Q COSTA RICA — You send out invitations. Spruce the venue. Spend hours getting everything ready. Then you wait. At some point, the first guests start to arrive. But none of the special guests, the ones that establish that the party is real, never show. Without them, the gathering remains a sad arrangement.
That was the case on Wednesday when the Judiciary branch of government, those responsible for the catching the criminals and incarcerating them, and whose operational budgets are under attack by the central government, decided, en masse, not to show up to the official opening of the Centro de Alta Contención y Crimen Organizado, known as “CACCO”, at the La Reforma penitentiary complex in San Rafael de Alajuela.
None of the senior judicial officials identified in the invitations attended, leaving seats reserved for them empty during the event. The reported absences included Attorney General Carlo Díaz, Judicial Investigation (OIJ) Director Michael Soto and members of the Supreme Court.
President Laura Fernández drew attention to the empty seats at the beginning of her remarks. “Greetings to the magistrates… Ah, I’m told they didn’t come,” she said.
The president later accused members of the judiciary of turning their backs on what she described as Costa Rica’s most urgent national problem: public security. She also alleged that some magistrates, judges and prosecutors were siding with criminals, intensifying a dispute that has already centered on the government’s hard-line approach to organized crime and incarceration.
The criticism was echoed by Rodrigo Chaves, the former president and current minister of the Presidency and Finance. During the ceremony, Chaves described the empty seats as a symbol of what he characterized as the judiciary’s failure to support the state’s security responsibilities.
“Today—though it may seem paradoxical to many—I greet the empty chairs that Doña Laura [Fernández] set out here for the members of the Court and the Judiciary,” he stated.
The event was largely attended by members of the governing party, the Partido Pueblo Soberano party and the Cabinet, as well as some mayors and diplomats.
The absence of judicial officials also raised questions about institutional coordination.
The government has argued that the country’s security crisis requires close cooperation among investigators, prosecutors, judges and prison authorities.
The judiciary’s nonattendance, whether motivated by political disagreement, scheduling or concerns about the event, was not publicly explained in the reports available Wednesday.
In July, the government also questioned the absence of representatives from the judiciary at a session of the National Public Security Council. On that occasion, the judiciary also challenged budget cuts proposed by the Ministry of Finance—a proposed ¢10 billion direct cut accompanied by a push to freeze an additional ¢30 billion for the 2027—warning of their potential consequences for criminal investigations, judicial proceedings, and the provision of support to victims.
President Fernández’s spin on the absence was to accuse the members of the Judiciary of siding with criminals.
The ceremony therefore became more than a prison opening. It turned into a public confrontation over how Costa Rica should respond to organized crime—and over whether the country’s institutions can work together despite sharp disagreements about security policy, due process and the separation of powers.
The CACCO
The CACCO occupies approximately 31,000 square meters inside the La Reforma prison complex. The project, which began in January, was presented by the government as a central part of its response to organized crime and rising violence. Construction cost approximately US$35 million.
The first transfers to CACCO are expected to take place at the end of October, with the facility’s capacity to expand gradually until it reaches approximately 5,100 inmates.
The Ministry of Justice, the government agency that oversees prisons, said the facility is expected to reach full occupancy by December 2026.