I don’t believe that even Ticos old enough remember 1990s as their golden age with Nicaragua. Most Ticos old enough remember the 1960s and into the 1970s, when Nicaragua was economically vibrant and the relations between the two countries were good. Certainly the period during which Nicaragua was an economic basket case is no golden age and should not be held up as the ideal. It’s not even good for Costa Rica to continue this way.

Many in Nicaragua and elsewhere argue that Costa Rica’s lack of a military is just a PR ploy. Costa Rica has a military, even one trained in the notorious School of the Americas, only calls it police. Granted, Costa Rica is pretty committed to not being bellicose, but it’s got armed something or another at the border and it’s not the Nicaraguan military that’s digging channels, if channels have been dug.

The Guanacaste issue is mostly a red herring, in part because Nicaragua doesn’t even want it. Ortega just raised it as another attempt to get Costa Rica to the negotiating table, where Costa Rica persistently refuses to come.

But it’s not as silly as you imply. Nicaragua’s argument would be that the 1824 vote was held when Nicaragua was in a civil war, and this timing of the vote was aggressively unfair. No states joined the US during its Civil War, and plenty of counties seceded from the states then. Is a civil war a fair time to hold a vote?

Moreover, if the real residents of Guanacaste could vote today, it’s not clear that they would vote to ally with Costa Rica. They might choose Nicaragua. Some sizable minority of them are Nicas, and the Ticos aren’t thrilled with rule by San José.

But as said, Guanacaste is a red herring. What I’m afraid is really going on is that some segment of Costa Rica wants Nicaragua to remain poor. René Castro, the last foreign minister (and a guy that keeps being minister or something despite little apparent competence) admitted to having a Nica maid. It’s hard not to wonder if some in Costa Rica aren’t benefiting from Nicaragua’s poverty and don’t want to rock that self-interested boat.

Sadly, this segment of Costa Rica has tunnel vision. In the long run, Ticos are better off when Nicaragua is better off, but narrow self-interest is prompting Costa Rica’s leadership to adopt an oppositional stance.

I’ll give it a rest when someone in Costa Rica grows up and has the guts to talk with Ortega. Chinchilla can publish op-eds in the Miami Herald blasting Nicaragua and march all she wants, but when will she or her replacement dial the phone and say, “Hey Danny, we have some problems to work out. How about discussing them over lunch?” He’s been begging to talk to her, yet she refuses.

Remember passive aggression. Costa Rica is a master at this. It looks to me like Costa Rica is pretty darn aggressive here, but cloaks this in the garb of the victim.

Ken, the first time I came to Costa Rica in 1989, the only thing bad I heard about Nicaragua was from the refugees who had fled the Atlantic Mosquito Coast because of the Sandinistas. Other than that, not too much. Remember, Costa Rica has no military but Nicaragua is purchasing gunboats and seems to be acting more and more bellicose. To even bring up Guanacaste as a part of Costa Rica that was “stolen” from Nicaragua is outrageous. That was settled in 1824 so if that is how it’s played, when is Spain going to sue all of Latin America that it possessed (New Spain) up until the early 1800′s because it was an” illegal revolt” on Spanish territory?

Costa Rica isn’t perfect but they aren’t the ones who put troops into questionable territory. Give it a rest!