Nothing makes me an expert in neither predictions nor results. You, as expatriates very much need to be in the loop and talk amongst yourselves.
It is critical to your future in Costa Rica, your investments and the cost of living. To walk away, absent of opinion and knowledge is simply an not an acceptable alternative from reality.
While I might not meet your expectations or your opinions, “I am here and I care!” For to move forward, you need to do the same.
There is not a question, as indicated by all polls that the Mayor of San Jose, Johnny Araya will become the next president of Costa Rica. And, if you are reading any news at all, we also know he will inherit a host of issues and critical problems.
Don’t get this wrong…I think Mayor Araya would do well as president of Costa Rica.
For almost one year we have met at 10:00 AM once a week for two hours.
I promised the PLN candidate that whatever we discussed would always be confidential, and so be it. What I can publish are his concerns, his position and his thinking as a person. I promise to you readers that what I am writing is correct.
Araya is 56 years old, a youngster in politics and he has been the mayor of San Jose for almost 20 years. He has been an advocate of development, has been to China more than once and considers himself an advocate of Asian opportunity.
Johnny Araya is dismayed with his political party “Partido Liberacion Nacional” (PLN) and is dedicated to bring that party back to its root mission. He is not a neoliberal but rather a liberal. However, he is not willing to rescind the international agreements of Arias and Chinchilla.
Araya is far more practical than his predecessors and his fear is to alienate the people of Costa Rica which have given up on democracy as well as liberalism such as described by the founding fathers.
That liberalism incorporates private enterprise, the right to profit and social well being as in health and education. He believes in technical schools that offer expertise to repair cars, computers and anything else mechanical. He believes in public universities as well as technical institutions.
While traveling is essential, Araya is more national than Arias or Chinchilla and wants to focus on the infrastructure and those critical things that attract or turn-off both tourism and taxpaying investors.
His biggest challenge is democracy itself.
According to some studies, 60% of the eligible voters do not care to vote. They are turned off on the concept that voting is meaningful. And there is a group of young lions who agree! They are in favor of a benevolent dictator who can eliminate the needless legal system and protect the public at large. Who? No names for now, but there is an informal group who challenge democracy and they have been supported by the Chinchilla administration.
As in all cases in Costa Rica, the press will convict and condemn! “We do not need a court!”
