Most certainly it is correct that our new president elect, as announced on Monday, will research the “state of the nation” before making any substantial decisions. I would have thought his political party, PAC, had already done this prior to making all those campaign promises; apparently not. Furthermore, I personally do not believe the Araya politicos haD the true “state of the nation” under their belt either. In fact, I wager the current administration with the leadership of Laura Chinchilla has no idea what sort of socioeconomic condition the country is in.
In short, government, semi-government, stand-alone-institutions are all so convoluted and tied to each other’s hip; who knows what the true situation is in Paradise?
It is taught in schools of management that we need a compelling reason to effect change.
The dramatic change from a powerful, ruling political party to an obscure one and last place candidate who is now the president elect was innate. Change was intrinsic as Liberación (Partido Liberación Nacional) was judged detrimental by a large number of the eligible voting population, not once but twice.
“Change” did not come to fruition for any single reason in specific but rather for all those micro-issues that Liberación misjudged and the unhappy people of Costa Rica who held their compelling reasons close to their chests for fear of retribution. That is until they went to the voting booths and then, only then did the out pouring of disappointment in our country’s management for the past eight years and the loathing of those associated with the traditional Liberación party jump up and take shape.
The second vote, or run-off vote, was only a mere formality and Araya recognized that early on despite his own campaign efforts. From that recognition, Liberación’s own polls, the poll results of Semenario Universidad, Araya quit the campaign trail and rightfully so.
“Costa Rica, we’ve got a problem.”
Luis Guillermo Solis has been elected president of Costa Rica. However, the de facto PAC party leader is none other than Ottón Solis, (Not related) and not Luis Guillermo. Ottón is a leftist and a person who has a significant following within our country. In addition he has the reputation as, “if it is not my way, hit the highway,” type of person. The man can very well become an anchor drag to effecting change and CR business fears that as does Foreign Direct Investment. It is Luis Guillermo who has the unpleasant task to take control of government, demonstrate that control and keep control of his own political party.
And What of Partido Liberación Naciónal?
Liberación has forced its leader, Johnny Araya out and is seeking a new head of party to once again put this monolithic political group back in power. Actually, the PLN does have control of the National Assembly (Congress) and can easily play the spoiler. Solis and PAC very much need alliances and while one would expect those to come from the “left”, PAC might not be far enough “left” to garner support from progressive liberals unless the other Solis, Ottón, leads the way.
As well as a party leader, Liberación is desperately searching for a new identity, one that discards the corrupt neoliberal image, the floundering big government with endless turnovers of ministers and administrators ever since Oscar Arias had his photo taken with the all new Austopistas de Sol road to Caldera and Lady Laura stood with pride before la Torcha, the northern road to nowhere; both projects entrenched with incompetency.
We will see, and perhaps even may see Liberación form alliances with PAC on some of the president elect’s programs. Unfortunately, one of those might be the VAT tax at 15%.
Johnny Araya, et al?
Never wager against Muhammad Ali and not Johnny Araya!
In my mind, I see Araya developing his own political party; much like Luis Guillermo Solis did with PAC after he became disillusioned with his membership in Liberación. Keep in mind that Solis was right up there in the Oscar Arias administration before resigning in disgust. (To this day we are not sure what disgusted him?)
Don Johnny is a forever politician and with lots of pride. He loves government, he understands it far better than most and he makes things work.
His passions are health, vocational education and a new Liberación based on the concepts of its founder, Jose “Pepe” Figures. If he does not find this philosophy acceptable among the current Liberación members, the only answer is for him to start his own political party.
Where are we now?
Anyone who can answer the “where are we” question is truly exceptional. The current government is too complicated to understand and there have been eight years of side deals which are mostly duplications of primary deals resulting in a quagmire of, “Who the hell knows?”
Most of us hope that the next administration will focus the limited resources of Costa Rica on tax collection rather than more taxes, a simple consolidation of taxes rather than piece meal payments such as X% of the telephone bill goes to the Red Cross which may or may not ever receive the money, we hope for an intense focus on not only repairing the disastrous infrastructure (Roads, water, health, security, etc.) but also the seemingly hardest part for Costa Rica, maintenance of same!
Honesty would go a long way but that would require a total change in culture and seems highly unlikely in the next four short years.
The error made by the Costa Rican electorate in choosing Guillermo Solis and the PAC to lead the Country, is that they chose “change” based on the errors made by the personalities involved in politics (Laura Chinchilla and Johnny Araya), without giving due consideration to the policies of the elected President’s Party. As between the PAC and the PLN, the party policies of the PLN would most benefit the Country economically when compared with those of the PAC. What was really needed in the way of “change” was a continued PLN Government with the correct personality for President at the helm. I agree with the writer, that the President-elect Guillermo Solis, is really only a “titular head” of the PAC, with the real power resting in the hands of Otton Solis, a confirmed “leftist”, and a decade ago when head of the PAC, considered a “Chavista”. Otton Solis, in my opinion, is truly the most dangerous person involved in Costa Rican politics and a clear threat to the economic well-being of the Country. This has been confirmed in the past few days with the departure of Intel and Bank of America from Costa Rica, with, I predict, more to follow.