This betrayal comes as no surprise to anyone

Aug 24, 2008 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
Costa Rica’s Arias surprises no one by turning his back on the Dalai Lama.

Costa Rica’s President, Oscar Arias, has once again turned his back on an existing relationship and the obligations that go with it.

He has done this in favour of a new one that is more self-serving to the nation as well as possibly his own self-interests.

This pattern conforms to the spirit of opportunism, which has motivated so much of his public life.
This time, it is in regard to Costa Rica’s increasingly torrid relationship with the People’s Republic of China.

Arias, whose unwarranted reputation for being a person of immense public rectitude and a strong human rights advocate often conflicts with his actual record, most recently exhibited the moral ambiguity of his nature by requesting that the Dalai Lama cancel — not postpone — his unofficial visit to Costa Rica, scheduled for September 10th.

The Costa Rican-Tibetan Cultural Association had organised the trip as a cultural and religious visit by the revered Tibetan spiritual leader, but San Jose feared that his appearance on Costa Rican soil would lead China’s President, Hu Jintao, to cancel his likely visit to the country in October.

In addition, the visit would impair its ties to the golden goose that the Asian powerhouse has become for the Central American nation, since it switched its diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing.
Suzana Shepard-Durini
COHA Research Associate