Apart from a six-month interlude as finance minister, Rodrigo Chaves is practically unknown in politics in his native Costa Rica, where he only returned in 2019 With an aggressive campaign with populist and anti-system tones, the World Bank economist managed to catapult himself to the presidency of the republic within a few months.
Chaves “defeated the National Liberation Party, the party with the longest tradition that has symbolized the essence of Costa Rica’s political system since the late 1940s,” political scientist Sergio Araya told DW. For the teacher of The overwhelming victory of the University of Costa Rica, Chaves, is a challenge to democracy and a wake-up call for a political system in crisis.
Support for democracy in Costa Rica is already eroding, the annual Latinobarómetro polls reflect. But the pandemic seems to have given it another boost. The economy, which is heavily dependent on tourism, experienced its biggest slump in four decades in 2020. Inflation in food and fuel prices is hitting the pockets of the poorest, whose numbers have risen from 20 percent in 2017 to 23 percent in 2021. In this way, the pandemic shook the middle class and aroused fears of social decline and resentment against the elite.
Discredited parties are subject to populist discourse
The greatest symbol of this party crisis is probably the clear defeat of the Citizen Action Party (PAC), which after two consecutive presidencies was unable to provide any MPs and whose presidential candidate received just 1 percent of the vote. “Different opinion polls have ranked the parties among the most discredited institutions,” says Araya. “Today the largest party in all studies is the one that says it has no political party.”
Rodrigo Chaves, President-Elect of Costa Rica (Photo by Arnoldo Robert/Getty Images) – Photo: Getty ImagesIt’s a red flag in a country that calls itself the “Switzerland of Central America,” an oasis of calm in a drug-devastated region authoritarianism and waves of migration. In 1948 Costa Rica abolished the army and since then it has been the most consolidated democracy in Central America.
According to Araya, Chaves was very adept at mobilizing a section of the population that felt left out. “He talked about fighting entrenched elites. It’s the typical speech of a populist,” explains Araya, who is also the coordinator of projects in Costa Rica for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Devastating consequences for women and the environment
In a DW interview, Montserrat Sagot spoke of “a devastating result for women and for all sectors that describe themselves as progressive.” According to the sociologist from the University of Costa Rica, Chaves “is a right-wing authoritarian populist and misogynist.” Sagot refers to an internal investigation process at the World Bank after allegations of sexual harassment by two female employees.
Nor does the university professor expect Chaves to help promote the ecological leadership that Costa Rica has achieved internationally in recent decades. “He has a very vague agenda, but for him the environment is an appropriation resource that should be used and not protected,” he says. “We’d be lucky if we didn’t back down.”
a confrontational style
After the World Bank reprimanded Chaves over staff grievances, he returned to his home country in 2019 to join President Carlos Alvarado’s administration as finance minister, a position he held for just six months.
He left the government due to several conflicts with the rest of the cabinet. For example, he proposed taxing the highest wages and opposed a reform exempting municipalities from a measure to curb spending amid a pandemic. Chaves worked in Asia for many years and received a Harvard University scholarship to study poverty issues on that continent.
However, according to his critics, he does not know his home country well, which he left more than three decades ago. “He has shown that he does not know the laws and institutions of Costa Rica and does not attach much to the institutional regulations,” criticizes Sagot, referring to several announcements that his initiatives will be put to a referendum if the assembly, where he controls just under 10 of the 57 deputies, he puts obstacles in his way. Although the constitution allows referendums, it also severely restricts and regulates them.
belief in institutions
However, both analysts are confident that solid democratic institutions will be able to contain Chaves’ more authoritarian and populist aspirations. “We have hope that the institutional framework will endure, but not by its will,” says Sagot. Still, there’s no reason to claim victory, says Araya. “Should the desired change not come about in the sectors that feel excluded, it cannot be ruled out that this frustration will find other ways.” Expressions such as greater abstinence or greater social conflicts could be the result, he warns.