QCOSTARICA – In Davos, Switzerland, to participate in the World Economic Forum (WEF), Costa Rica President Rodrigo Chaves described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a criminal act.
On the other hand, Chaves it clear to the representatives of the World Economic Forum that Costa Rica is no not sending an army, “because we simply don’t have one.” He also said that if he had had an army, he would have already sent soldiers to Ukraine to support them in the invasion by Russia.
“When I became president, I said that the invasion was criminal and illegal (…) For this decision, I was taken to court, to the Constitutional Court, in my own country, being president, because I was ‘violating’ Costa Rica’s neutrality. The Court said no, the president can say what the people of Costa Rica think and what he thinks,” Chaves said.
During the meeting, Chaves also asserted that democracy is the only way.
“We must establish ourselves more firmly in the values of freedom, justice and peace because I am completely certain that democracy is not only the only path to progress, but the path chosen by the brave, but we can no longer continue to visualize democracy as the individual goal of each country. We cannot afford that luxury in a global and interconnected world. We must not fear rational and responsible confrontation, nor the passionate exposition of our convictions,” Chaves said.
Also from the WEF, President Chaves has been criticized for a small ‘slip’ in English, that led him to break with the formality and even he himself could not help but laugh.
In his speech on Monday at the “Democracy, the way forward,” panel, the president called Costa Rica’s national symbol, sloths, “lazy bears”. Immediately, the president realized his mistake, corrected it, and asked how it was said in English.
The video of the presidential slip went viral on social networks.
