QCOSTA RICA — Even though the official start of the 2026 presidential campaign has not yet begun and the current President Rodrigo Chaves is ineligible to run, the official candidate from the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) is working to gain support for his party.
The poorly concealed dislike between Rodrigo Chaves and Álvaro Ramos, intensified this weekend.
Ramos called Chaves a liar, while pointing out that it is a common practice of his to advance his interests.
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The bone of contention is related to Ramos’s appointment as head of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) at the beginning of this administration and his dismissal a few months after being sworn in.
“Don Rodrigo, you’re lying. I do remember that meeting perfectly. I didn’t need to return to Costa Rica; I was fine there. I only returned to the Caja (CCSS) because of the immense love I have for Costa Rica. That’s why I came, no other reason. You’ve spent years lying. You lied that the Caja was bankrupt and that the Cartago hospital couldn’t be built, and you’ve lied about many other things to hide the fact that you don’t know how to solve Costa Ricans’ problems,” Ramos said.
At the time of his appointment by Chaves to run the Caja, Ramos was working and living in Switzerland.
During the traditional press conference at Casa Presidencial last Wednesday, Chaves was asked by the media outlet La Reacción about Ramos’s administration and did not hesitate to point out that it was the worst appointment of his administration, while also stating that he, Ramos, “begged” for the position, urged by ruling party representative Pilar Cisneros.
“It wasn’t that I sought it out. It was he (Ramos) who begged for the appointment. We can ask Pilar because she was present at the meeting. That is the biggest appointment mistake I made as president,” Chaves stated.
The exchange revives a conflict that dates back to September 2022, when Ramos was removed from the presidency of the CCSS after endorsing a controversial salary increase for the institution’s officials. The measure, retroactive to 2020, represented an annual expenditure of approximately ¢10 billion colones and was harshly criticized by Chaves, who alleged violations of the fiscal rule and the budgetary discipline policy of his administration.
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