Arnoldo André Tinoco (San José, 61 years old) has visited Spain for the first time as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica of the Government of outsider Rodrigo Chaves, halfway through his mandate, with the aim of promoting Spain's participation in the preparations in June for the cUN Ocean Conference of which the Central American country will be co-host in 2025 along with France. Lawyer and specialist in International Law, André highlights, in an interview held at Casa de América in Madrid this Monday, the new challenges that his country faces such as migration – around one million, according to his calculations, although other official organizations lower the figure. figure to about 700,000 for a country of 5.2 million inhabitants – and drug trafficking, and shows its deep concern about the growing presence of China, Russia and Iran in the region and the current Venezuelan electoral process.
Ask. It used to be said that Costa Rica is the Switzerland of Latin America, but some dark clouds have appeared on the horizon such as emigration and drug trafficking…
Answer. We continue to be an oasis of peace, a leading country in sustainability policies and a country in which the well-being of the population is the center of the Government's action. We have, it is true, new challenges, but not only Costa Rica but the entire continent, from Mexico to Chile. The challenge of the fight against organized crime that is in crescendo because the criminal activity of these groups has accelerated. In the case of Costa Rica, not being a drug producer, it has been used as a storage country to re-export it via maritime containers. To combat this phenomenon, we have decreed a frontal fight against drug trafficking.
Q. Last year they had about 900 homicides, a ratio unknown for the country…
R. Yes, about 2.5 murders a day, which are not among the highest homicide rates in the world, there are many European cities with higher levels. But they are high for us and they are murders between the Colombian and Mexican gangs.
Q. Do they fear the contagion of the gangs? What measures are they taking?
R. Firstly, sterilize the ports so that our exports are drug-free via the installation of scanners. We intend to scan each and every container leaving our ports and send those images directly to the port of destination. The exchange with the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam is already underway. On the other hand, reinforce the police chain. Costa Rica has 12,000 active agents on three shifts, which are not enough for combat in the cities and it is clear that their number must be doubled or tripled. And third, promote in the Legislative Assembly the reinforcement of criminal procedural laws so that judges can take more severe measures against individuals who engage in this activity and stop using the youth population as hitmen.
Q. Is there a temptation to look for a Nayib Bukele-type solution in El Salvador, for whom President Chaves initially expressed his admiration?
R. Costa Rica is a State of law and will continue to be so with absolute respect for the constitutional and legal order. But we must give the judge greater weapons so that, for example, preventive detention is not so lax in this type of crimes.
Q. What does the region look like from Costa Rica?
R. We have positive news with countries with which we share values such as the Alliance for the Development of Democracy that we maintain with the Dominican Republic, Panama and which Ecuador had joined. We have tension or very different political visions with Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela, in particular, where we are concerned about the systematic and serious violation of many human rights, including the arrests of political prisoners, the suppression of freedom of expression and association and the lack of a rule of law that guarantees the defense of citizens against state power, which has caused the high rate of emigrants seeking political refuge. We are also concerned about the repeated presence of high authorities from Iran, Russia and China in these three countries.
Q. Costa Rica does not have diplomatic relations with Venezuela. What do you think of the Venezuelan electoral process and the disqualification of opposition member María Corina Machado?
R. We view this process with great concern. We are interested in the Venezuelan people having freedom of choice, it is a human right, also the right to be elected. The people deserve the Government that they want to elect freely, transparently and democratically and what we see in Venezuela are only difficulties for opposition candidates to participate in the electoral contest. We will have to observe how the process develops in the coming months, but we are concerned to the point that Costa Rica continues to only have consular relations.
Q. It is estimated that there are half a million Nicaraguans in Costa Rica who have gone into exile since the 2018 repression, but, despite the tradition of being a host country, many critics point out that asylum conditions have been toughened. It's true?
R. No, whoever enters and requests refuge through an international convention must be given the status of a refugee applicant and then there is a process where it is demonstrated if it is a political case or if it is an economic migrant. There are about 250,000 applications pending resolution. The rout began in 2018 due to the Nicaraguan riots, but not only, Cubans also enter through Nicaragua and we are receiving and processing them.
Q. He says his country no longer has the capacity to take in more migrants.
R. We receive two types of immigration. From South to North, about 600,000 annually, between 1,000 and 4,000 daily, 67% are Venezuelans, 10% Colombians, Ecuadorians or Haitians and 5% Chinese and Afghans, and another North-South. Our social education, health and security systems are being exhausted and are not designed to receive that number of people. That is why we actively seek and request international financial assistance to help us solve a problem whose cause is not Costa Rica.
Q. What help are they receiving? Have they addressed this issue in Spain?
R. We have received help from UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). We may possibly qualify for assistance from the World Bank through an international loan, accompanied by a grant portion of $20 million that has been approved. We have spoken with the Spanish Minister (of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration) Enma Saiz about the safe mobility centers that operate in Colombia, Guatemala and Costa Rica, which is where migrants prequalify to know if they meet the conditions of regular immigration and legal in the US, Canada or Spain and they are working. There are about 160 migrants who have already arrived in Spain, out of a total of 3,000 and that is a small relief. That in our country only applies to Venezuelans and Nicaraguans who have entered before June 12, 2023.
Q. What do you think of the dispute between Mexico and Ecuador over the assault on the Mexican Embassy in Quito?
R. We of course condemn the violation of the immunity of the Mexican diplomatic headquarters. It is not acceptable in any way. However, it must also be said that the conventions on asylum should be reviewed because the explanation given by Ecuador is that Mexico has received several Ecuadorian criminals, seven or nine, as asylum seekers in its Embassy and that, despite the explicit warnings and in writing of the sentences they had pending and having demonstrated that they were common criminals, Mexico decided to grant them asylum, which does not excuse the violation of the Embassy, but explains Quito's position.
Q. Costa Rica was the country that grew the most in 2023, according to ECLAC, only behind Panama, but inequality has increased.
R. The figures are excellent. The Moody's and Fitch agencies have improved the rating of the Costa Rican debt and decreased the relationship between debt and GDP, which is still over 60%, which has made it impossible for us to expand public spending and access certain international credits. We are hopeful that this can be broken next year and thus we can resume investment projects. Unemployment has dropped from 14% to 6% or 7%, exports and the number of tourists have increased and foreign direct investment has also broken records, which has caused the negative effect of the appreciation of the colon against the dollar (a 25%). There is some concern in some economic sectors, in exports and tourism, in case it reduces the country's competitiveness.
Q. You said during an event in Spain that banking secrecy was lifted regarding the financing of the campaign of the president and six other people, including you, and that there is no problem. What about the 30 criminal complaints against Chaves who came as a standard bearer against corruption?
R. There are between 35 and 50 complaints, most of them slanderous. Of those, I estimate that half have been rejected and the others continue their course of investigation. The president has not been notified of any.
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