Costa Rican delegation leaves UN General Assembly in presence of Michel Temer

The Costa Rican delegation, led by President Luis Guillermo Solís, left the seventy-first General Assembly meeting at the United Nations in New York on September 20 in protest of the presence of Brazilian President Michel Temer. Along with the delegations of Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, the Costa Rican President, First Lady, and Chancellor stood up and left the meeting, passively protesting the ‘‘doubtful process’’ through which the newly appointed president of Brazil came to power following Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment earlier this year, according to a press release by the Costa Rican government. The President’s decision has been received with criticism at home. Three former presidents, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (1998-2002), Rafael Ángel Calderón (1990-1994), and Laura Chinchilla (2006-2010), denounced the action. They particularly criticized the inconsistency of President Solís’ opinions, who protested President Temer this week but has not openly condemned the violation of political rights in Venezuela.

 Former Costa Rican ambassador to the U.N., Eduardo Ulibarri, took to Twitter to express his criticism: ‘‘ignorance + arrogance + inexperience + unconsciousness = national alignment with ALBA against Brazil. How embarrassing!’’ He refers to the fact that Costa Rica is the only country to boycott the General Assembly that does not belong to the ALBA coalition (Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América), which is composed of left-leaning, populist governments, born as an alternative alliance to Free Trade Area of the Americas (ALCA). Costa Rica has traditionally positioned itself with the latter.

President Solís later insisted that his actions were not coordinated with the ALBA members and acknowledged that Costa Rican relations with Brazil have ‘‘tensed’’ as a result. It is still unclear whether his decision will have more severe diplomatic consequences with respect to the South American nation.