No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeArchiveCandidate Villalta says nationalization is not part of his plan for Costa...

Candidate Villalta says nationalization is not part of his plan for Costa Rica

José María Villalta of the Broad Front Party, the current presidential front-runner in the latest poll in Costa Rica, had to defend his redistributive policies to a pro-business crowd during a debate at the Costa Rican Union of Private Business Sector Chambers and Associations (UCCAEP) Thursday afternoon.

The left-leaning candidate said that Costa Rica’s tax system should be more progressive, demanding that some sectors, especially, finance, should pay more taxes to offset the country’s rising inequality rate.

Villalta, who currently leads in the polls, raised eyebrows earlier in the campaign when he spoke about pulling Costa Rica out of the U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, and reassessing the country’s other trade agreements. On Thursday, however, the candidate took a step back, saying that it was not “viable” to revoke Costa Rica’s participation in CAFTA, despite his personal distaste for the free trade agreement.

Costa Rica exports more than any other country behind only the United States within the regional trade alliance.

Villalta clarified a question from the audience that nationalization was not part of the Broad Front’s government plan.

Besides taxes, Costa Rica’s presidential candidates addressed the high cost of electricity and the country’s deteriorating infrastructure.

Libertarian Movement Party candidate Otto Guevara hammered on his campaign promise to open Costa Rica’s electricity market to private generators as a solution to high prices, which he and UCCAEP agreed drives businesses and investment out of Costa Rica.

“Opening the energy market will benefit everyone,” Guevara said, referencing the positive affects of CAFTA on the liberalization of the telecommunications and insurance industries.

Several candidates pushed back against this idea, from National Liberation Party candidate Johnny Araya to Guillermo Solís and José María Villalta of the Citizen Action Party (PAC) and the Broad Front Party, respectively.

Electricity in Central America is three times higher than in other regions, according to the Inter-American Development Bank. The bank estimates the wholesale price of electricity in Central America at $150 per megawatt compared to $50 in other “similar systems.”

PAC’s Solís said that infrastructure investment was the most “urgent” problem facing Costa Rica, and that it was synonymous with competitiveness. Several candidates spoke about the need to repair Costa Rica’s crumbling bridges and build new highways. Villalta said that the country needed a holistic infrastructure approach that looked beyond new highways as the only solution to congestion, including trains connecting the cities of the San José metro area, and other public transportation options.

UCCAEP vice president and debate moderator Luis Mesalles challenged several of the candidates’ claims that large infrastructure projects would generate jobs in the quantities they promised.

Mesalles also noted that most candidates sidestepped the issue of Costa Rica’s ports in favor of highways. According to the World Bank, Costa Rica has the worst ports in Central America. 

Trending Now

Costa Rica’s Piangua Mollusk Threatened by Pineapple Farm Runoff

Costa Rica’s Térraba-Sierpe National Wetland, a 33,000-hectare haven of mangroves and rivers, is under siege from an unlikely source: pineapple farms. A study by...

An Expat’s Take: 5 Burning Questions About Life in Costa Rica Right Now

Have you been keeping up with the various events taking place in Costa Rica? There is always something interesting going down, and here are...

Costa Rica’s Top Court Bans President Chaves from 2026 Election Campaign

Costa Rica’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal on Thursday barred President Rodrigo Chaves from participating in the 2026 election campaign, ruling that he "illegitimately used" his...

Costa Rica Hunts for Nicaraguan Hit Squad After Exile’s Assassination

Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) is investigating whether a hit squad tied to Nicaragua’s Ortega-Murillo regime is targeting exiled critics on its soil....

Celso Gamboa Allegedly Ran Drug Ring with Costa Rican Government Ties

Celso Gamboa, once Costa Rica’s Security Minister and a Supreme Court judge, now faces extradition to the U.S. for leading a major cocaine trafficking...

Climate Change in Costa Rica Devastates Coffee Farms in Los Santos

In Costa Rica’s Los Santos region, famous for producing nearly half the country’s coffee, farmers are reeling from heavy losses driven by wild weather....
spot_img
Costa Rica Tours
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica