Costa Rica enters a new electoral cycle with a truth that can no longer be concealed: the country’s structural problems will not be solved by rebranding parties or forming coalitions that, in essence, repeat the same formulas that have already shown their wear.
For decades, various political groups—both traditional and emerging—have promoted a model with familiar traits: an expanding state apparatus, rising public spending, more regulation, and heavier burdens on those who produce. The results are evident: a deficit that refuses to shrink, a public debt that strains every budget, insufficient economic growth, and a middle class carrying an ever‑increasing load.
This is not a call to abandon solidarity or the social role of the State. Costa Rica made progress when it balanced social investment with fiscal responsibility, strong institutions with efficiency, and public policy with a productive sector capable of generating opportunities. The problem arises when that balance breaks and the country promises more than it can finance.
When reforms are postponed, programs go unevaluated, and debt becomes the recurring escape route, the model begins to erode. At that point, political discourse loses credibility, and the cost falls on workers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses facing procedures, burdens, and an environment that does not support their effort.
International experience—and Costa Rica’s own numbers—show that no system can sustain a structure built on chronic deficits, growing debt, and stagnant productivity. The warning often attributed to Ronald Reagan remains relevant: models that rely on spending other people’s money eventually hit unavoidable limits. Changing names or rearranging alliances does nothing to alter that reality.
Costa Rica does not need new labels for old recipes. It needs concrete decisions: modernizing the State, eliminating institutional duplications, evaluating programs based on results, simplifying procedures that hinder investment, strengthening competition, and supporting the productive sector without abandoning those who need protection the most.
The national debate must rise to a higher level. The country needs fewer slogans and more responsibility. Costa Rica’s future will not depend on the name of a party or coalition, but on the genuine willingness to correct a model that has already shown its limits and that, if left unchanged, will continue to compromise the opportunities of future generations.
