costa Rica.)
| 
