Central America
Ex-leader ahead as Costa Ricans elect new president
AFP
Costa Ricans voted for a new president Sunday from a crowded field of candidates, with a center-left former leader ahead of the pack with about 60 percent of ballots counted in one of Latin America’s stablest democracies.
Twelve hours of voting closed at 6 pm (midnight GMT) in what is frequently rated the region’s “happiest” country, a tourist mecca and a leading green economy.
However, polls show unemployment, corruption and creeping living costs topping the concerns of 3.5 million eligible voters in the country of five million people.
Jose Maria Figueres, 67, of the center-left National Liberation Party (PLN), had roughly 27 percent of the vote with 63 percent of ballots counted, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said.
To win in the first round, one candidate must take 40 percent of the vote — otherwise the two leading contenders will face each other in an April 3 run-off.
The eventual winner will be expected to tackle a worsening economy where unemployment has been steadily rising for more than a decade and reached 14.4 percent in 2021.
The poverty rate stood at 23 percent last year while the public debt was 70 percent of GDP.
Costa Rica’s problems have worsened with the coronavirus pandemic dealing a hard blow to its critical tourism sector.
On Sunday, Figueres, who led the country from 1994 to 1998, condemned the levels of poverty as well as housing shortages.
“We have never experienced these things in this magnitude,” he said.
For Francisco Zeledon, the first voter in line at one polling station, “voting is the most important weapon we have to solve problems.”
“We have to solve poverty and create jobs for people,” the 35-year-old said.
Polls have showed about a third of voters are undecided, faced with a choice of 25 presidential candidates.
But one outcome looked likely: the ruling Citizens’ Action Party (PAC) appeared set for a bruising defeat with anti-government sentiment sky-high.
– Record unpopularity –
“The ruling party is completely weakened and has no chance” after two successive terms in office, said political analyst Eugenia Aguirre.
“The presidential unpopularity figure of 72 percent is the highest since the number was first recorded in 2013,” she added.
This means the country’s traditional political heavyweights — the PLN and the Social Christian Unity Party — could return to the fore after decades of a near political duopoly only recently broken by the PAC.
With results trickling in around 0600 GMT, second place remained closely contested between the economist Rodrigo Chaves (16 percent) and conservative evangelical preacher Fabricio Alvarado Munoz (15 percent).
Munoz commands support from the evangelical community, which makes up about 20 percent of Costa Rica’s population.
Meanwhile, center-right Lineth Saborio of the PUSC garnered 12 percent.
Presidents in Costa Rica cannot seek immediate re-election, leaving incumbent Carlos Alvarado Quesada out of the running.
– Problems ‘worsened’ –
Costa Rica is known for its eco-tourism and green policies, with its energy grid run entirely on renewable sources.
Unlike many of its volatile Central American neighbors, Costa Rica has no army, has had no armed conflicts since 1948 and no dictator since 1919.
But the worsening economic situation has hit confidence in the political class.
Voters under 40 have only known “periods in which not only problems have not been resolved, but they have worsened,” university student Edgardo Soto, an undecided voter, told AFP.
Apathy and abstentionism are features of Costa Rican elections.
In 2018, 34 percent of voters stayed away, though participation is technically obligatory.
Eugenia Zamora, president of Costa Rica’s electoral tribunal, said Sunday’s vote kicked off with high turnout in the morning, and proceeded without incident.
“This is a country with a robust democracy… It offers lessons for other countries,” added Isabel de Saint Malo, head of the Organization of American States observer mission.
Outgoing president Alvarado said the vote was an affirmation of Costa Rica’s place among “the world’s strongest democracies.”
Costa Ricans also cast their vote Sunday for the 57-member Congress.
“I hope that whoever wins really thinks of the people,” said 77-year-old Mayra Sanchez after voting in Moravia, “and not of themselves.”
Central America
Arévalo accuses Porras and judge of undermining democracy in Guatemala
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo denounced a new attempt at a “coup” orchestrated by the Attorney General’s Office. He also requested an extraordinary session at the Organization of American States (OAS) to address the country’s ongoing political crisis.
The president has been at odds with Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who has been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union for being “corrupt” and “anti-democratic.” Since 2023, Arévalo has accused Porras of launching investigations against his party, Semilla, and the 2023 elections as part of a scheme to prevent his inauguration in January 2024.
From the presidential office, Arévalo has said he continues to “resist” the “coup plotters,” but tensions escalated last Friday when Judge Fredy Orellana, at the request of the Attorney General’s Office, ordered the electoral court to annul the Semilla party’s promoter group. Arévalo interpreted this as an attempt to revoke the positions won by the party.
“Orellana, a hitman who distorts the law in service of Consuelo Porras, is attempting to force […] the unconstitutional removal of a mayor, 23 elected deputies […], the vice president, and the president of the country,” Arévalo said in a televised address on Sunday.
“We call on the international community not to turn a blind eye to the coup being attempted in Guatemala,” he added, speaking alongside his cabinet and congressional members at the National Palace in Guatemala City.
Arévalo requested that the Organization of American States hold an extraordinary session to present “the serious threats” to the Guatemalan Constitution and democracy perpetrated by Porras and Orellana.
Yesterday, Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Ramiro Martínez reaffirmed the president’s statements, emphasizing the need “to go and expose the situation” Guatemala has been facing since last week due to the actions of the Attorney General’s Office.
Central America
New dismembered bodies found in San Juan river days after mass killing in Palencia
On the morning of Monday, October 27, Guatemala’s Volunteer Firefighters confirmed the discovery of two bodies and two human heads inside plastic bags in the San Juan River, located in the Zacualpía village at kilometer 21 of the Atlantic Highway, in the jurisdiction of Palencia.
The remains were found by personnel from Companies 85, 50, and Central, who responded after receiving a report about suspicious bags floating in the water. The gruesome discovery was made just a few meters from the site where eight tortured bodies were found under the San Juan Bridge on Friday, October 24.
Local authorities do not rule out a connection between both incidents and suspect they may be tied to the same criminal organization. Investigators from the Public Ministry and the National Civil Police arrived at the scene to gather evidence and transfer the remains to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (Inacif).
According to data from the National Economic Research Center (CIEN), Guatemala recorded 2,154 homicides between January and August 2025, an increase compared to the 1,816 reported during the same period in 2024.
Central America
Four guatemalan soldiers arrested for stealing weapons from Northern Air Command
Four soldiers were arrested in connection with the theft of weapons from the Northern Air Command of the Ministry of Defense in Petén, Guatemala, following operations conducted by the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office).
“During the operations, criminal scenes were processed, analyzed, and documented photographically, possible escape routes were identified, surveillance cameras were located, and potential witnesses were interviewed,” the Prosecutor’s Office explained in a social media post.
The detained soldiers were identified as Ludwin Jónathan Cardona Baltazar, charged with illicit association, dereliction of duty, and aggravated theft; and Josué Israel Pérez Jerónimo, Alain Omar Marroquín Soch, and Carlos Ernesto Ibarra Corrales, charged with dereliction of duty, according to Guatemala’s Prensa Libre.
The military personnel reportedly stole 55 rifles, 14,420 rounds of 5.56 mm ammunition, 92 magazines of 35 rounds each, 19 magazines of 20 rounds each, and three grenade launchers, “which were allegedly moved from the arms warehouse to the outside for illicit sale.”
The Ministry of Defense stated that it will keep its internal control mechanisms active to prevent similar incidents.
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