Costa Ricans await the results of last week’s presidential election “with a quiet uncommon in Central America,” according to the Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Ticos take electoral recount in stride
Costa Ricans await the results of last week’s presidential election “with a quiet uncommon in Central America,” according to the 
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For the record: The following is what the moderator of this blog objects to and which she has now censored for the second time--her comment begins the thread on a British blogsite (http://forum.bstea.org/index.php) and ends with some personal (my own) and historical information about Costa Rica. Too bad that Ms. Kirk, who claims to be a "graduate student," considers this material (a mild admonition that commentators become somewhat familiar with their subject before commenting) so inflammatory that she continues to delete it from this site. Arizona Tea Sipper
Hello Tea People! Nice new forum, and I'm glad to see you guys up and running. My grand contribution will be a a link to a short piece I just wrote, ranting and raving about how the US is completely oblivious to the fact that Costa Rica elected a new president today, and a Nobel Prize winner at that! I'm a bit miffed that we tend to focus on things like Hugo Chavez and any hint of Communism coming to take over the US' "backyard" (God how I hate that term ) but we don't take notice of things like this. Anyway here is the link and I welcome any comments, even if it is to tell me how naive I am for expecting US citizens to be aware of an election in a Central American country . -Taylor
Hello, welcome and thanks for the link... I only knew that the election was going on because I was scouring datedex for upcoming events to put in the forum calendar... It is a very forgotten and ignored part of the world (as you say, except for the occasional unpopular leader the West decides to make its media whipping boy for the day) and I fear its the same in Europe as it is in the States; it's hard to make people take any notice.
Thinking about it only one recent story from that part of the world has aroused much media interest lately: I don't know exactly how much coverage it received in the States but we did get quite a lot of coverage in the UK of Evo Morales' election win in Bolivia.
Oh and I totally agree about the phrase "backyard" in this regard... it kind of implies that the region's leaders are just like unruly dogs that the USA has to come out of the house and yell at them to keep quiet every now and again... --Comrade Si
The US ambivolence to these elections is especially silly when you think that these elections are the epitome of democracy. Something you would have thought the US would be proud off, and maybe even used it as a justification for their years of propping up the regions more horrible dictators. . . maybe even used it as a justification for their years of propping up the regions more horrible dictators.--Steve
You mean they've actually started admitting that they did that now?
haha, well, maybe not admit it, but I'm sure Condi rice would have some very clever language to deploy if they went anywhere near the topic. --Comrade Si
COSTA RICA--pura vida! Spent a dozen-plus years there building a business, a home, and many friends--Ticos and expatriates from Europe and Asia. I lived through the turbulent 10-year Sandinista revolution in C.R.'s neighbor on its northern border--Reagan and Ollie North's "contras" and all that.
I'm slightly bemused by all the comments that expressed surprise that no one noticed the election of Oscar Arias (Nobel Peace Prize recipient because while president, he declared neutrality over the conflict between the U.S. and the Sandinistas). I'd guess that, because you all evidently only recently became conscious of that country's existence, are impressed with its recent democratic election. But it's not "new news," I'm sorry to say.
Well, I don't want to embarrass anyone over your apparent lack of knowledge of that country's modern history, but C.R. has had free elections every four years since 1948 when Pepe Figueres successfully overthrew the last Banana Republic dictator that plagued C.R. in the style of most Central and South American countries for years. Since then, C.R. has been a steadfast adherent to democracy--albeit within their own style--cycling each election between the socialists and the conservatives--the two parties that have dominated the electorate.
A note of interest: The C.R. constitution prohibits previous presidents from ascending to that position more than once. Oscar Arias (socialist party) spent the last 10 years politicking and managed to get the constiution changed just in time to accommodate his ambition for a second term. Many of us are slightly nervous about this radical change initiated by an ex-socialist president, but who knows--perhaps he was getting bored in Switzerland, where he took up residence after stepping down from his first term.
A second note of interest: Elections Tico-style bear minimal similarity to those we in the West are accustomed to. They are not, I repeat not, as pristine as you'd like to think of this little "Switzerland of Central America"--pre-election antics begin a good two-plus years before the actual election, with widespread payoff in terms of promises of cronyism and actual money distributions being the discouraging features as the time for balloting nears. Internal corruption at presidential levels has been increasing the past decade, with two recent presidents (one of whom, a conservative, is the son of the legendary "Pepe") only recently released from prison in La Reforma for home incarceration, pending their trials!
Just thought I'd pass on a little sobering history for those who are so pleased that Costa Rica just completed its most recent national election. In 1948 Pepe Figueres' democratic revolution was a noteworthy and exciting "statement," but since then, it's become routine. Until someone tries to overthrow the system (as Ticos feared the Nicaraguan Sandinistas wanted to do during their reign from 1979-89), it's not really news.
BTW, before you get too giddy about this tiny country, let me bring you up to date: After the Sandinista era ended, thousands of former unemployed "contras" migrated into C.R. with their AK-47s looking for work--which they found by robbing banks and creating mayhem for Ticos. About the same time, the Columbian cartels, using Noriega as a bridge to C.R., transformed this once tranquil little country into the world's largest point of dollar-washing and subsequently into a transshipment point for cocaine into the U.S.A. Drugs, violent crime, prostitution (which is legal), corruption, and all the rest have gripped this country--which is the principal reason we left behind a business, a spectacular climate, a beautiful home, and many friends in what was once as close to "Paradise" as you could find, at least in this hemisphere.
If you Latin Americanists wish to focus on current political trends beyond the problems of C.R., cast your gaze upon the vast problems in South America--you may not be impressed with the likes of Hugo Chavez and other emerging "problems," but they are enough to fill the nightmares of anyone who cares to take a peek at what's going on south of the border. --Arizona Tea Sipper
You know what, it's not often that I stand corrected, but here I stand corrected. Although I did know of the countries existance, I was fuzzy on the detail. The tea sipper is spot on, it appears that while Costa Rica may be far from a perfect democracy (but then aren't we all), 1948 brought in reforms that we would be more than proud of, and which have endured to this day. Links:
http://www.geographia.com/costa-rica/history.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/cs.html
I still don't see why it wasn't covered in the news however, exactly for the reason that it hasn't gone the way of Venezula or Bolivia. As an aside, for all the trepidation I have for Chavez (He and the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have dangerously similar ways of inflating domestic support) and his like, I'm damn pleased they know exactly where they want to stick those free trade zones. -Comrade Si
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