RICO’s Q — President Laura Fernández has had a busy week, diving straight into a series of meetings starting Monday with members of the Legislative Assembly and key figures from the judicial branches, including the Courts and the Fiscalía.
One of the more notable moments came when opposition legislators raised complaints about their cell phones being checked as they entered the meeting at Casa Presidencial. This move gives a clear glimpse into how Chaves and Laura run things. But it begs the question: what exactly are they trying to hide? What’s behind this fear?
It has been a busy week for our new president, Laura Fernández, holding a series of meetings since Monday with members of the Legislative Assembly and the judicial branches of the government, the Courts, and the Fiscalía.
Cell phones ban
The meeting was held in a public building, Casa Presidencial (Government House), and no rule or law gives government officials the authority to ban cell phones.
Two legislators, Claudia Dobles from the Coalición Agenda Ciudadana (CAC) and Abril Gordienko of the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC), publicly criticized the new president’s actions.
Laura would NEVER have reached the presidency without Rodrigo
Meanwhile, Fernández left some people wondering what she meant when she pointed out that Magistrate Orlando Aguirre, the Chief Justice of Costa Rica’s Supreme Court, had served for 37 years, while she herself is just 39 years old.
Is it really the Chief Justice’s fault that Laura, who isn’t even 40, was chosen by Rodrigo Chaves, a 66-year-old, to be Costa Rica’s president? Because there is an undeniable truth: without Rodrigo Chaves choosing Laura as his presidential candidate, this 39-year-old would NEVER have reached the presidency.
The method for selecting judges was set up by the creators of the 1949 Constitution—not something the current judges came up with. When Laura criticizes the judges, she acts like they built the Judiciary system themselves. But really, it’s the Constitution that lays it all out, and Laura, at 39, swore to uphold.
There’s always room for improvement in everything we do, including the Judiciary. Yet, Laura and Rodrigo Chaves have spent four years pointing fingers without ever proposing a single bill to boost the Judiciary’s efficiency.
They, Laura and Rodrigo, are more interested in attacking the magistrates, who asked to lift Rodrigo Chaves’ immunity, for the “BCIE-Cariñitos” case and the $32,000 that Choreco received.
Attorney General is a ‘national disgrace’
Though the meetings took place behind closed doors—and sometimes the guests weren’t allowed to have their phones, even though they had them—news still got out that Laura Fernández insulted the Attorney General, Carlo Diaz, calling him a “national disgrace
No one should doubt that:
- Rodrigo Chaves and Laura’s top priority is to seize control of the Judiciary.
- This gives them control over every criminal investigation in the country, allowing them to weaponize that power against their political enemies—just like in every autocratic
- With a Judiciary dominated by Chavismo, Rodrigo Chaves and Laura will face no real limits in their abuses of power. Their opening move is to target the Attorney General and all the Magistrates to clear the way.
It’s time for the leaders of the biggest groups in the Assembly—Álvaro Ramírez from the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN), holding 17 seats, and José María Villalta of the Frente Amplio with 7 seats—need to step up. We’re facing a real threat to our freedoms and the rule of law.
When will they, along with Claudia Dobles, Abril Gordienko, and enough of the 31 ruling party, the Partido Pueblo Soberano (PPSO) legislators, realize that Chavismo wants total control of the Judiciary, and that the “reforms” they have proposed are not aimed at strengthening judicial independence, but rather at weakening the neutrality and impartiality of that branch of government?