Former President Oscar Arias has warned that a security agreement with the United States violates Costa Rica’s Constitution. The National Liberation Party continues to question security agreements signed by several Latin American countries, including Costa Rica, with the United States.
In recent hours, both former President Óscar Arias and PLN Secretary-General Miguel Guillén have made new statements. The former president questioned the significance of the meeting and its legal validity.
“Regarding the meeting of the 12 Latin American presidents with President Trump and his secretaries of state and defense, I believe that, had it been of any importance, such a meeting should have been held at the White House and not at his private club in Miami,” he wrote.
“According to reports, its purpose was to form a military coalition between the United States and Latin American nations to fight criminal organizations and combat narco-terrorism. “Such an agreement is absurd for our country, which has no army, and therefore constitutes a flagrant violation of our Constitution,” he added. Arias also questioned the timing of the meeting, given the context of the war currently affecting the Middle East, as well as its motivations.
“In the current war initiated by the United States against Iran, it has become clear that President Donald Trump’s administration has no justification for it. “Both the president and his secretaries of state and defense have offered various reasons to justify the start of this war. It is possible that the real reason has not been stated: that the war serves to divert attention from the infamous ‘Epstein case,’” Arias stated.
Previously, the PLN leadership had referred the issue of the agreements with the United States to the Constitutional Chamber. Now, however, it is also calling for more public details about the agreements.
“We demand that the Executive Branch, President Rodrigo Chaves Robles and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, make public, in its entirety and without ambiguity, the document signed by President Donald Trump, and that, as the Costa Rican president himself has publicly stated, he endorsed it at the meeting held in Doral,” said Miguel Guillén.
“In a mature democracy, no international commitment that may have implications for security, defense, or military cooperation can be kept in the dark,” he added. According to the PLN’s criticism, the national institutional model is grounded more in international law, cooperation, and diplomacy. It is also rooted in the abolition of the army in 1948.
In that vein, Guillén insisted that the details of the agreement be made public. “Only by knowing the full content of that document will we be able to determine whether its provisions are consistent with the Constitution, specifically Article 12, which abolished the army, with Costa Rica’s historic principles of active neutrality, and with our diplomatic tradition of peaceful conflict resolution,” he noted.
