Could Costa Rica Overthrow Its President ?
The Honduran legislature decided last week decided that that
the president as unfit to govern and Sunday morning a group
of soldiers took Manuel Zelaya by force and put on a plane
headed for Costa Rica, in a coup d'etat since the Cold War.
Zelaya said he was kidnapped by Honduran military officers,
who dragged him from his residence.
His crime?
During the week leading up to Sunday's action by the
military, Zelaya had dismissed the military chief, and
accepted the resignation of Defense Minister after the armed
forces commanders refused to help organize the referendum in
November to ask the people if they are in favour of a
presidential re-election.
Could this happen in Costa Rica?
Well, yes. Maybe. No, we don't think so. And here' s our
reasons why:
Firstly, Costa Rica does not have an army. Who would the
president of the Legislature call on to take an action
against the president? The Fuerza Publica, a national police
force? Call 911?
We all know well, through the daily crime reports, that this
force has its hands full combatting crime or whatever they
do and are not equipped to take on such an action, even from
the well armed and well uniformed SPII unit - a specialized
SWAT team that is more accustomed to showing off for the
morning television cameras than actually acting as a unit.
The Policia de Transito? Well, these guys are too busy
complaining about being expected to work a 12 hour day,
insisting that their job description is only for 8 hours.
So, a call to Transito would have to be within the working
hours of its officers or would fail from the start.
Secondly, Costa Ricans are not used to confrontations,
preferring to resolve conflicts through dialogue or lining
at the mall, anyone of the major malls that have cropped up
over the last several years.
There, gathered by the food court, chomping down on a Big
Mac or Crispy Crunch at KFC, some talk could take place of
taking over the presidency by force. But wait, not tonight,
the television program "nace un estrella" is on, and well,
we can't miss that.
Perhaps the current president of the Legislature, Francisco Antonio
Pacheco, could call organized crime to carry out an order
for ac coup. But where is the profit in that? They already
run the country, this according to the Fiscal General,
Francisco Dall'Anese.
Thirdly, the press? We don't think so. The country's best
selling newspaper, Diario Extra, is too busy looking
for almost naked women to feature on its pages and the
bastion of the press, La Nacion, is working hard to keep
pace with La Teja. Cutting out any of these two publications
would bring a different kind of coup in Costa Rica.
So, sadly, the last resource and perhaps the best option for
a successful coup would be to ICE. Oh wait, they already are
the power in Costa Rica - literally - for the last 60 years
and the why would they want to take part in an action to
displace themselves.
And even if somehow there is someone to call on for a
coup, it would take years, as in Costa Rica it takes a long
time to get anything done. Just consider the three decades
it took to upgrade a road that was supposed to be all new -
the San Jose - Caldera, or the years to complete, sorry,
begin completion, on the international airport.
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