Court requests the removal of immunity from the president of Costa Rica

San José. Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves lashed out yesterday at the courts for seeking his impeachment so he can be tried for corruption, raising political tensions ahead of the February elections in this country with a renowned democratic history.

Accused by his critics of flouting the independence of the branches of government, Chaves, a 64-year-old conservative economist, has governed since 2022 in open conflict with the Supreme Court, the Attorney General's Office, the Legislative Assembly—mostly opposition—and the Electoral Tribunal.

But on Tuesday, the power struggle escalated when the Supreme Court asked Congress to lift the president's immunity so he can face corruption charges brought by the Attorney General's Office.

"The Court continues to destroy what little credibility it has; it continues to build itself into a national disgrace," Chaves stated yesterday at his weekly press conference.

This is the first time in the history of the Central American country that the judiciary has asked to remove a president's immunity, which analyst Felipe Alpízar, a professor at the University of Costa Rica, described as a "political earthquake."

Chaves, a former World Bank official, was accused by the Prosecutor's Office of forcing a communications services company hired by the Presidency to give $32,000 to his friend and former image advisor, Federico Cruz.

The prosecutor accuses the president of "concussion" (abuse of power by an official to favor someone), which is punishable by two to eight years in prison.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, the company was contracted for Chaves' term from 2022 to 2026 using funds from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) through an "apparently" improper procedure.

"Neither the Court nor the prosecutor are seeking justice. No, what they are seeking is revenge" because "this government has exposed the structures of great privilege held by powerful groups in collusion with the top brass of the judiciary," he added.

Irregular financing

Judicial and electoral authorities are also investigating the president for alleged irregular financing of his last election campaign and for interfering in the upcoming elections, which is prohibited by Costa Rican law.

According to Chaves, the judges are upset because "there is a president who owes them no favors, who keeps no secrets, and who doesn't allow them to do whatever they want."

Supreme Court judges, members of parliament, and other state authorities criticize what they consider to be Chaves's authoritarian tendency and call on him to respect the independence of the branches of government.

For decades, Costa Rica has been the most stable democracy in Central America, a region shaken in the second half of the last century by bloody civil wars.

"What's at stake is Costa Rican democracy as we know it," said Alpízar, who warned that, despite the political crisis, "there are very strong institutions."

Chaves, an admirer of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, has said he hopes his party will win a supermajority in Congress in the upcoming elections to reform the Constitution and give more power to the executive branch.

For Alpízar, this crisis will affect the course of the campaign because it could become a kind of "referendum for or against Chavez" without discussing the country's "fundamental problems," such as rising criminal violence.

Officials close to Chaves do not rule out Chaves seeking a seat in the Legislative Assembly.