Hello, everyone! It’s been ages since we’ve connected here on the blog. I can barely remember where the tilde or the em dash is on the keyboard. It’s so easy to let good habits, healthy eating, or work-life balance slip away. In the blink of an eye, more than a year has passed, nearly two.

Since 2005, “A Slow Burn” has been my go-to whenever I’ve been itching to write – sometimes led by the heart, but more often guided by reason. Then, starting from February 16^th 2021, I decided to pause any further posts to focus on a new mission.

In my last post, “A Next Step in Life,” I wrote about a huge challenge we were about to face in transforming and delivering the justice Costa Rica deserves. This was during the political campaign led by José María Figueres, first for the National Liberation Party’s nomination, and then for the Presidency.

In the most intense experience of my life, I took on the strategic direction of the campaign – as a volunteer and donor. The first two outcomes were positive: we won the internal elections, and José María was elected as the National Liberation Party’s candidate on June 6^th 2021. Then, in February, we won the national elections – though we fell short of the 40% needed to avoid a runoff. Despite the polls predicting we’d only secure 17%, we ended up securing 27% of the votes, giving us first place for the runoff and gaining 19 deputy seats. This was the result of the hard work of thousands of people.

Factoring in these two recent elections, I have four victories in total with José María Figueres under my belt. The first two were in 1993’s primaries and the 1994 national election, where we won with 49.62% in the first round. However, this time, our great mission for the Presidency of Costa Rica ended in defeat in the second round.

I’ll leave the analysis of our loss to the press, analysts, and historians. My personal reasons for the outcome will remain private, out of respect for time and discretion. Some reasons are obvious and have been widely discussed by experts. There’s no point in retreading old ground.

Personally, it was a wonderful experience for me, despite the chaos of the second round (one that I had a front row seat for) which led to the disappointing result. Amid the whirlwind of a national campaign, I rekindled old relationships and met hundreds of extraordinary people within a political organization that, despite what people say, I greatly admire and celebrate. The National Liberation Party deserves all our recognition, and I hope it can completely rejuvenate and strengthen itself amid adversity.

It was no coincidence that we started the campaign in October 2021 by highlighting the values of the party that has given the most to Costa Rica, and of the organization and flag that have contributed the most to our country financially and through tangible achievements. I was born into a Liberationist household and so felt strongly about the crucial contributions the green and white flag had given to my family. I’ll never deny my roots, even though I haven’t always voted for Liberation.

The campaign’s slogan up until February 6^th summarizes my feelings well: “Costa Rica Deserves to Win.” As we repeatedly said, regardless of your flag, preferences, motives, reasons, ideas, or ideals, it’s good for the country that organizations like Liberation strengthen, refresh, and flourish in the face of the immense challenges of these times. For the benefit of all of us who inhabit this piece of heaven on earth: Costa Rica deserves to win.

From traditional to digital media outlets, some of the content captured our narrative from March 2021 to February 2022 very well. This narrative itself was the campaign strategy – despite not always being executed with discipline – and as such, I don’t want to move on without sharing some memorable examples.

Of all the published pieces, “Personal Flags” is my favorite. A one-minute and twenty-second film that brilliantly summarizes our constructive, inclusive, and positive proposal, one that was mature and rooted in the most profound aspirations. It resonates with me more so now, years after the end of the campaign.

We had a classic narrative, defining the status quo, what was at stake, who the protagonists and antagonists were. The call to action was clear, with the candidate as the mentor, change agent, and people’s champion. The transformation envisioned was twofold: from a short-term point of view, it was about an urgent economic rescue plan; from a long-term point of view, it was about the Costa Rican Way (a civic movement which you can read more about here). And finally, it was about achieving the Costa Rican miracle of Living Well (#Bienvivir).

We never resorted to the populist or polarizing playbook, which foregoes morals and scruples to push the post-truth narratives used shamelessly by others. For this reason, another favorite piece of mine highlighted our candidate’s values, focusing on the country’s urgent need for transformation and the leadership José María Figueres represented.

I had the honor of forming a small team comprised of incredibly talented individuals. I won’t name names to avoid accidentally omitting someone, but those of us who fought in this great democratic endeavor with Liberation know who we are and how we did it: with hard work, tenacity, passion, data and research, creativity and consistency, in-depth discussion, and decision-making. We didn’t stop, not on Saturdays, Sundays, mornings, or nights! It was an intense adventure, and it deserves to be acknowledged.

To all these wonderful people: thank you. A thousand and one million thanks for your commitment, camaraderie, and devotion. You went the extra mile and then some. We built a platform that could have given Costa Rica the best president we could have possibly had in such times. But it wasn’t meant to be, and in many ways, we also contributed to it not happening.

I might return to this topic later. But I doubt it. Many highly relevant moments and crisis solutions remain untold and make for good case study material. After all, it’s impossible to recount the campaign’s history without referring to the candidate’s twenty-year reputation, the Diamante case, the market visit, and the debates, to name a few influential factors in the primary national election. I won’t even comment on the second round here.

What’s certain is that today, I remain a keen believer that our country deserves to win. For this reason, I conclude this piece with my best wishes for the President of the Republic and his entire government team. May his administration become the best in the country’s recent history, as we need it to be. I wish them all the best without any bitterness, in hope that our country prospers securely.

Amid hundreds of communications, just as we closed the national campaign in the first round — when we launched the following piece in late January – I’ll wrap up this blog on a high and emotional note, celebrating Costa Rica’s entrepreneurs because we always, always, always applaud those who strive.

And now onto other matters. This is my campaign wrap-up, more than six months later, positive and optimistic, personally happy with life and deeply grateful.

Let’s continue with “A Slow Burn.”