Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres delivered his final state of nation speech on Friday, May 1. He said progress needs to be made in citizen security and internal debt control. Analysts agreed with his evaluation of the country, but added several other problems to his perception of the nation.

Glen Tinder, politics professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, is one such analyst.

"President Figueres is correct in his belief that security is a problem in Costa Rica," he said. "He failed to touch on the problem of health care, almost as much of a problem in C.R. as it is here in the United States."

Other problems Figueres’ critics have touched upon include education, infrastructure, poverty and state reform. The agreement is that more progress is needed in Costa Rica, though it is still affluent compared to other Costa Rican nations.

Sandra Piszk, a politician in Costa Rica, told the daily La Nacion she foresees more problems in the areas the President has overlooked.

"We can’t deny that important advances have been made, but we can’t deny that much remains to be done," she said. "In the health sector, for example, the President hails his achievements in ‘telemedicine’, but our office receives more complaints about health than any other sector."

Costa Rican voters reflect these sentiments in recent nation-wide opinion polls. Figueres has been rated the most unpopular president in Costa Rican history in polls conducted by Unimer.

More minor problems Figueres’ critics accused him of ignoring included potholes on city streets and a neglected international airport.

Figueres chose to take a more favorable view of the end of his presidency in his speech.

"My administration is leaving (president-elect) Miguel Angel Rodriguez a government that is more fiscally responsible, a tax system that is beginning to punish dodgers, a more modern financial system and lower interest rates," he said. "We even succeeded in breaking the cycle of election-year overspending."

Mark Augiere, a retired teacher from New Bedford, MA, who has a Master’s degree in political science said Figueres efforts should be commended rather than his faults be scrutinized.

"Figueres has managed to keep Costa Rica a very peaceful and prosperous nation by Central American standards," he said. "The insignificance of the problems they face compared to those of nations like El Salvador and Panama is something to be proud of, and Figueres did his job in keeping this peace."

Figueres made significant note of the fact that he has made Costa Rica a more technologically advanced nation in his time as president. Costa Rica welcomed the arrival of leading microprocessors Intel during Figueres term.

The social issues were not totally ignored in his speech. Figueres talked about EBAIS, his plan to create 600 health posts to further discoveries in preventative medicine. He also touched on future projects to make drinking water more accessible.

Figueres concluded his speech with a reference to the country’s winning the World Bank’s "Environmental Leadership Prize." Costa Rica won this award due to the country’s efforts to bring its "carbon bond" program into fruition. Environmentalists worldwide scrutinized the plan, but it resulted in Costa Rica planting more tress annually than it cuts.

"Costa Rica will continue to be a shining star of the world," Figueres said.

Figueres term ending coincides with a new Congress’ time to serve beginning. They have nominated their first executive committee, which comprises largely of President elect Rodriguez’s deputies.

Political analyst Anne Marie Gonzalez for World Politics newsletter of Warwick, R.I. predicts a smooth transition for the new President.

"There is no reason to expect anything less than an easy turnover for the new President," she said. "The table was set up nicely by Figueres, and this new Congress should be equally beneficial for President Rodriguez and Costa Rica as a nation."

Rodriguez told the Tico Times of Costa Rica on May 8 that he is willing to take the initiative to improve some of the problems that skeptics accused Figueres of neglecting.

"Efforts must be taken to improve and modernize our judicial and police systems," he said. "So much has not been done in the way of running professional law

enforcement agencies that needs to be done."

Rodriguez said he hopes to further improve the public school system, an endeavor that Figueres had only begun when his time in office was expiring. His hope is to see a higher rate of success on high school graduation exams. The current rate is 80 percent according to the Tico Times.

The two principle parties of the Costa Rican political scheme are the Unity and National Liberation parties. Unity, of which Rodriguez is a member, had to lobby for support from the minority parties to push its committee through.

Minority parties held an unusually large seven seats, while Unity had 27 and the National Liberation Party 23. Only a majority vote of 29 was needed.

Unity is planning to enact a new civil rights bill pushing for equality between religious groups. The bill would make it legal to teach non-religious doctrine in schools and for non-Catholic religious figures to perform wedding ceremonies.