By Jay
Brodell
Editor emeritus of A.M. Costa
Rica
Costa Rica has plenty to learn
from the current travails wracking
Venezuela.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump
blames the current crisis on
socialism. That may be a factor, but
the root cause is a procession of
politicians who looted the country's
oil wealth.
Costa Rica has close ties to
Venezuela, including a significant
expat population. Romulo Betancourt,
the so-called father of Venezuelan
democracy, spent a period of
political exile in the early 1930s
as a prominent Costa Rican communist
activist.
Carlos Andrés Pérez, twice
president, once worked as an editor
at San Jose's La Republic newspaper
while he was in exile. Jaime Ramón
Lusinchi, president in the late
1980s, avoided criminal actions in
his homeland by living in San José
until 2009.
Another twice-elected president,
Rafael Caldera, helped found the
U.N. University for Peace, located
near Ciudad Colón. Venezuelan fleets
fish Costa Rican waters.
Thousands of Venezuelans have
found vacations or shelter from
their country's problems over the
years in Costa Rica.
The current humanitarian crisis in
Venezuela under President Nicolás
Maduro can be traced to the policies
of his predecessor, the populist
Hugo Chávez.
Opponents and supporters can agree
that Chávez was motivated by the
stark division between rich and poor
in his country. He was not alone.
Unrest, such as in 1970 and 1989,
and a decade of ineffective armed
revolution showed this.
Venezuelan leaders for years
squandered the country's oil riches
through corruption, nepotism,
self-dealing, collusion with
avaricious bankers and outright
theft. Carlos Andrés Pérez even was
forced from his second presidency
and jailed for financial
irregularities. Observers still
wonder how his mistress, Cecilia
Mato, managed to accumulate a
worldwide real estate portfolio from
her government secretary's paycheck.
The emergence of Hugo Chávez as a
political figure can be directly
linked to electorate's exhaustion
with crooked politicians.
The presidency of Betancourt
followed the coup that unseated
Marcos Pérez Jiménez in 1958. The 40
years of democracy that followed
would be familiar to U.S. voters. A
small group of politicians dominated
the policy of the country, although
they might support different
political parties, mainly Acción
Democratica or the Comité de
Organización Política Electoral
Independiente, known as COPEI.
Each administration espoused
policies similar to those of Costa
Rica. The roughest times for these
officials came when they tried to
take something that they had given
the public, perhaps money from an
increase in the price of gasoline or
from higher taxes. Allegations of
corruption were frequent.
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A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
photo
Venezuelan
leaders for years
squandered the country's
oil riches through
corruption, nepotism,
self-dealing, collusion
with avaricious bankers
and outright theft.
The
country's dependency on
the world price of
petroleum made it very
vulnerable because its
statism policies
discouraged private
enterprise, which were
underdeveloped.
Venezuela's
current situation has
very complex causes,
including strong
influences from Cuba and
long-term suspicions of
the United States.
Chávez certainly can be
blamed for his rapacious
acquisition of power.
Still, the populous wave
that supported Chávez
and now Maduro could not
be possible without many
decades of officials
pillaging the oil
wealth.
Ironically, the
Chávez-Maduro regimes
with their concentration
of power also have
become ‘kleptocracies.’
Residents in Costa
Rica see reports of
local corruption nearly
every day. They may
involve politicians,
importers or
contractors. Many
criminal cases remain
unresolved. Costa Rica
does not have a fourth
branch of government,
the military, as does
Venezuela. But it does
have stark social
differences that could
be exploited by populous
candidates.
In fact, one could
argue that this already
happened in the United
States with the
unexpected election of
Trump.
Venezuela has been
ravaged several times in
the last 60 years by
debt crises and sharp
devaluations of the
currency. The Costa
Rican government is
wallowing in debt.
In short, Costa Rica
sports many of the
factors that caused the
Venezuelan perfect
storm.
Editor's
note: Brodell,
founder and long-time
editor of A.M. Costa
Rica, also worked in
Venezuela as a
newspaperman.
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The information
expressed by the
author is the sole and
exclusive
responsibility of the
sender and do not
necessarily represent
the opinion of A.M.
Costa Rica. Therefore,
the newspaper does not
accept liability for
the authors' article
content.
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