The mayor of San José, Diego Miranda Mendezwarned the 2,800 officials of the capital city council that all communications and spokespersons will now be centralized solely in the mayor’s office.
This was stated in a circular sent on May 6, with its “communication strategy.” The letter reached all offices of the Municipality of San José, including management, directorates and headquarters, with the order to notify all collaborators.
Furthermore, the letter points out that the only person in charge of these matters now is Dioni Céspedes Bolaños, advisor to the mayor. The document does not specify the reasons why the instruction was sent.
consulted by The nationthe mayor stated that this is a temporary instruction, which applies until further notice.
READ MORE: Diego Miranda integrates two former leaders of Rodrigo Chaves and former mayor of the PAC into his team
Diego Miranda, mayor of the Municipality of San José, during the inauguration on May 1, 2024. Photo: Albert Marín. (Albert Marin)
Two years ago, Chamber IV annulled an order from the former mayor of San José, Johnny Araya Monge, which established that all requests for information and hearings that the councilors requested from the staff should be channeled through the mayor’s office. This included, for example, questions asked by councilors to officials about hiring or management of public funds.
The magistrates concluded that an instruction of this type violates the agile access to information by the councilors.
Do you intend to prevent officials from speaking to the press?
This medium consulted Diego Miranda if he intends to prevent municipal officials from speaking with the press or with the councilors of the Municipal Council.
The mayor argued that the directive is part of the transition process between the previous administration and his, which began last May 1.
According to him, the objective of the instruction is to establish new procedures to adequately organize the response to the media, as well as to socialize the perspective of the new municipal authorities.
“This guidance is not intended to limit communications between officials, Council members, and other interested parties. On the contrary, it seeks to reorganize the spokespersons and adapt the new authorities to the functioning of the Municipality. Our goal is to make communication more transparent, remedying past situations in which information was hidden,” he indicated.
He added that he seeks to ensure that some headquarters that previously did not provide information now do so, in a transparent and organized manner.
The nation He asked why Miranda decided to centralize the institutional spokesperson and official communications in one of his advisors, even though the Municipality of San José has an Institutional Communication department. However, no response was obtained to this query.
READ MORE: Diego Miranda, new mayor of San José: ‘We have defeated the dictatorship of Johnny Araya’
The case of Johnny Araya
In the case of former mayor Johnny Araya, the appeal for protection was presented on June 29, 2022 by the then councilor of the Citizen Action Party (PAC), Andrea Rudín, who now serves as substitute councilor for the mayor’s Juntos San José Party. Diego Miranda.
Resolution No. 22621-2022, of September 30, 2022, considered the measures taken by the Josephine mayor’s office regarding the restriction of information to councilors to be illegitimate.
READ MORE: Diego Miranda: It is ‘very likely’ that he will withdraw the Municipality of San José from the Union of Local Governments
