RICO’s Q — In recent Costa Rican history, no president or minister—even those with strong public support—has ever traveled with the kind of security detail that Laura and Rodrigo have today at Casa Presidencial.
We’re talking full-on police convoys. Teams of bodyguards. Drones buzzing overhead. Dogs and heavy firepower.
Not even Carlos Alvarado (2018-2022), or Laura Chinchilla (2010-2014), who had less popular backing, were ever surrounded by this much protection.
So what’s behind this level of fear?
Who exactly are they protecting, and who are they really accountable to?
Supporters of this heavy security argue things like, “Speaking the truth and fighting theft is dangerous; sometimes the best defense is standing firm,” or “Because the previous leaders were buddies with those who got extradited.”
Back in May, just four days before leaving office, when President Rodrigo Chaves faced the Legislative Assembly, the concrete fortress (Legislative Assembly Building) was heavily guarded, with one of the “9 beasts” armored vehicles standing ready, manned by heavily armed UEI police—Costa Rica’s elite presidential tactical unit—along with scores of uniformed Fuerza Pública and traffic police as Chaves made his way inside.
I’d never seen anything like it before.
Not even when U.S. President Barack Obama visited, and Laura Chinchilla, ahead of Obama, halted the motorcade at Paseo Colón’s entrance, stepping out to shake hands with the waiting crowd. Doña Laura was right there, just a few feet away, with only a couple of discreet DIS agents—those quiet guys with lapel pins assigned to protect the president.
And during Luis Guillermo Solís’s administration (2014-2018), I once waited hours inside Casa Presidencial’s gates while a small crowd protested outside. When I later met Solís at a paella event, he was flanked by just one casually dressed man with a security pin.
In December 2019 at the AutoMercado in Santa Ana, my wife and I casually snapped a selfie with President Alvarado while he shopped—no security in sight. I scanned the area for any sign of protection, but nothing.
Thinking back further, I remember President Abel Pacheco (2002-2006). We were neighbors, just a few blocks apart. Most days, I’d see his motorcade: a grey Lexus and a single motorcycle traffic officer. Sometimes, while walking my dogs, I’d spot him outside his house, and we’d wave. I doubt he remembers it, but for me, it was a big deal—I was only a few years into my Costa Rica experience—and here I was exchanging a hand wave with the country’s president. His only security was one lone Fuerza Pública officer in a ‘caseta’ beside his home.
President Oscar Arias (second term, 2006-2010) and I crossed paths on several occasions—at the launch of Ruta 27 or during his peace efforts in Honduras amid a military coup crisis. Despite these tense moments, security at his Rohrmoser home was minimal.
I recall Arias walking from his home to the National Stadium for the 2010 transfer of power. I was in the crowd walking to the stadium under construction, and then backstage among VIPs, including Daniel Ortega in his signature corduroy jacket. Security was light—nothing compared to the heavy police presence outside the Legislative Assembly for Chaves’s visit in May.
So back to my original question: what is the fear behind all this heavy protection for Rodrigo, both as President and now as Minister, and for Laura Virginia?
No other administration during my time in Costa Rica had such a massive security detail.
Presidents used to move freely through the streets of Costa Rica without fear.