Last spring Rodrigo Chaves took office as the new president of Costa Rica. One of Mr. Chaves’ first acts in office was to declare an end to the “vaccination” requirement and mandatory masking.
Many thanks to HeHa for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes and RAIR Foundation for the subtitling:
Video transcript:
| 00:01 | Let’s switch to Central America now. Because last Sunday, the economist Rodrigo Chaves | |
| 00:05 | took office as President of Costa Rica for the next four years. | |
| 00:09 | His challenging intention is to lead the country | |
| 00:12 | out of the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. | |
| 00:15 | Carlos Alvarado’s successor is not that experienced as a man of state. | |
| 00:19 | Prior to his election, he served as Minister of Finance for 180 days only, between 2019 and 2020. | |
| 00:27 | The 60-year-old conservative politician also worked as a World Bank official for three decades. | |
| 00:34 | Costa Rica is one of the steadiest democracies in the region. | |
| 00:37 | Despite that, the tourism sector, the true engine of its economy, | |
| 00:40 | hasn’t recovered yet, since the pandemic broke out. | |
| 00:43 | The journalist Alejandra Araya, from Costa Rica, | |
| 00:46 | has been watching the presidential inauguration closely. | |
| 00:49 | Let’s go live to her, in San José. | |
| 00:52 | Good afternoon, Alejandra. What can you tell us about the new president’s inauguration? | |
| 01:00 | Good afternoon, I am in San José, Costa Rica. | |
| 01:03 | It was a perfectly normal assumption of power. | |
| 01:06 | More than 100 international delegations were present. | |
| 01:10 | Nevertheless, as soon as he took office as president of the Republic, | |
| 01:13 | Rodrigo Chaves signed several decrees, | |
| 01:16 | which have been considered controversial by Costa Rican society. | |
| 01:20 | First of all, he eliminated both mandatory vaccination against Covid-19, | |
| 01:24 | and the mandatory use of face masks. | |
| 01:28 | Moreover, he decreed a national state of emergency. | |
| 01:33 | Let’s remind ourselves that some weeks ago, | |
| 01:36 | some delinquents assaulted the Ministry of Finance building. | |
| 01:39 | This has greatly affected both imports and exports. | |
| 01:45 | In his speech, Rodrigo Chaves promised he would fight corruption | |
| 01:49 | and improve the country’s standard of living. | |
| 01:52 | But he never disclosed what his stance on foreign policy will be. | |
| 01:56 | These are the points which are stirring up debate right now, in Costa Rica. |