👬 Being Bukele

Long dubbed the “Switzerland of Latin America” for its stability and abolition of its army in 1948, Costa Rica’s calm has been disturbed by rising violence and organized crime. Amid this trend, President Rodrigo Chaves is veering toward a tougher line on law and order, embracing a zero-tolerance agenda that echoes the stance of Nayib Bukele up the Pacific coast in El Salvador.

In August, Chaves announced plans to build a new maximum-security penitentiary modeled on Bukele’s notorious Cecot “mega prison” — which human rights groups claim is akin to a torture center. The Costa Rican version…

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