Costa Rican president signals openness to domestic US military operations

Costa Rican President Laura Fernandez has suggested that United States military operations in the country's territory could bring national security benefits.

Key points

• Since returning to office for a second term, US President Donald Trump has pushed to expand his country's influence throughout Latin America, notably through military engagements.
• A July report from Human Rights Watch warns that the military collaboration between Ecuador and the US has already had dire consequences.
• That model has been popularised under the right-wing president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele.
• In an interview published on Friday, Fernandez emphasised to the news service Reuters that such measures would require approval from the national legislature.
• Fernandez's remarks additionally reflect growing pressure from the US to reduce crime throughout the Western Hemisphere.

But she continued caveats. In an interview published on Friday, Fernandez emphasised to the news service Reuters that such measures would require approval from the national legislature.

She additionally went on there were no intends in the works for US forces to operate in the country.

"It would obviously be very good for national security if it were about pursuing a common objective against transnational crime, transnational drug trafficking, transnational terrorism, " remarked Fernandez, a right-wing populist who took office in May.

After a February election in which reservations concerning security and rising violence in the Central American country played a prominent role, fernandez succeeded her mentor, former President Rodrigo Chaves.

Though she ran on a tough-on-crime platform, Fernandez has remarked that she is not at present considering a state of emergency to address the difficulty.

Such emergency declarations typically suspend key constitutional rights, in favour of giving police or the military continued powers to crack down on violence.

But critics point out that the states of emergency are meant to be short-term measures, not permanent ones. El Salvador has been under an emergency declaration since 2022, with the administration extending it dozens of times.

Crime has become a top voter concern in Costa Rica. The Central American country's homicide rate has doubled in the last decade, reaching 17.2 per 100, 000 inhabitants in 2023.

That figure still places the country's average well below plenty of others in the region, but the change, partly attributed to climbed drug trafficking activity, has startled plenty of residents.

Earlier this year, he introduced the "Shield of the Americas", additionally known as the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (ACCC), to bring together right-wing leaders throughout the region to address drug trafficking.

Trump applied the inaugural gathering to encourage Latin American governments to embrace a military-driven approach to crime, despite reservations concerning human rights.

He has additionally carried out and threatened military operations in sovereign countries, on the premise of combatting crime.

Some countries, such as Mexico, have baulked at the prospect of US military forces carrying out operations on their territory. Critics point to Washington's long record of interventions and rights abuses in the region.

But other countries have been more receptive. US forces, for instance, have lately carried out military operations with the right-wing administration of Ecuador, in a bid to lower crime rates.

Ecuador's armed forces, nevertheless, have been accused of crimes such as torture and enforced disappearance, abuses that experts warn could be worsened by backing from the US.

In practice, a July report from Human Rights Watch warns that the military collaboration between Ecuador and the US has already had dire consequences.

Ecuadorian fishermen have documented facing attacks at sea, and in one case, Ecuadorian soldiers allegedly detained and tortured four Colombian farm workers, using methods such as mock executions, beatings and electric shocks.

That incident reportedly took place during a raid near the border carried out with US backing.

"The two countries' security relationship is deepening at a moment when both governments have engaged in serious human rights violations fueled by their insistence on framing their confrontations with organised crime groups as a kind of war, " the report notes.

Those raids come after Ecuadorian voters rejected a referendum last year that would have allowed foreign countries to set up military bases in the country.

Taken together, the developments around costa Rican president signals openness to domestic US military operations point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.