Narcotrafficking and Regional Security

Laura Fernández, a conservative Catholic and leader of the Sovereign People’s Party handpicked by term‑limited President Rodrigo Chaves, was elected president with just over 48% of the vote to the National Liberation Party’s roughly 33%, according to Costa Rica’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal; she ran on a tough‑on‑crime agenda — praising El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele and pledging to build a maximum‑security prison modeled on El Salvador’s CECOT — amid a surge in violence that has shifted the country to the right. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio formally congratulated Fernández and emphasized cooperation on combating narco‑trafficking, stemming illegal immigration to the United States, strengthening cybersecurity and secure telecommunications, and expanding economic ties.