(QCOSTARICA BLOGS) Here we are in the second period of the Solís administration and other than a lot of talk, well intended pledges of work for the lower income and a fairness for all who live in Costa Rica, nothing not one campaign promise has been kept.
It’s all talk. “Pura Paja!”
Even the wealthy are worried for lack of foreign investment, exports are down, new companies offer limited income and in the end our ship’s anchor is stuck in the mud.
In large part it is government that make up on the assembly laws . With a unicameral republic all legislation rests on the deputies duly elected to the National Assembly. While some are well-educated, many are just high school graduates and have not a clue what is happening and even find computers difficult to use.
There is no single leader but rather followers of one or more people, entities.
We have about 57 followers and a small cadre of them are considered leaders. Almost all voting is along party lines as little thought nor effort is given to the subject at hand.
Leadership elements are truly absent in Luis Guillermo Solis’s presidential administration since even PAC, a clear winner of elections is heavily divided resulting in unpredictable government chaos.
In short, I argue until the next election we, residents and nationals alike,have no chance to effect change because the President must survive the Assemblea that is fractured beyond repair.
So then who runs Costa Rica?
My best guess are ARESEP and Sala Cuarta who have both become the price fixers as well as the conditioners of civil liberty .
I.E. La Naciόn a respected Spanish language newspaper has been publishing the excessive salaries and benefits of government and institutional employees. ICE our government supported telephone company has filed what is called a denuncia or “Legal Complaint” with our very own Sala Cuarta (Sala IV as the Constitutional Court is commonly refered to) if it is constitutional to make known public worker’s salaries and perks.
Meanwhile, ARESEP (the regulator of public prices and services) establishes and fixes prices on just about everything such as gasoline, electricity, water, transportation, etc. But we, the people, do not know the formula.
The president and his cabinet have very little to say about anything except make public relation trips.
There has been big talk about the need for full transparency and most certainly public support. However, if tax supported institutions and government workers salaries remain a secret, and it is left to a court to decide if that secret is constitutional or not, then those who keep the secret and those who fix the prices run Costa Rica and not the elected democracy.
Well said. Yes, “the Captain has left the Bridge” and the ship called Costa Rica is currently on an uncharted course. It is hard to believe that constitutionally, or otherwise, Public Sector salaries are a “State Secret” and not available to be published at will. ARSEP on the other-hand, does seem to be another of one of those Government institutions, like ICE, that answers only unto itself. The democratic principal of government accountability to the electorate is not practiced in Costa Rica.
great summary, thanks
I’m afraid you are mistaken about the Sala IV. Almost half of its rulings go unenforced. Judges here have an odd way of imagining that if they issue a ruling, it will be implemented. But it often isn’t.
So it’s not the court running the show, although I must confess to not knowing who is. The laws your high school graduates in the legislature pass often aren’t enforced either.
It makes you wonder how the system works. Wait, it doesn’t work.