Erick Rodríguez Steller ( San Ramón, April 11, 1969) is a

Costa Rican Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

politician, deputy in Costa Rica in the 2018-2022 period. He was elected by the National Integration Party during

Juan Diego Castro Fernández Juan Diego Castro Fernández (born 9 June 1955 in Cartago, Costa Rica) is a Costa Rican lawyer and politician, former Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Costa Rica. Castro is a Defense lawyer who studied Law and Criminal science at the Universi ...

candidacy, but then declared himself an independent deputy, a month before taking office soon after Castro did the same. Later, he would announce his incorporation into the New Generation Party. Steller was one of the only seven deputies who refused to acknowledge the election victory of the US candidate

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

, claiming “that there was suspicion of fraud”.

Controversies

In October 2020, he became known for mocking Costa Rica's health minister, Daniel Salas, upon learning that his father was hospitalized in the middle of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the deputy declared: “The superman Salas did not give on his feet, even his father got sick” which generated outrage in the population and some deputies. Days after these comments, Minister Salas's father died. He also received a lawsuit for sexual and workplace harassment from a female aid in his office. Among the accusations, the aid attributed some insults to the deputy such as: “stupid”, "Mother Teresa", "that the math teacher died on you” and "you are like this because no one fucks with you." She also affirmed that Steller made comments to ridicule her in front of the entire office, emphasizing: “You don't drink, you have no partner, you don't go out, you have no friends, you don't smoke, why are you alive?". The aid also denounced the existence of a

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chat called "DEATH TO LGBTI AND NICAS" (in reference to

Nicaraguans Nicaraguans (; also called ''Nicas'') are people inhabiting in, originating or having significant heritage from Nicaragua. Most Nicaraguans live in Nicaragua, although there is also a significant Nicaraguan diaspora, particularly in Costa Rica a ...

, Costa Rica's main immigrant population) which was originally the chat for the deputy's campaign. For these actions, the ideas of the deputy have been compared with those of the dictator

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

, due to the

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against Woman, women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than Man, men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been wide ...

and

xenophobia Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...

with which he has been linked on various occasions. In 2020, the Public Ministry reported that it is investigating Steller for the crimes of illicit enrichment and illegal recognition of labor benefits. This is because the legislator charges his office aids for the gasoline assigned to him by the Legislative Assembly. A year earlier, in June 2019, the deputy was photographed buying beers, while the plenary was discussing the re-election of Justice Paul Rueda. Faced with these photographs, he justified himself by saying that “his vote was not going to be of any importance.”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodríguez Steller, Erick 1969 births Living people People from San Ramón, Costa Rica Members of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica Right-wing populism in North America