A polemic representative from the province of Guanacaste before the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica has unceremoniously left his political seat. Many readers of The Costa Rica Star are probably familiar with legislator Ronal Vargas from the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) political party; Mr. Vargas is particularly known for his support of the separatist movements of Scotland in the United Kingdom and Catalonia in the Kingdom of Spain. Mr. Vargas has entertained the idea of Guanacaste seeking independence from Costa Rica; not surprisingly, his constituents have been less than supportive in this regard.

Earlier this week, reports about a hasty resignation by Mr. Vargas to his legislative seat were received with plenty of surprise by political pundits in Costa Rica. However, a recent report published by online news daily El Pais paints a different picture of the situation. El Pais interviewed legislator Edgardo Araya Sibaja, who is part of the leadership section of the Broad Front party, on this matter; the following is a translation of his comments:

“Mr. Vargas was asked to resign after the leadership section learned about a sexual harassment complaint filed against him by another legislator. Given this situation and the potential implications for those involved, we asked Mr. Vargas to step down in an immediate and irrevocable fashion, and he accepted. We have not given any further information out of respect for the alleged victim and the families of those involved.”

As if the statement from the Broad Front leadership was not alarming enough, Mr. Vargas seems to have worsen the situation with his farewell speech, in which he alluded to health problems, specifically gastric discomfort. The news media in Costa Rica has also run into a deadlock with regard to the sexual harassment complaint per se; the disciplinary section of the Legislative Assembly has no record of such complaint, and the same goes for law enforcement agencies and judicial investigators, who have not seen anything to that effect.

Political analysts in Costa Rica are citing the above as just one more example of how our country’s political parties are deeply in shambles. As an interesting aside, Mr. Vargas is a former Catholic priest, and the legislator allegedly filing the sexual harassment complaint is a former lover.