Marco Rubio visits Costa Rica

During his tour of Latin America, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with President Rodrigo Chaves. Costa Rica agreed to house migrants deported from the United States temporarily, and received funding from the Trump administration for this purpose.

200 migrants deported and human rights violations

Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and CEJIL denounced that the migrants were detained without access to legal assistance or information in their respective languages.

The migrants were restricted from communicating with the outside world, and they also had no information about the possibility of applying for asylum. In June, a Costa Rican court ordered their release.

UNHCR warns that cuts will affect refugees in Costa Rica

Upon arriving at the White House, Donald Trump drastically cut international aid programs. These adjustments directly impacted UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. The agency had to reduce its funding by 41% in Costa Rica.

By March 2025, Costa Rica had taken in more than 194,000 people from Nicaragua seeking asylum.

Costa Rica faces its worst drug trafficking scandal in recent history

In June, Costa Rican authorities arrested Celso Gamboa, a politician and lawyer who was Minister of Security, a magistrate, and a prosecutor. He is waiting for extradition by the United States on drug trafficking charges.

Gamboa was arrested two weeks after a constitutional reform was approved that allowed, for the first time in its history, the extradition of its citizens accused of drug trafficking and terrorism.

In recent years, corruption and drug trafficking have increased significantly in the country.

A year marked by accusations against Rodrigo Chaves

The Prosecutor’s Office accused President Chaves of illicitly financing the 2022 election campaign by using personal accounts to evade the supervision of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

For the first time in its history, the Supreme Court of Justice asked Congress to remove President Chaves’ immunity due to an investigation into corruption in the management of funds from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI).

Chaves faces a dozen accusations in the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The closeness between Bukele and Chaves

Nayib Bukele’s name has become a recurring one when discussing security issues in Latin America. As a strategy to combat rising crime in the country, the president of Costa Rica announced the creation of a mega-prison similar to El Salvador’s Center for the Confinement of Terrorists (CECOT).

The leaders signed a bill called: Shield of the Americas Alliance, which seeks to promote security cooperation and which they hope other countries in the region will join.

Farmers, unions, and universities protest against Chaves’ policies

More than 57 social sectors, including farmers, teachers, unions, and students, marched to the Presidential House to protest against the policies of Rodrigo Chaves.

The most affected are farmers, mainly rice producers, because since 2022, the Government has reduced import taxes on this grain from 35% to 3.5%.

The electoral paradox: many parties and few people willing to vote in 2026

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal authorized the participation of 20 candidates for the 2026 presidential elections. The second-highest number in history after the 25 candidates in 2022.

According to the latest survey by the Center for Research and Political Studies (CIEP), 57% of the national electorate does not know who to vote for.