The former presidents of the Republic, through a manifesto, came out in defense of Costa Rican democracy.
This after the President of the Republic, Rodrigo Chaves, pointed out that Costa Rica lived 75 years – the perfect dictatorship where the power groups benefited from the State.
The president stressed that prosperity is solidarity, it is infrastructure, it is happiness, and what we do not have the tics to be happy, except moderator, corruption, fiefdoms, the perfect dictatorship of 75 years.
For 75 years in the perfect dictatorship that very intelligent people were assembled, because intelligent people are, we already realized the owners of the country, that we have to change things, he stressed.
Faced with this, the former presidents indicated that Costa Rica is a true democracy. It is the oldest uninterrupted democracy in Latin America and with a tradition of institutional development that began more than 200 years ago.
His democratic trajectory, the solidity of his rule of law and respect for civil liberties and human rights, are internationally recognized and is an achievement of which Costa Ricans, for several decades, have been proud, they add.
For the former Presidents, Chaves took Costa Rica with countries such as North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and others, where citizens do not freely elect their rulers, where there are no political prisoners, where there is no economic freedom, where freedom of expression is punished, among many other conditions of repression that embarrass humanity.
This type of statement must be rejected. For this reason, we publish this statement. We do so to defend the historical truth, to do justice to the Republican and democratic struggles of our ancestors, to appeal to the citizenry about the immense value of our democratic decision-making and control institutions, and to protect the settled international prestige of Costa Rican democracy, they argue.
They also recognize that all democracies are imperfect, so it is up to citizens to improve and consolidate them, but they recalled that in the last 75 years progress has been made in the protection and promotion of human rights, gender equality, the reduction of infant mortality, in increasing life expectancy, in the recovery of forests and the protection of biodiversity, in productive diversification, in interconnection with the world and in access to technology.
In some of these areas we are even at the forefront among the nations of the world, they say.
The former presidents insist that much, much to do is lacking to improve the quality of life of citizens and to continue strengthening our governance. But the only way to continue building a more prosperous and inclusive country is in accordance with our democratic values and perfecting the institutions that have so far guaranteed us the orderly transition of power, the exercise of authority for the benefit of the majorities and a political and socially peaceful coexistence. To know the best of our history and altering the truth of the facts will not only prevent us from solving the problems we still carry, but will aggravate them. In addition, it is wasting us valuable time when what we should be is building bridges and seeking broad and effective agreements.
What is required today is to lay out partisan flags, to avoid attacks and disqualifications on important organs of the State and, above all, with the construction of a dangerous narrative that grossly distorts our institutional history, which has been forged in the best values by many generations of Costa Ricans, they conclude.
The manifesto has the signatures of the former presidents: Oscar Arias Sánchez, Abel Pacheco de la Espriella, Rafael Angel Calderón Fournier, Laura Chinchilla Miranda, José María Figueres, Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera, Miguel Angel Rodríguez Echeverría and Carlos Alvarado Quesada.
This article has been translated after first appearing in El Mundo