Over the weekend, President Rodrigo Chaves toured San Carlos and highlighted that Costa Rica has many conditions necessary to become a prosperous nation. However, he questioned the institutional framework and the democratic system. He assured that Costa Rica has the potential to be one of the most prosperous countries in the world and does not need to envy Ireland or Singapore.
The President said the happiness of Ticos is tarnished by certain problems that have been inherited. “Corruption, fiefdoms… the perfect dictatorship of 75 years. They made us think that this (country), when they only let it be partially ours,” Chaves remarked.
President Rodrigo Chaves also criticized the fact that, according to Article 9 of the Political Constitution, the Government of the Republic must be popular, representative, participatory, alternative, and responsible, exercised by the people and the three independent powers.
He also mentioned that Article 105, which grants the people the power to legislate through Congress by means of suffrage, prohibits the calling of referendums to approve or repeal laws and partial reforms of the Constitution in matters of pensions, security, and administrative acts. The President called the democratic regime created 75 years ago, after the 1948 civil war, a “perfect dictatorship,” which he believes is still in place today.
“We are talking about things that, for 75 years, during the perfect dictatorship, were set up by very intelligent people. We, the owners of the country, have already realized it. You, madam, already know that things have to be changed; we have realized that institutions are not there to serve interest groups,” he said.
The President indicated that the country is moving forward despite the fact that the Comptroller General of the Republic and Congress slow it down. “75 years of the same Legislative Assembly, with small changes, appointing the same magistrates, the same Chamber IV, making the same decisions,” he pointed out.
In the middle of his speech, Chaves proceeded to imitate the noise of a jaguar. The President participated in the inauguration of two tanks that will guarantee water storage for the next 20 years in the northern zone, benefiting about 20,000 people.
