Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

The Directorate of National Security and Intelligence (DIS) emerged amid a political crisis in Costa Rica within a complex international framework. Both processes have been overlooked in the history of the institution due to limited knowledge about its origins and development. Consequently, this article analyzes the initial historical trajectory of the DIS to identify its background and origins and, fundamentally, to explain its activities within the context of the early stage of the Cold War in Central America. Thus, the period under review corresponds to the beginnings of intelligence professionalization in Costa Rica and culminates with the first response to the new regional dynamics triggered by the Cuban Revolution.

This article explores the phenomenon of political terrorism in postwar Costa Rica (1948-1958) through an analysis of the press. To understand the circumstances that gave rise to this form of political violence, its main characteristics, and the government’s response, three key periods are examined: the Founding Junta of the Second Republic, the administration of Otilio Ulate Blanco, and the first constitutional government of José Figueres Ferrer. It is suggested that a sector of the opposition used terrorist actions as a tool aimed not so much at causing material and human damage, but rather at generating a psychological impact and conveying a political message: the existence of a group determined to challenge the established power.

The article proposes to analyse the relationship between crisis, urban network and community organizing in the era of the Anthropocene, through the study of urban flooding in San José, the capital of Costa Rica. Based on qualitative data collection, we show on the one hand that the sewerage network of the Costa Rican capital was built up during the 20th century, through successive crises, transforming rivers into stormwater and wastewater collectors. The crisis is a driving force behind the development of the sewerage system, which reached its limits at the turn of the 21st century. Durning this time, when the metropolitan area has expanded significantly, the possibilities of physical interventions to make the system more fluid seem limited. The new crises thus become a driving force for a socio-political appropriation of the infrastructure, through the deployment of a citizen alert network on the Whatsapp platform at the scale of a segment of the system, the Ocloro River. These resilience practices do not consist of material interventions, but of political appropriation by the residents affected. The latter introduces new ways of discussing modes of managing the infrastructure and their renewal in an urban context that is under stress.

Through a methodology based on the Analysis of the Conjuncture (ADC) and Analysis of Protest Events (AEP), this exploratory work focuses on analyzing the dynamics and main characteristics of the protests undertaken by the autonomous Costa Rican college students’ movement during the period from July 18th to November 25th, 2019. This text focuses, on one hand, on understanding the development of the analysis situation in terms of actors, events, scenarios and correlations of force, and, on the other hand, in reconstructing the day of mobilizations in terms of demanding actors, repertoires of action, demands and defendant actors. Among the results, it was observed that the period analyzed was marked by symbolic and contentious action repertoires. However, despite reaching certain important agreements for various reasons, the movement failed to fulfill its objectives.

In the 1980s, Central America suffered the hottest phase of the Cold War. The superpowers took a very active role in supporting regional actors, which translated into a crisis of notable intensity. In general, the predominant view on the intensity of the conflict is framed in ignoring what happened in Costa Rica, privileging the tragedy that occurred in the rest of Central America. However, in that country there were strong manifestations of the crisis of political violence, that go through migrations, the activities of armed groups and espionage, kidnappings and acts of terrorism, as well as attempts to involve the country in a more intense way in the conflict in Nicaragua.

It is addressed one of the topics of transnational studies: contact zones. In this case it is a “zone” embodied in an Argentine civil intelligence agent who served in different Latin American countries like Bolivia and Guatemala in the 80s. From the study of documentary sources (state communications, newspapers, secondary bibliography and oral testimonies) an attempt was made to make a historical reconstruction of the character's itinerary and an analysis of the case within the framework of events of the Latin American Cold War, specifically the collaboration networks between dictatorial governments. It is concluded that the participation of this agent allowed the connection between different personalities, organizations, governments, institutions and networks for the coordination of repression in the Latin American 80s.

El libro consta de cuatro capítulos. En el primero se explican las causas del estallido de la violencia política en El Salvador a través de un estudio de las décadas que antecedieron a la de 1980; en el segundo es elaborada una reflexión teórica sobre la democracia y el Estado en Centroamérica; en el tercero se da cuenta de Ellacuría como actor político y, finalmente, en el último capítulo, es analizada la utopía del jesuita, la civilización de la pobreza, con una pregunta rectora: ¿se trata de una apología a la pobreza? A continuación, en búsqueda de una reseña ordenada, expondré tres aspectos de esta obra: su carácter didáctico, la historización de algunos conceptos y el abordaje de la civilización de la pobreza.

The following article aims to construct a critical genealogy of the concept of femicide/feminicide. It intends to contribute to the epistemological, political and feminist discussions that have arisen since the end of the 1970s and that continue today to expand this issue. From a situated perspective, I wish to emphasize the pioneering place of Central America and the Caribbean in this debate. This paper is part of the results of a doctoral research that analyzed the tensions for recognition and the struggles for justice around femicides in Costa Rica. Methodologically, it is based on a systematic review of existing academic literature, as well as in-depth interviews with academics on the subject. As part of the conclusions, I insist on the notion of epistemic justice and the necessary recognition of social movements in the production of feminist knowledge.

La investigación analiza las características de los homicidios remunerados en Costa Rica, un fenómeno poco estudiado en la literatura académica nacional. Para ello se desarrolla una perspectiva que examina la multiplicidad de actores involucrados y la complejidad de sus relaciones, para superar el énfasis en los vínculos económicos entre autores intelectuales y materiales. Metodológicamente, se emplean sentencias condenatorias, una fuente de datos inexplorada que proporciona información exclusiva y elimina riesgos de seguridad. Los resultados identifican dos categorías de homicidios remunerados: aquellos vinculados a redes criminales y los derivados de conflictos entre actores no delictivos. Ambas categorías comparten características como la predominancia mascu-lina y el uso de armas de fuego. Pero se distinguen en otros aspectos, como los antecedentes penales y la participación de víctimas y perpetradores en actividades ilícitas. Estos hallazgos subrayan la complejidad del fenómeno y la importancia de considerar sus similitudes y particularidades para el diseño de acciones eficaces.