QCOSTARICA — After more than three decades, the dictatorship of Johnny Araya at the head of the Municipality of San José came to an end, according to Diego Miranda, the new mayor of Costa Rica’s capital.
The politician, from the Partido Juntos San José, gave a surprising result on Sunday’s election day, beating favored Partido Liberacion Nacional (PLN) candidate Mario Vargas.
Miranda, who is a historian by profession and is 34 years old, asserts that his main task will be to make public management transparent.
– Advertisement –
What does Miranda think of the victory achieved this Sunday night? “We have defeated the 33-year dictatorship of Johnny Araya in San José. We have shown patience, wisdom, commitment and work”.
The win, according to Miranda, is attributed to proposing the people of San José “a true commitment to change and to address their needs”.
“In essence, people wanted a change and we are going to make that change, for the good of San José,” said Miranda.
Miranda’s mission for the mayor’s office is also to restore dignity to the people and ensure that municipal services are of quality and all from the sphere of transparency.
“People are fed up with Johnny Araya,” said Miranda.
His campaign was based on calling out corruption and severe criticism of Johnny Araya and the PLN.
– Advertisement –
What will he do to fulfill that promise?
“That was the key to our victory, and now it’s time to show this to the people. It is important that Josefinos know that we are authentic representatives of the central canton, that we are not going to steal a single colon. We are going to give back to the people what has been stolen from them for 33 years.
“We must start with transparent management, speaking the truth. That is also the key to what has made us win.
“From the position of councilor we have been denouncing the lack of transparency in hiring and appointment processes. Corruption plays with the lack of transparency to violate the law, while officials with technical knowledge and experience are removed, just because they go against the interests of some people within the institution currently. We are about to make the municipality transparent, I think we should make a clean slate, whatever needs to be processed, we are going to process it and we will focus on the important things that citizens require,” Miranda told La Republica in an interview.
– Advertisement –
In a nutshell, Miranda plans to do things opposite to what Johnny Araya has done in more than 30 years, which has been to nullify the opposition.
“We are going to recognize the opposition, provide democracy in the council and ensure that all factions can participate on equal terms,” concluded Miranda, a political scientist and resident of Zapote, who has been a councilor since 2016.
PLN loses stronghold in San José
While all the votes are yet to be counted, Miranda’s win is assured by PLN candidate’s acceptance of defeat.
Mario Vargas acknowledged defeat, stating that “history will judge and tell if the change was for better or worse.”
The PLN has had a stronghold on the capital’s mayorship historically obtained with Johnny Araya. The PLN’s decline in San Jose had already happened before when Araya left the PLN party and won it in 2022 for the local party Alianza por San José.
“Sometimes it happens in the country, there is a silent vote,” Vargas declared, stating that the result is different from what was perceived in the streets.
– Advertisement –
Source link
Rico
