In the last 48 hours, the Mayors of two significant municipalities in Costa Rica have been suspended from their leadership positions. The political leaders in question are Mayor Nestor Mattis Williams of Limon and Mayor Roberto Thompson of Alajuela.

As reported by The Costa Rica Star earlier this week, Roberto Thompson, Mayor of the second most populous city of Costa Rica, was summoned to a regional precinct by prosecutors, who locked him in a cell while they prepared charges related to the alleged wrongful issuance of five liquor licenses and a construction permit. Mayor Thompson appeared in court for an abbreviated arraignment hearing, whereupon he was released from custody under some restrictions, which include an unpaid, 60-day suspension from his Mayoral duties.

Mayor Nestor Mattis of the Caribbean municipality of Limon is currently serving an unpaid suspension of 20 days related to an investigation dating back to 2013. The investigation, which was handled by the Comptroller of Costa Rica, avers that Mayor Mattis and a municipal administrator engaged in misconduct and squandered municipal funds by taking trips to China, Peru and Spain.

According to a news report by Jacqueline Solano of daily tabloid Diario Extra, Mayor Mattis was invited to travel to the People’s Republic of China to attend an international conference of municipal leaders. The Comptroller claims that Mayor Mattis failed to invite bids from travel agencies for the trip; instead, he allegedly and arbitrarily chose a travel provider and booked a first-class ticket for $12,000. The municipal administrator could not leave for China since he was not able to get the required visa; however, the Comptroller claims that the administrator burned through $1,500 in travel expenses getting ready for a trip that he never took.

The announcement of the suspensions above took place just hours before the national assembly of the National Liberation Party (Spanish initials: PLN), the political faction that is currently the most powerful in Costa Rica. Despite Mayor Thompson’s detention and suspension, he received a resounding vote of confidence to be the lead candidate in the municipal reelections for Alajuela, which will take place in February 2016.

Mayor Mattis used to be a PLN man, but he abandoned the party a couple of months ago and will seek reelection through an independent faction from Limon, which is rumored to be connected to the PLN.

Palace Intrigue in Costa Rica

Mayor Thompson’s incident raised suspicions of a Machiavellian plot since his detention was allegedly based on a confidential tip from a municipal employee. Vice Mayor Dinorah Barquero, a staunch competitor of Mayor Thompson in the PLN, was on vacation during the incident, and she had specifically asked for time off so that she could prepare for the national assembly.

It so happens that political reporter Natasha Cambronero of national newspaper La Nacion had reported on a previous visit by Vice Mayor Barquero, accompanied by the prosecutor who booked Mayor Thompson, to the Legislative Assembly. On that day, prosecutor Edwin Retana dropped of his curriculum vitae (resume) for the purpose of being considered as a nominee for the position of Director of the Office of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initials: OIJ). Mr. Retana has explained that he was not really involved in the investigation against Mayor Thompson; he just happened to be the prosecutor on duty at the time the incident took place.

Vice Mayor Barquero declined to answer questions posed by Ms. Cambronero for La Nacion. Instead, the Vice Mayor explained:

I don’t want to address that situation right now, is all I have to tell you. At this moment, my sensibility as a woman prompts me to act in a different way. To that effect, I don’t want any more news updates. I’m a woman; we see things differently and have other sensibilities.

It is interesting to note that Vice Mayor Barquero is married to Legislator Rolando Gonzalez from the PLN. Their daughter Sofia is a young, aspiring politician who is also seeking a leadership role in the Municipality of Alajuela. The PLN expects to win 70 of the 81 Mayoral seats in Costa Rica next year.