Published on Monday, February 2, 2026
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

U.S. helicopters operating under the U.S. Embassy’s aerial support program, in coordination with Costa Rica’s Air Surveillance Service, transported election officials and voting materials to remote regions of the country ahead of Sunday’s national presidential election, the embassy said.

On Sunday, Laura Fernández-Delgado won the presidency in the first round of voting and was elected Costa Rica’s 50th president for the 2026–2030 term. She is the candidate of the Sovereign People’s Party, known by its Spanish acronym PPSO, a center-right party founded in 2025 that supports continuing the policies of President Rodrigo Chaves Robles’ administration.

The aircraft carried representatives of Costa Rica’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal, known by its Spanish acronym TSE, along with election supply packages, locally known as tulas, containing the material required for voting. The deliveries took place days before Election Day.

The supplies included paper ballots, credentials for polling station monitors and other official documents, according to the embassy.

 

The materials were delivered to ensure that voters in remote areas of Turrialba Canton in Cartago Province and Talamanca Canton in Limón Province were able to exercise their right to vote.

Flights departed from San José Province and traveled to isolated mountain communities, including Alto Telire, Bajo Bley, Xiquiari, Bajo Piedra Mesa, Almirante, Jaki, Duclac, Río Coén, Alto Urén, Jamo, Jekui, Bajo Telire and Sinoli. All of the locations are in Costa Rica’s central mountainous region.

The embassy said the close cooperation between the United States and Costa Rica, and both countries’ commitment to democratic processes, allowed election officials to deliver the tulas to polling centers in time for the elections held Sunday, Feb. 1.

The helicopters are scheduled to return to the remote communities next week to retrieve the election materials and transport TSE officials back to San José, where the process of counting each paper ballot will continue.

 

On Election Day, U.S. Ambassador Melinda Hildebrand accompanied a team of embassy staff members accredited by the TSE as part of the international observer mission for Costa Rica’s electoral process.

Hildebrand also visited the Costa Rican Journalists Association in San José to learn more about a mock election program for children. The embassy said she was pleased to see future voters learning how to participate in their democracy.

The U.S. observer team visited polling stations across the country, in both urban and rural areas, to observe Costa Rica’s democratic process.

Hildebrand formally assumed her duties in Costa Rica in January after presenting her letters of credence to President Chaves Robles at the Presidential House in San José.

The TSE is an independent public institution responsible for overseeing all presidential elections and national referendums in Costa Rica.

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