RICO’s Q — Representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica held separate meetings with legislators from the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC) caucus and an independent legislator, Luis Diego Vargas, according to reports from La Nacion, El Observador, and CRHoy.com.
The report indicates that the meetings took place in the days leading up to the legislative session in which a vote was held regarding the lifting of the immunity of President Rodrigo Chaves. According to several legislators, this issue was mentioned within a broader discussion. However, the embassy did not provide details about the content of the conversations.
The vote on Tuesday revealed that most PUSC legislators opposed lifting the president’s immunity, which meant the measure fell short, receiving just 34 votes instead of the 38 needed.
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The U.S. Embassy press office stated, in response to an inquiry from El Observador: “U.S. diplomats meet regularly with a variety of Costa Rican government officials and non-governmental leaders to discuss many issues. We generally do not discuss the details of these meetings with the media.”
The meetings took place on December 10.
The Observer reported that it had access to the log of the meeting, where the main points of the meeting addressed the need to move forward on three legislative projects, including:
- Regarding Bill 25.122 on extradition, the U.S. Embassy requested that the text be expanded to include money laundering, murders related to the activities covered by the bill, and international cybercrime.
- As for Bill 24.860, which reforms the disciplinary regime of the Judiciary, they emphasized the need to strengthen measures against corruption and criminal infiltration.
- They also thanked Representative Melina Ajoy for Bill 10796, which they considered important for protecting citizens on beaches.
However, none of the points discussed mentioned the issue of presidential immunity, only that the U.S. delegation expressed concern to the head of the PUSC party, Alejandro Pacheco Castro, about the consequences of potentially lifting presidential immunity.
The U.S. Embassy’s concern echoes that expressed by U.S. Representative Mario Díaz-Balart, who requested a meeting with the Costa Rican ambassador to the United States, Catalina Crespo, regarding the process of lifting the immunity of President Rodrigo Chaves.
Díaz-Balart, who chairs the subcommittee on providing foreign assistance to support democracy and is of Cuban descent, expressed his concern about what he believes is happening in Costa Rica.
“The possibility that a sitting president—in one of the most stable and consolidated democracies in the region—could be removed for political reasons through procedures whose constitutional basis is questionable raises serious concerns,” the Congressman stated on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
In an interview with a media outlet, Crespo said she was summoned to a hearing in the U.S. Congress, when in reality it was a meeting between her and Díaz-Balart.
Costa Rica’s Foreign Minister Arnoldo André Tinoco appeared before the Comisión de Relaciones Internacionales (legislative commission on International Relations) on December 10. Before the legislators, Tinoco defended Crespo’s actions, but emphasized that he did not endorse the statements made to the media.