Tough-On-Crime Conservative Wins Power In Latest Right Wing Victory South Of Border

Costa Rica on Sunday elected a tough-on-crime conservative leader, marking another victory in Latin America’s broader right-wing swing.

With over 93.7% of ballots counted, results show that 39-year-old Laura Fernández of the right-wing Sovereign People’s Party captured over 48% of the vote, surpassing the 40% threshold needed to avoid a runoff, the Associated Press reported. Fernández was handpicked by outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves and campaigned on continuing his hardline approach to combatting crime.

“Costa Rica has voted and it has voted to continue the change, a change that only seeks to rescue and perfect our democratic institutions and return them to you, to the sovereign people, to create more well-being and prosperity for our people,” Fernández told supporters after the preliminary results were announced, according to the outlet.

“The mandate the sovereign people give me is clear: the change will be deep and irreversible,” she added.

Fernández served as chief of staff to Chaves, is married with a young daughter, and is a conservative Catholic. Her campaign emphasized hardline measures to combat Costa Rica’s growing crime problem.

The country has recorded record homicides in recent years, with 905 killings in 2023 alone, much of it linked to drug trafficking, according to the AP. The U.S. Treasury Department in January labeled the country a “key global cocaine transshipment point.”

The incoming leader has expressed admiration for El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, known for his aggressive crackdown on gangs and organized crime. Fernández has vowed to implement states of emergency in high-crime areas and pledged to complete construction of a high security penitentiary modeled after Bukele’s CECOT mega-prison.

“Everything we did in CECOT will be replicated in the Costa Rican version,” Bukele said during a January visit to Costa Rica, after describing how he took on a “dictatorship of organized crime” in his country.

“From the United States Congress, we congratulate President-Elect Laura Fernández and her Sovereign People Party on their resounding victory!” Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida wrote on X following Fernández’s victory. “We will continue working closely to strengthen the ties and trade between our sister nations!”

Fernández’s election adds to a growing list of conservative victories across Latin America, where voters increasingly appear willing to back right-leaning candidates promising tougher crime policies and economic freedom.

In December, Honduras elected right-wing candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura, whom President Donald Trump described as the country’s “only real friend of Freedom.” That same month, populist conservative José Antonio Kast defeated a Communist Party candidate to win Chile’s presidency.

Rodrigo Paz of the center-right Christian Democratic Party was elected Bolivia’s first conservative president in October after nearly 20 years of socialist rule.