Costa Rica accuses Bolivian president of meddling in election

Don’t mess with Costa Rica.

The Foreign Ministry said it deplored Bolivian President Evo Morales’ comments on Feb. 7 claiming Costa Rica was a former colony of the United States and that the U.S. had disbanded the country’s army, according to a statement released Monday.

Morales, who was commenting on recent elections in Costa Rica and El Salvador, said, “For the first time a leftist party stands out in a country that was once a colony of the United States, and I think – and I hope I’m not wrong – it is a country without armed forces, as the United States eliminated the army in Costa Rica.”

Costa Rica disbanded its army in 1948 following a civil war – and the U.S. was not involved.

“President Morales’ declaration on Feb. 7, 2104, about the electoral process constituted interference in the internal affairs of Costa Rica,” the statement read.

The Foreign Ministry stressed that Costa Rica’s repulsion of William Walker, a pro-slavery invader from Tennessee who proposed annexing Central America into the United States in the 1850s, was one of the most prodigious moments in the country’s history:

“Costa Rica recalls that it was for this feat by the Costa Rican people, who not only liberated themselves from the threat of colonialism by the United States, but who also liberated Nicaragua, which was [a colony].”

The statement from the ministry called the comments an “unjust attack,” but aimed to take the high road in the end, reiterating Costa Rica’s support for the people of Bolivia and its democratically elected government.