SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Despite Costa Rica’s highest homicide rates occurring under outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves, Costa Ricans appeared poised to throw their support to his handpicked successor Laura Fernández in Sunday’s presidential election to continue Chaves' efforts to tackle the crime.
Crime remains top of mind for many voters as drug traffickers battle to control the domestic market, as well as the lucrative transshipment points to send cocaine to Europe and the United States. The small Central American nation better known for its environmental tourism and laid-back attitude has been gripped by violent crime in recent years.
Chaves has simultaneously been able to shirk any blame for the violence — he points to a permissive judiciary and weak predecessors — and attract support with tough-on-crime talk. Earlier this month, Chaves invited El Salvador Nayib Bukele to the groundbreaking for a new prison, inspired by Bukele’s crackdown on gangs in his country.
In 2023, Costa Rica set a record for homicides with 907. In 2024, that number fell to 880 and last year it ticked down by three.
Chaves’ confrontational style — with the press, the opposition, the judiciary — has drawn followers. Chaves has benefited from a thoroughly discredited opposition, beset by corruption and seemingly unable to regain its footing in the face of Chaves’ new style of Costa Rican politics.
“They’ve known how to justify government inaction, they’ve been very belligerent in that and there hasn’t been a strong opposition voice to refute it,” said political analyst Fanny Ramírez.
The candidate for Costa Rica’s oldest political party, National Liberation, economist Álvaro Ramos, could be lucky to reach 10% of the vote, according to recent polls. Behind him is a former first lady, Claudia Dobles, the candidate for the Citizen Agenda Coalition. The architect has not been able to shake off criticism of the administration of her husband, ex-President Carlos Alvarado.
So the stage has been set for Fernández, Chaves’ former minister of national planning and economic policy and more recently his minister of the presidency.
Chaves has been repeatedly cited for openly campaigning for Fernández, something prohibited in Costa Rica. But an attempt by electoral authorities to strip him of his immunity so that he could be prosecuted for it failed. An earlier attempt to strip him of his immunit y for alleged corruption also failed.
Voters will also elect all 57 members of Congress on Sunday.
María Ramírez, a merchant in the capital, said she planned to vote for Fernández and for Chaves’ Sovereign People’s Party, saying the other parties have tried to block Chaves from governing and that Fernández will need a sufficient number of allies in the legislature.
"That's why we have to support Ms. Laura so that she has enough support and they don’t block her in the Assembly,” Ramírez said.
Edwin Alvarado said he felt that now the country was doing better economically and that government institutions were working for the good of the people.
“I am going to vote, very convinced for Laura Fernández to continue the same line of good governance that we have had with Rodrigo Chaves, who came to this country to open our eyes” to the traditional parties that were only interested in maintaining their privilege, he said.
Recent polls suggest Fernández might be able to reach the 40% of the vote required to win the election in the first round. If she does not, the top two vote-getters will face off April 5. Nearly a third of people intending to vote say they remain undecided so that could still shift.
“People’s indecision so far seems to me oriented to seeing who could compete with Laura Fernández in the second round,” said Ramírez, the analyst.
Costa Rican presidential candidate Laura Fernandez greets supporters during a campaign rally in San Jose, Costa Rica, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Carlos Gonzalez)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Trump administration could reduce the number of immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota, but only if state and local officials cooperate, the president's border czar said Thursday, noting he has “zero tolerance” for protesters who assault federal officers or impede the ongoing operation in the Twin Cities.
Tom Homan addressed reporters for the first time since the president sent him to Minneapolis following last weekend's fatal shooting of protester Alex Pretti, the second this month by federal officers carrying out the operation. His comments came after President Donald Trump seemed to signal a willingness to ease tensions in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area and as the administration ended its “enhanced operations” in Maine.
Homan emphasized that the administration isn't relenting on its immigration crackdown and warned that protesters could face consequences if they interfere with federal officers.
But he seemed to acknowledge there had been missteps.
“I do not want to hear that everything that’s been done here has been perfect. Nothing’s ever perfect,” he said.
Homan hinted at the prospect of drawing down many of the roughly 3,000 federal officers taking part in the operation, but he seemed to tie that to cooperation from state and local leaders and a reduction in protester interference.
“When the violence decreases, we can draw down the resources,” he said. “The drawdown is going to happen based on these agreements. But the drawdown can happen even more if the hateful rhetoric and the impediment and interference will stop.”
He also said he would oversee internal changes in federal immigration law enforcement, but he gave few specifics.
“The mission is going to improve because of the changes we’re making internally,” he said. “No agency organization is perfect. And President Trump and I, along with others in the administration, have recognized that certain improvements could and should be made.”
Despite Trump softening his rhetoric about Minnesota officials — he said this week they were on a “similar wavelength” — there has been little sign on the ground of any big changes to the operation. On Thursday, a smattering of protesters braved the frigid temperatures to demonstrate outside of the federal facility that has been serving as the operation's main hub.
Pretti, 37, was fatally shot Saturday during a scuffle with the Border Patrol. Earlier this month, 37-year-old Renee Good was shot in her vehicle by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
Homan doubled down on the need for jails to alert ICE to inmates who could be deported, saying that transferring such inmates to the agency while they’re still in jail is safer because it means fewer officers have to be out on the streets looking for people who are in the country illegally. ICE has historically relied on cooperation from local and state jails to notify the agency about such inmates.
“Give us access to illegal aliens, public safety threats in the safety and security of a jail,” he said.
The border czar also seemed to suggest a renewed focus on what ICE calls “targeted operations” designed to focus its efforts on apprehending immigrants who have committed crimes. He said the agency would conduct “targeted strategic enforcement operations” prioritizing “public safety threats.”
Homan's arrival in Minnesota followed the departure of the Trump administration's on-the-ground leader of the operation, Greg Bovino. Homan didn't give a specific timeline for how long he would stay in Minnesota.
“I’m staying until the problem’s gone,” he said, adding that he has met with community, law enforcement and elected leaders in the hopes of finding common ground and suggested that he’s made some progress.
Operation Metro Surge began in December with scattered arrests, as Trump repeatedly disparaged the state’s large Somali community. But the operation ramped up dramatically after a right-wing influencer’s January report on Minnesota’s sprawling human services fraud scandal, which centers around the Somali community.
Federal officials announced thousands of immigration agents were being deployed, with FBI Director Kash Patel saying they would “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.”
But talk of the scandals was almost immediately forgotten, with federal authorities instead focusing on immigrants in the country illegally and so-called sanctuary agreements that limit cooperation between local law enforcement agencies and jails with immigration authorities.
Santana reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Tim Sullivan in Minneapolis and Mike Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey, contributed.
People participate during a noise demonstration outside the Graduate by Hilton Minneapolis hotel on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A pair of volunteer observers patrol south Minneapolis neighborhoods Tuesday, Jan 27, 2026, looking for signs of activity by federal immigration officers. (AP Photo/Tim Sullivan)
People hold up photos during a vigil for Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Henderson, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Federal agents try to clear demonstrators near a hotel, using tear gas during a noise demonstration protest in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference as Marcos Charles and Rodney Scott, listen, at the Bishop Whipple Federal building on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Law enforcement officers prepare to make arrests after declaring an unlawful assembly during a noise demonstration outside the Graduate by Hilton Minneapolis hotel on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference at the Bishop Whipple Federal building on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference as Marcos Charles and Rodney Scott, listen, at the Bishop Whipple Federal building on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference at the Bishop Whipple Federal building on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference at the Bishop Whipple Federal building on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
