Freedom in the World 1999 - Costa Rica

1999 Scores

Status: Free
Freedom Rating: 1.5
Civil Liberties: 2
Political Rights: 1

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Costa Rica receives a downward trend arrow due to problems stemming from growing narcotics trafficking and use.

Overview

As a result of growing public malaise, after just one year in office, President Miguel Angel Rodriguez was forced in 1999 to forego the 155 percent pay increase, to $250,000, he received at the end of the previous year. The growing use of Costa Rica as a transit country for cocaine shipments from South America continued to be a problem as one of San Jose's most senior judicial officials was charged with involvement in the narcotics trade, although he was later acquitted.

The Republic of Costa Rica achieved independence from Spain in 1821 and became a republic in 1848. Democratic government was instituted in 1899 and briefly interrupted in 1917 and again in 1948, when the country was torn by a brief but brutal civil war. The 1949 constitution, which bans the formation of a national army, has proved to be the most durable in Latin America.

The social democratic National Liberation Party (PLN), was the dominant party for nearly three decades. In the 1994 elections, Jose Maria Figueres narrowly defeated Rodriguez, a conservative congressman and respected economist, of the Social Christian Party (PUSC), the country's other principal political organization.

Figueres, son of the legendary former president Jose "Pepe" Figueres, campaigned against the neoliberal economic policies of the outgoing president Rafael A. Calderon, Jr., of the PUSC. Rodriguez proposed to deepen structural reforms.

The country's economic woes result in part from a vast reduction in levels of foreign aid and international lending from governments that had been eager to keep Communists at bay. Despite his earlier campaign pledges, Figueres' last two years in office were characterized by some of the free market policies championed by his opponent in the presidential elections.

In the February 1, 1998, presidental contest, Rodriguez returned as the PSUC's standard-bearer and bested, with 47 percent of the vote, the anticorruption maverick crusader Jose Miguel Corrales of the PLN, a former congressman and soccer star. The PSUC, however, failed to win a working majority in the unicameral national assembly and was forced to make an alliance with smaller parties to sustain its legislative program.

Just one year in office after Rodriguez took office, public opinion surveys said that some 70 percent of Costa Ricans were dissatisfied with his government, despite a booming economy. Public safety remains a primary concern of the residents of the capital, San Jose. A much-touted reform of the Costa Rican legislature ended up creating more controversy than real change.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Costa Ricans can change their government democratically. The 1998 victory of presidential candidate Rodriguez reflected the fact that the PLN and PSUC dominate the political landscape, although numerous other parties exist. Allegations about drug-tainted campaign contributions continue to dog both major parties. New campaign laws have been instituted to make party financing more transparent.

The constitution provides for three independent branches of government. The president and the 57-member legislative assembly are elected for four years and are prohibited from seeking a second term. The assembly has power equal to that of the president, including the ability to override presidential vetoes.

The judicial branch is independent, its members elected by the legislature. A supreme court with power to rule on the constitutionality of laws is in operation, as are four courts of appeal and a network of district courts. An independent national election commission is elected by the supreme court. Delays in the justice system, in part due to budget cuts, have created volatile situations in overcrowded, violence-prone prisons.

A rise in violent crime and clashes in rural areas between squatters and landowners are blamed on a large immigrant population. An estimated 420,000 Nicaraguans – 15 percent of Costa Rica's total population – live in the country, more than half illegally. In the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch, Costa Rica declared a temporary amnesty for these and other Central American illegal immigrants, and some 160,000 Nicaraguans took advantage of the opportunity to legalize their situation.

In 1999, the legislative assembly passed legislation allowing for U.S. anti-drug patrols to operate in Costa Rican waters. The measure was approved a year after Costa Rica instituted a tough anti-money-laundering law.

Numerous charges of human rights violations by the heavily-armed police are still made. Independent Costa Rican human rights monitors report increases in allegations of arbitrary arrest and brutality. There are some 5,300 prisoners in Costa Rica jammed into facilities designed to hold less than half that number.

An official ombudsman provides recourse for citizens or foreigners with human rights complaints. The ombudsman has the authority to issue recommendations for rectification, including sanctions against government bodies, for failure to respect rights.

The press, radio, and television are generally free. A number of independent dailies serve a society that is 90 percent literate. Television and radio stations are both public and commercial, with at least six private television stations providing an influential forum for public debate. However, restrictive libel laws continue to dampen full exercise of press freedoms.

Constitutional guarantees regarding freedom of religion and the right to organize political parties and civic organizations are respected. In recent years, however, a reluctance to address restrictions on labor rights has been noticeable.

Solidarity, an employer-employee organization that private business uses as an instrument to prevent independent unions from organizing, remains strong and has generally been tolerated by successive governments. Solidarity remains entrenched in Costa Rica's free-trade zones, where labor abuses by multinational corporations are rife. Minimum wage and social security laws are often ignored, and fines for noncompliance are minuscule. In 1999, the Costa Rican affiliate of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions brought a complaint before the International Labor Organization concerning an attack and death threats against a banana workers' leader. Woman workers are often sexually harassed, made to work overtime without pay, and fired when they become pregnant.

Costa Rica's Indian population, numbering 64,000, or two percent of the national total, have demanded the right to self-government and ownership of their traditional lands. In 1999, Rodriguez admitted his government had failed to adequately meet their demands.

In 1999, the legislative assembly passed a law criminalizing sex with minors, in an attempt to crack down on the country's growing sex tourism industry.