President Luis Guillermo Solís will have to step up his negotiating skills to deal with a Legislative Assembly leadership that doesn't include a single lawmaker from his party — just like in his first year in office.
As Costa Rica's legislature ends its second year in office, most party leaders agree that little progress was made during the recently-ended legislative session.
Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly will soon consider a bill to turn the Department of Intelligence and Security (DIS) into the National Intelligence Strategy Directorate (DIEN) to get the agency out of the policing business and transform it into more of a national security information collection entity – and less of a political police agency.
The votes of a majority of lawmakers from opposition parties on Thursday evening granted the government of President Luis Guillermo Solís the approval of its budget proposal for next year without any cuts and amid any incidents at the Legislative Assembly.
“Upon landing we went through a difficult situation, one of those that makes us see our life pass before our eyes. Thankfully, everything turned out OK,” Figueres said.
Ex-presidential candidate and former San José Mayor Johnny Araya Monge on Wednesday evening said he will not seek to become the National Liberation Party’s candidate to lead San José’s Municipality next year.
Johnny Araya, the National Liberation Party’s disgraced former presidential candidate and former long-term mayor of Costa Rica's capital, denied recent rumors that he had meetings with leaders from the Accessibility Without Exclusion Party to run for mayor next year.
Two Costa Rican lawmakers want to fine small-time thieves instead of jailing them as a way to reduce pressure on the country's overcrowded prisons. Their draft bill calls for eliminating prison penalties for theft under ₡200,000.
