Costa Rica

Green sweep

By Peter Krupa | Published: February 3, 2010

The final opinion poll of the election cycle is out, and it looks like Costa Rica is going to stay firmly in the hands of the ruling National Liberation Party (PLN). That also means that in less than a week, Costa Rica will have its first woman president, Laura Chinchilla.

At 41.9%, Chinchilla is polling comfortably ahead of the four-candidate field. Her closest challenger, Libertarian Party candidate Otto Guevara, is pulling in a little more than 20%. Left-wing Citizen Action Party candidate Otton Solís is around about there as well. Chinchilla needs over 40% to win in the first round, but even if she doesn’t get it, she would be about 10 points ahead of either candidate in a run-off.

The PLN is set to win big in Costa Rica’s unicameral legislature as well. La Nación is projecting it will pick up 22 out of 57 seats, with an outside possibility of the verdiblancos winning a majority.

This means Costa Rica is likely to see the policies of current President Oscar Arias continue without interruption, as Chinchilla’s most recent of many government posts was as Arias’ VP. In some senses, this is a good thing. Switching parties every four years tends to leave a country’s development spinning in the aisle, and a clean continuation of PLN leadership might mean that the crucial infrastructure and public safety issues currently confronting the country will get dealt with.

On the other hand, Arias has made some deals with the devil the Chinese whose full implications are not yet known. Crime and cocaine trafficking through Costa Rica increased under his watch. And he’s also been a pretty consistent promoter of open-pit gold mining even as he says he’s not.

In sum, if Chinchilla wins, don’t look for anything drastic (or anything at all) to change, which I suppose is exactly the way the Ticos want it.

Also posted in Politics | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

  • DAILY LINKS

    • The Nation has a long, wonky, wonderful article on Mexican maize cultivation, the effects of NAFTA, and the dangers of genetically-modified seeds. Author Peter Canby backs up his excellent writing with piles and piles of meticulous research. Not to be missed. [link, via SM] (Image from Joel Penner.)

    • Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas ended his hunger strike yesterday after 134 days. Farinas decided to end his strike after the Cuban government said it would release political prisoners rounded up in the "Black Spring" crackdown of 2003. Get well soon. [link]

    • The Uruguayan selection, which has made it to the quarter finals of the World Cup, just received a shipment of half a ton of fine cuts of beef for the mother of all asados in preparation for a contest against Ghana on Friday: "450 kilos of lomo, 200 of entrecot, 75 of vacío, 75 of colita de cuadril, 150 of ojo de bife and 50 kg of picaña." [link]

    • Hitmen have assassinated the PRI candidate for governor of Tamaulipas State, Rodolfo Torre Cantú. Torre was gunned down along with six others at about 10:30 this morning on a highway on the way to a campaign event. Drug mafias are assumed to be responsible. [link]

    • From the days when coups were something of a regional sport, new documents detail a famous British ballerina's role in a plot to topple the government of Panama. The plan was to use her yacht to gather men and arms, then "land somewhere and collect in the hills." It didn't work. [link]

    • Mexico's Attorney General's Office has posted on its web site irrefutable evidence that gold-plated AR-15s and diamond-studded pistol grips are not nearly as cool-looking as they sound. The deadly knick-knack collection is said to belong to Valencia Cartel leader El Lobo. [link]

    • Two Brazilian ranchers were sentenced to 30 years in prison apiece for ordering the killing of an environmentalist nun: "Prosecutors said the pair offered to pay a gunman $25,000 to kill the 73-year-old [Dorothy] Stang because she had prevented them from stealing a piece of land that the government had granted to a group of poor farmers." [link]


    • This video of a kidnapping and car chase in Mexico is notable mainly for the bad-assitude of the TV journalists who were on this like white on rice. Well done, gentlemen.

    • The Economist takes a peak at the Mockus phenomenon in Colombia: "His moustacheless beard gives him the air of a Baltic pastor... He is financing his campaign with a bank overdraft. His supporters rely on Facebook and make their own posters; street vendors sell unofficial campaign T-shirts." [link]

    • Some cruise lines will cease traveling to Antarctica after this cruise season, as a ban on the use and carriage of heavy fuel oil goes into effect next year. The ban came after a 2007 incident when a Gap Adventures ship got punctured by ice and sank, causing a mess. [link]