Play as · WW3 2026 · L1 · Unarmed republic · Security transition

Costa Rica - 2026

Costa Rica's 2026 campaign begins with a real transfer of elected power. Laura Fernández Delgado won the February election in the first round with 48.53 percent of valid votes and took office on 8 May, succeeding Rodrigo Chaves. Her victory promises continuity with Chaves's confrontational reform agenda while giving the new administration its own mandate and a legislature in which negotiation still matters. The republic has no standing army under Article 12 of the 1949 Constitution. That choice is a living system rather than a slogan: police, courts, diplomacy, social investment, and international cooperation must answer threats that neighboring states often assign to soldiers. Violent crime and cocaine transshipment have made public security a central political demand. At the same time, Costa Rica depends on predictable law for medical devices, electronics and semiconductor activity, business services, tourism, coffee, pineapples, and other exports. Nearly all electricity generation in normal years comes from renewable sources, but drought and climate shocks can strain that advantage. The player inherits democratic legitimacy, capable institutions, and no military shortcut when pressure rises.

Starting position

The Public Force handles policing, the National Coast Guard Service patrols two oceans, the Border Police watches Nicaragua and Panama, and specialized units work against narcotics and financial crime. Their equipment and personnel are limited relative to the trafficking routes crossing Costa Rican waters. United States cooperation provides training, vessels, intelligence, and interdiction support; regional and European partners help on organized crime and cyber defense. Accepting assistance can close surveillance gaps, yet opaque deployments or an expanding foreign operational role would collide with the constitutional culture that gives Costa Rica diplomatic influence. The Nicaraguan border presents migration, asylum, commerce, and security problems at once. Southern routes connect to Panama and the changing Darién flow. Inland, the administration must protect ports, airports, data systems, power facilities, and high-value manufacturing without turning emergency policing into routine exceptional power. Fiscal constraints limit recruitment and technology. The constitutional court, electoral tribunal, comptroller, legislature, press, and civil society can slow executive plans, but their independence is also part of the national defense model.

What turns the campaign

Your main choice is how to deliver visible security gains while preserving accountable civilian force. Concentrating police under tighter executive command may accelerate operations against homicide networks and port corruption; judicial warrants, procurement review, witness protection, and financial investigations produce slower gains that survive a change of government. Prison policy can isolate criminal leadership or create overcrowded recruiting grounds. Coast Guard investment can protect fisheries and interdict cargo, while neighborhood policing and prevention address the local markets that seizures alone do not reach. Economic strategy has similar tradeoffs. Semiconductor and medical-device supply chains reward skills, stable electricity, water, and customs reliability more than headline subsidies. Tourism needs biodiversity and personal safety. Agricultural exporters need logistics and adaptation to floods or drought. Relations with Washington can deepen nearshoring and security access, but Costa Rica should retain room to trade with Europe and Asia and to speak independently on human rights. Fernández's institutional reform mandate must pass through constitutional procedures if it is to strengthen rather than exhaust confidence in the state.

Signature challenge