Juan Diego Castro Fernández (born 9 June 1955 in

Cartago, Costa Rica Cartago () is the head city of Cartago canton of the Cartago Province, and is composed of the Oriental and Occidental districts as stated in the administrative divisions of Costa Rica. It was the capital of Costa Rica from 1574 to 1824. His ...

) is a Costa Rican

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, former Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Costa Rica. Castro is a

Defense lawyer A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer (mostly barristers) specializing in the defense of individuals and companies charged with criminal activity. Some criminal defense lawyers are privately retained, while others are employed by the various ...

who studied Law and Criminal science at the

University of Costa Rica The University of Costa Rica (Spanish: ''Universidad de Costa Rica,'' abbreviated UCR) is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro Mo ...

and has a Doctorate degree in

Mediation Mediation is a structured, voluntary process for resolving disputes, facilitated by a neutral third party known as the mediator. It is a structured, interactive process where an independent third party, the mediator, assists disputing parties ...

from

Universidad La Salle Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

. Castro was Minister of Public Safety between 1994 and 1997 during the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

José María Figueres José María Figueres Olsen (born 24 December 1954) is a Costa Rican businessman and politician, who served as President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998. He also ran for president in the 2022 presidential election but was defeated by Rodrigo ...

( PLN). He became the first cabinet member to receive a

Motion of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

by the Legislative Assembly when he summoned police forces to fence off Parliament as a means to press for the reform of the Penal Code. Subsequently, Castro resigned as Minister of Safety and was named Minister of Justice. He unsuccessfully ran for the presidency as the nominee of the conservative-leaning National Integration Party in the

2018 Costa Rican general election General elections were held in Costa Rica in 2018 to elect both the President and Legislative Assembly. The first round of the presidential election was held on 4 February 2018, with the two highest-ranked candidates being Christian singer and ...

. Castro has been compared to

US President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed For ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

and other

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

antiestablishment and

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establishm ...

figures.

Costa Rican general election, 2018

Castro launched his unexpected presidential campaign presenting himself as a political outsider and with a strong

anti-establishment An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958 by the British magazine ''New Statesman'' ...

and

anti-corruption Anti-corruption (or anticorruption) comprises activities that oppose or inhibit corruption. Just as corruption takes many forms, anti-corruption efforts vary in scope and in strategy. A general distinction between preventive and reactive measur ...

speech. Promising to "rule by decree" and with a very loud " hard hand" rhetoric (uncommon in Costa Rican politics as the country is famous for its political centrism), Castro has been compared with figures like

, Marine LePen and

Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the first Philippine president from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to assum ...

, and accused of

right-wing populism Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establis ...

and

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

positions, albeit he rejects the comparisons. Despite his unexpected lead in the polls throughout most of the campaign, his support plummeted in the final days. Castro came in fifth place, garnering only 9.56% of the votes in the February 4th Presidential Election. His poor performance did not qualify him for the runoff election scheduled for April 1, 2018. After an unfriendly separation from the National Integration Party, Castro tried unsuccessfully to create a new political party, but he abandoned the process due to "logistical difficulties".

Controversies

Antisemitism

In the July 30, 2019 editorial of the newspaper ''La Nación'', Castro was accused of

anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

for comments made in one of his official videos against the owner of the media CRHoy Leonel Baruch who is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, making allusions and jokes about the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

and also calling him an "evil banker." Castro's words were condemned by the Costa Rican Jewish community with an official statement from the Zionist Israelite Center. Castro's statements were also condemned by Israel's ambassador to Costa Rica Amir Ofek, who described them as "miserable expressions". The heads of most of the benches in the Legislative Assembly, including

National Liberation Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...

, Citizen Action, Social Christian Unity, Broad Front and Castro's former party

National Integration The Ministry of Integration and Regional Development (, abbreviated MIDR) is a Cabinet of Brazil, cabinet-level federal government of Brazil, federal list of federal institutions of Brazil, ministry in Federative Republic of Brazil, Brazil, est ...

repudiated the expressions, the two

Evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

parties' benches New Republic and National Restoration refused to comment, whilst the independent deputy Erick Rodríguez Steller, who is close to Castro, defended him arguing that his comments were taken out of context.

Homophobic statement

Castro described the government of

President of Costa Rica The president of the Republic of Costa Rica is the head of state and head of government of Costa Rica. The president is currently elected in direct elections for a period of four years, which is not immediately renewable. Two Vice President of ...

Carlos Alvarado (who is a known supporter of

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, Gay men, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishmen ...

) as '' maricón'', a derogative Spanish term for

homosexuals Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

, after Alvarado's participation in that year's Gay Parade.

Conflict with reporters and the media

On November 24, journalist Arlene Raventós, who works in the

Repretel Representaciones Televisivas (Televised Representations) S.A., commonly known as Repretel or Grupo Repretel is a Costa Rican media company, founded by Remigio Gonzalez, that came into competition with Teletica and Canal9. Repretel owns Costa Ric ...

network, showed that Castro's accusations against her that she was behind an alleged campaign to discredit him, were false. "It is unfortunate to have to go out to clarify false information without real content, published in the heat of a political campaign, which should be devoted to raising ideas about the real solution to the country's problems; but when it comes to muddying a name under and without foundation, the need to clarify with the truth prevails and that is what I request". On December 1, 2017, journalist David Delgado, who worked at ''La Nación'' and the Ministry of Justice and Peace, publicly denounced him for "persecution, mockery and harassment" in relation to coverage of a drug trafficking case. On December 11, 2017, he announced that he would sue the

because a Facebook program of several young students reported the assault on his mother, his past as a politician and criticized what qualified his "

" tendencies.

Panama Papers

Castro was mentioned as part of the

Panama Papers The Panama Papers () are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) published beginning April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. These document ...

case by the news reports ''Amelia Rueda'' and ''Semanario Universidad'' for being lawyer for a Mossack Fonseca law firm related company, which led him to attack Rueda and her son Antonio Jiménez, as well as the media ''Semanario''.

Trial

In 2020 Castro went to trial against University of Costa Rica student Claudia Campos as anchorwoman of the web program "Suave un Toque" (Costa Rican slang for "Wait a Minute") on accusations of slander. During trial, Castro yelled to Campos "I do not shoot you because I believe in God" causing the Judge to warn Castro for his behavior. The case was dismissed by the Judges.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castro Fernandez, Juan Diego 1955 births Government ministers of Costa Rica Living people National Liberation Party (Costa Rica) politicians People from Cartago Province Costa Rican Freemasons Right-wing populism in North America 20th-century Costa Rican politicians Universidad La Salle México alumni