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THINK of Costa Rica as a Rorschach test for travelers. Outlined on a map, it has no recognizable shape. But enclosed in tropical lines of latitude, with appropriate squiggles for mountains, coasts and interior borders, it’s an inkblot for projecting travel fantasies. Beach lovers trace the craggy coasts and see hammocks swinging in the sunset breeze. The eyes of the nature-minded glaze when they note all the national parks. And adrenaline fanatics fixate on the mountains and rivers.

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The organization grew out of a meeting of community representatives in Nicoya Feb. 27. That was the same day that A.M. Costa Rica reported that the Sala IV constitutional court had invalidated a law that would protect Cauhita and Puerto Viejo homeowners who are within the 50-meter section of the maritime zone.

As a manifesto issued by this new group of representatives from 32 beach towns said, they and their ancestors have lived in and used what is now the maritime zone for years and that the government and other institutions have taken advantage of their poverty and lack of knowledge and resources  to make their situation illegal.

The maritime law went into effect in 1977. In the case of Cahuita and Puerto Viejo residents lived on that land for nearly 100 years, but they had no documents to prove it.

Very little of Costa Rica’s coastal land is under private ownership even though most of it supported dwellings and homes long before the maritime zone law. The law specifies that property from mean high tideline to 50 meters inland is public and cannot be developed except for very few uses, like marinas. The next 150 meters inland is controlled by the state and the local municipality. Private ownership is not allowed, but the municipal officials in conjunction with the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo can grant concessions for use.

The beach town group calls itself the Frente Nacional de Comunidades en Peligro de Extinsion. Representatives plan another meeting this week.

The manifesto said that residents of the communities know that the hidden agenda is to evict them from their lands and homes in favor of powerful economic interests who want to exploit the zone.

In fact, the courts have ordered municipalities to destroy many structures in the maritime zone even though some predated the maritime law. The law favoring Cahuita and Puerto Viejo provided those communities with city status and exempted the land from maritime zone rules. Now that the Sala IV has stripped the communities of city status, whole sections of beachside homes could be demolished.

The organization includes communities in the provinces of Limón, Guanacaste and Puntarenas. The group said it wanted to meet with lawmakers Friday in Nicoya to demand a halt to demolitions in Ostional, Montezuma, Tambor, Puerto Soley, Peñas Blancas, Manzanillo, Cahuita and Pochote.

The manifesto promises a general strike in the beach towns and in the nation’s border zones if some legislative action is not taken by July 25. That is the Día de Anexación de Guanacaste, which is always a festive time in that province.

In addition to finding that the law declaring the two communities cities violated the maritime zone principle, the court also said that it violated another constitutional principle by creating a special privilege for one segment of the population. The court meant those persons who were given the right to title their property.

It is not constitutionally possible to have acquired any valid rights in the maritime zone of Cahuita and Puerto Viejo after 1977, the year in which the maritime zone law went into effect, the court said. Many inhabitants of the area came later than 1977, and many who were there earlier will have trouble proving that.

Residents of that area have developed a legal process to prove and acquire title to their land. Even in today’s market some ramshackle homes are sitting on million dollar beach properties.

The case is a complex one that has been moving slowly through the courts. The court decision Wednesday throws out a 2005 law that was designed to make the two communities cities and allow residents to obtain title to properties on which some of their families have lived for nearly 100 years.

The maritime zone law declares all land countrywide within 50 meters of high tide to be for public use and all land 150 meters further inland to be government property which can be leased as a concession from the government.

City status is a way to sidestep the maritime zone law because cities are exempt from its provisions.

Although many Cahuita families have lived on, farmed and made their living from these same properties for nearly 100 years, the land was never titled in the Registro Nacional.

In 1977, with the enactment of the maritime zone law and because residents had no legal titles, it appeared the original Cahuita families and others owning land within the zone might lose their property altogether.

Many properties in the two communities in the Cantón de Talamanca are close to the beach and well within the maritime zone. Some structures also are within the 50-meter zone.

After the law was passed residents had a year to obtain a title. The Sala IV action would seem to void those titles since the decision is retroactive.

The case was pushed by two former legislators, Luis Ángel Ramírez Ramírez of the Partido Liberación Nacional and Quírico Jiménez Madrigal, a former member of the Partido Acción Ciudadana. Ramírez is a lawyer, and Jiménez is a biologist and a college professor.

In addition to finding that the law declaring the two communities cities violated the maritime zone principle, the court also said that it violated another constitutional principle by creating a special privilege for one segment of the population. The court meant those persons who were given the right to title their property.

It is not constitutionally possible to have acquired any valid rights in the maritime zone of Cahuita and Puerto Viejo after 1977, the year in which the maritime zone law went into effect, the court said.  Many inhabitants of the area came later than 1977, and many who were there earlier will have trouble proving that.

In human terms, the court decision, released Thursday, takes away valuable ownership of prime Caribbean seacoast property from the many residents and sets the stage for concession requests from large tourism operators.

Both Puerto Viejo and Cahuita are known as laid back, alternative lifestyle communities whose residents are mainly from the black Caribbean population in the Provincia de Limón. The area is a magnet for surfers and also for those drawn by the local national park.