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Like many countries with significant social welfare programs, Costa Rica, in the mid-1990s, faced a financial crisis. In particular, its national pension system appeared to threaten the solvency of the government, already under pressure from international lenders to reduce the public payroll and the percentage of the domestic product devoted to public programs. This case focuses on the strategic decisions faced by one Costa Rican cabinet minister as he tries to rein in the projected costs of the Central American country''s most expensive pension system, that of its public school teachers. The case frames the strategic dilemma faced by a government under financial pressure, facing a widely- popular interest group.