RICO’s Q — Last week was pretty quiet for President Laura Fernández—maybe she was giving her vocal cords a break from all the screaming in the almost two months of her presidency.
Or perhaps it was to give her “super” minister, former President Rodrigo Chaves, the spotlight.
Chaves, he didn’t waste a second. He jumped right back into action, delivering his message as Minister with all the confidence of a president.
Chaves, as the Minister of Finance, announced a 5% budget cut for various institutions across other branches of government for 2026, justifying this by citing the need to save public funds. He also stated that it will submit further budget reductions to the Legislative Assembly for 2027.
The affected institutions will be the Legislative Assembly, the Judiciary, the Ombudsman’s Office, the Comptroller General’s Office, and the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE).
Every institution he’s clashed with the leadership (Attorney General, Carlo Díaz; the former president of the Legislative Assembly, Rodrigo Arias, president of the Legislative Assembly; Marta Acosta, Comptroller General; and the TSE, the institution that tried to strip Chaves of his immunity for repeatedly violating laws requiring presidential neutrality during elections), over the past four years.
Chaves said his moves aim to cut public spending and ease the tax load highlighted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), even though he bragged about an economic boom at the close of his 2022-2026 term.
His behavior is like that of a total novice in government affairs, as if he’s just starting out and suddenly runs into a bunch of messes, chaos, and mistakes made by others—now saying he’s the one to clean it all up.
Hold on, wasn’t he the Minister of Finance toward the end of Carlos Alvarado’s term (2018-2022), and even more notably, the President of Costa Rica from 2022 to 2026?
But, wait, wasn’t he the Minister of Finance during the late part of Carlos Alvarado’s administration (2018-2022), and also—more importantly—President of Costa Rica from 2022 to 2026?
Although Chaves presented the announcement as part of the government’s spending containment plan, Chaves said the final decision will rest with the legislators, so the reduction will not take effect automatically.
“Here (in Costa Rica), the Assembly is in charge. The Government proposes, and the Assembly decides”.
How nice that sounds now, how awful it sounded before.
Hypocrisy at its best.
We’re pretty fortunate here in Costa Rica to have someone like Chaves watching out for us. Don’t you think so?