Costa Rica’s president elect to “test” Ortega and Maduro

The future government of Costa Rica, headed by President-elect Rodrigo Chaves, has begun diplomatic rapprochement with Nicaragua and is considering doing so with Venezuela, two countries with which the current administration of President Carlos Alvarado has maintained distant relations and without appointing ambassadors in recent years.

The Foreign Minister-designate, Arnoldo André Tinoco, confirmed this Friday what the president-elect announced a few weeks ago about the intention to resume relations with Nicaragua and to appoint an ambassador in that country.

“In Nicaragua, just as President (Chaves) has announced, the intention is to appoint an ambassador at the appropriate time. We are making the evaluations and consultations to get there,” Tinoco told reporters.

Since July 2018, Costa Rica has not had an ambassador in Nicaragua and since June 21,2021, the Costa Rican government officially put on hold the appointment of a new representative in the country.

Despite the signs of rapprochement with Ortega, the Nicaraguan dictator has not been invited to Chaves’ inauguration. The protocol director of the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Istvan Alfaro, confirmed to the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa, that Ortega “is not invited to the event.”

Conversations with Nicaraguan ambassador

The future foreign minister revealed that he held a meeting with the Nicaraguan ambassador in Costa Rica, Duilio Hernández, with which “we have begun a dialogue with Nicaraguan representatives.”

“It is a sign of good will to meet to discuss bilateral issues. The conversation has been fluid and adequate. A diplomatic relationship exists, Costa Rica has an embassy in Managua and a chargé d’affaires. What there is not is an ambassador,” Tinoco said.

The current Costa Rican Government has denounced in international forums the human rights violations in Nicaragua and has criticized the electoral process through which Ortega reelected himself with most of the opposition candidates imprisoned.

The Venezuelan case

In the case of Venezuela, the current government does not recognize Nicholas Maduro as president after his last reelection, maintaining that the elections were illegitimate.

The future Costa Rican foreign minister announced this Friday that recognizing Maduro” is one of the possibilities” being evaluated.

“Venezuela is under study; circumstances have been changing. At this moment Costa Rica has recognizes Juan Guaidó (as president) but it is an issue that we are going to review,” Tinoco commented.

The foreign minister-designate said that “the constitutional period of Mr. Guaido has expired and the world dynamics moves towards adjusting to realpolitik” and added that “in international law a government is the one that exercises power.”

“We have to assess the position that is in the best interest of Costa Rica,” he declared.

The foreign minister-designate assured that Chaves government will continue to exercise Costa Rica’s historical leadership in issues such as human rights and the environment.

“Our tireless commitment is with respect for human rights and when necessary, we will denounce (violations) in international forums,” he expressed.

Chaves, a center-right economist, takes office on May 8th for a four-year term.

This article was originally published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by Havana Times