President-elect Laura Fernández named outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves as minister of the Presidency and minister of Finance on Tuesday, giving her predecessor one of the most powerful roles in the new Costa Rican government just three days before she takes office.
The announcement came during Fernández’s cabinet presentation at the Teatro Popular Melico Salazar in San José. Chaves will also coordinate the government’s economic cabinet, placing him at the center of political strategy, fiscal policy and relations with the Legislative Assembly.
The appointment confirms what many in Costa Rica had expected: Fernández will begin her administration with strong continuity from the Chaves government. During the event, she framed the incoming team as a continuation of the outgoing administration’s agenda, while keeping several current officials in key positions and moving others into new posts.
Chaves’ new role carries major legal and political weight. As a minister, he would keep his fuero de improcedibilidad penal, a form of immunity that prevents ordinary criminal prosecution unless the Legislative Assembly votes to lift it. That protection was set to end when he left the presidency on May 8, but his appointment to the cabinet could extend it through Fernández’s four-year term.
The issue is not abstract. Chaves has faced multiple corruption-related accusations, including the BCIE-Cariñitos case, in which prosecutors accused him of abusing his authority in connection with a $32,000 consulting contract financed by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration. Chaves has denied wrongdoing. Costa Rica’s Supreme Court asked lawmakers last year to lift his immunity so he could face trial, but Congress fell short of the 38 votes needed.
His position as minister of the Presidency also gives him influence over one of the most sensitive areas of government. The Dirección de Inteligencia y Seguridad Nacional, or DIS, is Costa Rica’s intelligence body and is attached to the Ministry of the Presidency, while operating as an information body for the president on national security matters.
That makes the appointment especially controversial for Fernández’s critics, who argue that Chaves will remain the dominant political figure even after handing over the presidential sash. The opposition has already warned that Fernández could govern as an extension of Chaves’ project rather than as an independent president.
Fernández, a political scientist and former minister under Chaves, won the February election on a promise to continue his hard-line security agenda and confront rising violence linked to organized crime. Her party also won a majority in the Legislative Assembly, giving the incoming government a far stronger starting point than Chaves had during most of his term.
The incoming administration is also expected to maintain Chaves’ close alignment with Washington. Fernández has supported Costa Rica’s agreement with the United States to receive up to 25 third-country deportees per week, a policy signed under Chaves and already underway with the arrival of deported migrants in April.
Chaves leaves office after four years marked by high approval among supporters, sharp conflict with traditional parties, tense relations with the press and repeated clashes with other branches of government. Those tensions deepened again this week after La Nación said the United States revoked visas for several of its board executives without providing an official explanation.
Fernández will be sworn in Friday, May 8. Her first cabinet makes clear that the change in leadership will not mean a break from Chavismo. Instead, Costa Rica is entering a new administration with Chaves still inside the room, now as minister, economic coordinator and one of the most influential figures in the government he helped elect.
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