WikiLeaks Reveals Costa Rica Cables

The daily Costa Rican newspaper, La Nacion recently made a deal with WikiLeaks to gain access to hundreds of secret and unclassified U.S. cables about Costa Rica, giving the newspaper the opportunity to publish the documents.

La Nacion is the first newspaper in Central American to access WikiLeaks cables which in the case of Costa Rica were generated mainly from the U.S. embassy. The cables date back to 2004 and highlights include reference to former President Abel Pacheco as a weak leader to current President Laura Chinchilla as an intelligent and competent technocrat.

The release of WikiLeaks cables have created many a controversy and in Costa Rica this is also the case. The cables reveal that the Arias government knew about the outcome of the vote on the CAFTA bill in 2008 prior to taking place. This has lead to the judiciary of Costa Rica defending themselves. The cables also reveal the U.S. assistance on issues such as security and drug trafficking.

The cables also reveal Costa Rica’s position with respect to international issues such as mediation between Mexico and Venezuela, attempting to broker a meeting with Hugo Chavez and President Bush. Costa Rica’s involvement in such high level negotiations reveal the important relationship which has been established between the U.S. and Costa Rica.

The La Nacion plans to publish the cables in their entirety but will keep the identities of the individuals confidential to avoid any danger to their lives. Currently, La Nacion will have to go through 827 diplomatic cables and will publish them all. Their goal is to inform the citizens of Costa Rica about the international dealings respecting Costa Rica and provide the citizens with transparency. It is the goal of La Nacion to provide the information to strengthen Costa Rica’s democracy.