SAN JOSE — Right-wing politician Laura Fernandez, 39, will be inaugurated as Costa Rica’s president on Friday, pledging an unrelenting “war without quarter” against organized crime in the tranquil Central American nation of over 5 million, once celebrated as a regional oasis of peace since abolishing its military in 1948.
Fernandez, who served as presidency minister under outgoing leader Rodrigo Chaves, named Gerald Campos as security chief last week and vowed sweeping judicial and security reforms to combat record murder rates that spiked during Chaves’ term, fueled by the country’s emergence as a major cocaine transit hub for U.S. and European markets.
Winning February’s election with 49% of the vote and an absolute majority of 31 seats in the 57-member legislature, Fernandez assumes power until 2030 amid Chaves’ continued influence as Sovereign People party head and her justice minister, despite his judiciary clashes that drew authoritarian comparisons to El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele.
The noon (1800 GMT) ceremony at the National Stadium, a 2007 Chinese gift draws Spain’s King Felipe VI, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, U.S. Deputy Secretary Christopher Landau, and leaders from Panama, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic, though Bukele and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega will skip it.
Costa Rica is erecting a maximum-security prison echoing El Salvador’s controversial CECOT facility, where mass-detained Venezuelans deported from the U.S. reportedly endured torture, starvation, and denied legal aid, as per rights groups.
Chaves leaves a legacy of robust post-pandemic growth, low inflation, and poverty cuts despite weak job gains and violence woes, with Fernandez now facing geopolitical strains from the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran that has spiked global oil prices and fiscal risks.