Three men, three women and a two-year-old girl, all native of Texas, United States, suffered the collateral effects of the ongoing protests in Costa Rica.

The tourists were driving a van in Caldera, Puntarenas, when they got caught in the middle of a clash between the protesters that were blocking the road and the Police authorities that were forced to use tear gas to get them to move.

One of the tourists was videotaping the events from inside the car, when a big thud startled the occupants of the van, the sound came from a huge rock that hit and broke the back windshield of the van. A second video shows the damage to the car.

The National Tourism Chamber (CANATUR) condemned these acts, that affect the experiences of visitors in the country and hurt the image that the country has worked hard to build. Tourism is Costa Rica’s main economic activity.

CANATUR also request that authorities are more forceful in the event of roadblocks or other illegal acts.

“We consider that acts of this kind completely take away from the purpose of a pacific strike and turn into protests involving violence and vandalism. This is clearly now the image we want to project to the world”, stated Sary Valverde, President of CANATUR.

#CostaRica| Turistas son agredidos en medio de las protestas por el alza de impuestos #HuelgaCR @mbachelet @Pontifex_es @mrdannyglover #SosCostaRica pic.twitter.com/3lIt9x0zg1

— @JSPedroAráuz (@JSPedroArauz) October 5, 2018