Despite controversy, Carlos Alvarado Quesada pushed for Costa Rica to be a leader in clean renewable energy and supported the legalization of same-sex marriage during his time as as Costa Rica’s 48th president from 2018 to 2022.
At an event with University of Connecticut Law students on Thursday, Alvarado Quesada reflected on those past challenges and how the accomplishments he managed demonstrate that change is possible in difficult times.
“There's a big demand for hope, but a little supply,” Alvarado Quesada said. “I do see things that demonstrate that we can work for a better future, and I like to share that vision which is rooted in concrete examples. It’s not fiction.”
His advice comes as Costa Rica is holding deportees from various different countries for the United States. The Trump Administration’s push to accelerate deportations has resulted in a wave of migration and detainments that countries like Costa Rica are trying to manage.
Alvarado Quesada said the institutions of Costa Rica are trying to sort out the best way to deal with the situation, but it reminds him of his own experience in office.
“When I was in office in 2018, there was a big crisis in neighboring Nicaragua,” he said, referring to political unrest that left tens of thousands of Nicaraguans looking for refuge in Costa Rica. “Looking back, those were difficult times, but it also reminds me that there are positive ways to deal with difficult situations again.”
Spreading optimism
Twenty-two-year old Damla Yasemin Ipek, an international law student from Germany studying at the UConn School of Law, asked Alvarado Quesada what to tell people who feel like the democratic process is too slow, as issues get stalled in Congress.
Alvarado Quesada told her it was important to believe in democracy and the values of freedom that it encompasses.
Ipek said his answer left her with a lot to think about.
“I think it was more optimistic than I am, but I think maybe that is a good thing. Maybe I needed to hear that perspective,” she said.
She is focusing on U.S. legal studies with plans of concentrating in human rights and social justice. The current news surrounding these fields in America, as well as in her home countries of Germany and Turkey, makes it difficult to keep a positive mindset, she said.
“It's very disheartening sometimes, but I think if we always only think about the bad things that are happening, we won't be able to do anything about it,” she said. “I liked [Alvarado Quesada’s] optimism, and I'm gonna take that as my personal mission to also be more optimistic.”
A better tomorrow for democracy
For Alvarado Quesada, the world is entering a new age, but he said those who believe in democracy cannot give up on it. Rather, those people should participate in democracy to bring about change.
“I think the world now is in a tough spot, but that doesn't mean that we cannot give a better course to things,” he said. “My hope is rooted on action. On working. On persistence.”
That action can include joining a political party or becoming involved in a movement or engaging with a local community, he said.
Ultimately, Alvarado Quesada said he wanted to remind UConn students how “there are reasons to be hopeful and how we can exercise our agency into building and crafting that tomorrow.”
