His victory strengthens the right in Latin America after recent victories in Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Honduras. This year there will also be presidential elections in Brazil and Colombia, currently governed by the left
The right-wing Laura Fernández was elected president of Costa Rica after sweeping the elections on Sunday, February 1, with her promise of a tough line against drug trafficking, in this country that for years was considered one of the safest on the continent.
Fernández, a 39-year-old political scientist, obtained 48.3% of the votes, eight points more than necessary to win in the first round, according to 94% of the scrutiny of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).
Her proposals on security – which capitalized on the main demand of Costa Ricans – and to reform the powers of the State are seen by opponents as part of a plan to concentrate power, in the style of the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, the first president to congratulate her.
But in her victory speech, in which she surprisingly did not allude to criminal violence, the future president maintained that she will “never” allow “authoritarianism.”
She declared herself a “convinced democrat” and “defender of freedom”, although she harshly attacked the press, as her mentor, President Rodrigo Chaves, usually does, a popular and polarizing figure who is at odds with the other powers of the State.
“The change will be profound and irreversible,” he warned without giving details, adding that “certain rules of the political game” will change.
As soon as the first results were known, which already showed a wide advantage over the social democrat Álvaro Ramos (33.4% of the votes), thousands of members of the Pueblo Soberano Party gathered in emblematic places in the country to celebrate.
Caravans of vehicles with turquoise flags and street parties were quickly organized in San José and other cities.
His victory strengthens the right in Latin America after recent victories in Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Honduras. This year there will also be presidential elections in Brazil and Colombia, currently governed by the left.
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Bukele Model
Costa Ricans also elected 57 deputies. According to projections, Fernández would have thirty deputies, a majority that would not, however, allow him to reform the Constitution, as planned.
Fernández, who will take office on May 8 for four years, proposes copying part of Bukele’s war against gangs and reforming the powers of the State, especially the judicial branch, which she and Chaves accuse of sponsoring impunity for criminals.
Although it ended violence in El Salvador, Bukele’s offensive is the target of complaints of abuse. During the Chaves government, the murder rate reached a record of 17 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Seven out of every ten homicides are linked to drug trafficking, which turned this country, considered for decades one of the safest on the continent, into a logistics and drug export center.
Fernández offers to finish the construction of a prison inspired by Bukele’s megaprison for gang members, increase penalties and impose states of exception in conflictive marginal areas.
«I like your prison project. The violence exploded because they are touching the ringleaders, like getting the rats out of the sewers,” justified Jéssica Salgado, a 27-year-old office worker.
Fear of authoritarianism
Costa Ricans also elected 57 deputies. According to projections, Fernández would have thirty deputies, a majority that would not, however, allow him to reform the Constitution, as planned.
Fernández, who will take office on May 8 for four years, proposes copying part of Bukele’s war against gangs and reforming the powers of the State, especially the judicial branch, which she and Chaves accuse of sponsoring impunity for criminals.
Although it ended violence in El Salvador, Bukele’s offensive is the target of complaints of abuse. During the Chaves government, the murder rate reached a record of 17 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Seven out of every ten homicides are linked to drug trafficking, which turned this country, considered for decades one of the safest on the continent, into a logistics and drug export center.
Fernández offers to finish the construction of a prison inspired by Bukele’s megaprison for gang members, increase penalties and impose states of exception in conflictive marginal areas.
«I like your prison project. The violence exploded because they are touching the ringleaders, like getting the rats out of the sewers,” justified Jéssica Salgado, a 27-year-old office worker.
Fear of authoritarianism
Fernández will be the second woman to govern Costa Rica, with 5.2 million inhabitants and one of the most stable countries in the region, after the mandate of Laura Chinchilla, who also won in the first round in 2010.
“Electoral majorities, no matter how overwhelming they may be, are not a pamphlet for silencing minorities or stifling dissident voices,” warned Chinchilla, one of his strongest critics, who asked the opposition to fulfill its role as a counterweight in Congress.
Opponents assure that Chaves, whom they accuse of being “authoritarian,” will control the Executive from behind the throne and that Fernández seeks to pave his return to power. In Costa Rica the president must wait two terms to run again.
Fernández is called a “populist” and a “bad copy” of Chaves for adopting his confrontational and sarcastic rhetoric.
“The first thing dictators want is to reform the Constitution to stay in power,” said former president Óscar Arias, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1987, on Sunday.
“There are no dictatorships here,” said the president after voting, who unleashed criticism for making mocking gestures against voters who shouted “Chaves out!”
Although poverty fell from 18% in 2024 to 15.2% in 2025, Costa Rica is among the six most unequal Latin American countries on the Gini index and is the second most expensive after Uruguay.
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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