The Municipal Council of Santa Cruz in the Province of Guanacaste in Costa Rica, declared itself GE Free the 24th of October. This is the second GE Free Municipality in Costa Rica, after the decision of the Council of Paraíso de Cartago The decision to ban any GE crop inside Santa Cruz, was taken by all the members of the Council unanimously. The decision was taken after the demand of the local communities inside the Municipality because of the possibility that their crops could become contaminated by GMOs, declared Roger Matarrita, one of the members of the Council, which is also coordinator of Environment of the Municipality. According to Matarrita, the people of Guanacaste enjoy their meals based on traditional corn, and they do not want their varieties to be contaminated with transgenes. The Council committed itself to promote agroecological initiatives in the region. According to Fátima Montealegre, member of the community of Santa Bárbara de Santa Cruz, the decision of the Council is the result of a process of study and deep analysis of all the members of the Municipality. It is not just the decision of the Members of the Council, she added, but is a process promoted from the grassroots of Santa Cruz. She asked the international community to send letters of support for the decision of the Santa Cruz Council. If you want to congratulate and support this decision, you can send a Fax to: Concejo Municipal de Santa Cruz Fax (506) 680-0629. For more information [email protected] Tel: (506) 2836128