QCOSTARICA – Since he took office on May 8, 2022, President Rodrigo Chaves has had to deal with the complications generated by legislators and the press in general, according to the most recent survey by Opol Consultores.
The result indicated that, for the majority of Costa Ricans, the Legislative Assembly (30.6%) and the media (25.6%), are the main obstacles in the president’s work.
Also, 12.1% of the responders indicated Chaves himself is an obstacle, 11.2% the opposition parties, 4.7% others and 3.1% the unions.
The survey taken at the end of last year, also indicates that 83.4% of Ticos support the administration of President Chaves, while only 10% of Costa Ricans do not support his work.
Since he took office, the president has been a severe critic of some media and has also described lawmakers as “irresponsible” and “shameless.”
This, due to the cut of ¢86 billion in the debt interest payment item for 2023, which increased public spending by making various transfers; Likewise, the president questioned legislators for imposing their will on a project that extended the concessions of the Golfito Free Deposit without any type of competition.
“I have to make a very hard reflection. Some legislators have behaved irresponsibly towards the country, I am referring to their actions to impede the government’s efforts to maintain fiscal stability in this country, violating very basic budgetary principles (…) Of the ¢86 billion that they cut, they reallocated about ¢34 billion in expenses such as transfers to development associations. That would be like the father of a family who decides to stop paying the mortgage on the house and the car, to go to the beach, regardless of the fact that when one stops paying, they take away the house,” said Chaves.
The President’s annoyance became somewhat personal, since he named publicly the legislators who, in his opinion, have acted badly.
They are Felipe García and Alejandro Pacheco from the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC), Gilbert Jiménez, Sonia Rojas, José Joaquín Hernández and Paulina Ramírez from the Partido Liberacion Nacional (PLN), José Pablo Sibaja from Nueva República and Jonathan Acuña from the Frente Amplio (FA).
To the list must also be added Kattia Rivera, head of the PLN, and PLN legislator from Puntarenas, Francisco Nicolás.
The differences between the President and the legislators affected political relations for several weeks, but at the end of the day they managed to reach an agreement to approve relevant projects such as Eurobonds.
