Laura Fernandez was sworn in as Costa Rica's new president on Friday, vowing to combat rising crime in the Central American nation while maintaining close ties with the United States.
Fernandez won a crowded field in the February 1 vote to succeed outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves, a close ally of US President Donald Trump.
In an unusual move, Chaves will remain in the government as dual minister of the presidency and finance, ensuring outsized influence in the incoming administration.
Further underscoring plans to maintain close US ties, Fernandez appointed her second vice president, Douglas Soto, as ambassador to Washington.
US special envoy Kristi Noem, who spearheads the Trump regime's militaristic approach to Latin America dubbed "Shield of the Americas," attended Friday's inauguration.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also attended, part of efforts to boost ties with the region amid political fallout from the genocide in Gaza.
The 39-year-old Fernandez has vowed sweeping reforms to Costa Rica's judiciary and security laws, as well as a broad crackdown on crime.
Last week, introducing her new security minister, Gerald Campos, Fernandez vowed "a war without quarter, a heavy-handed war against organized crime."
Costa Rica has long been considered one of the most stable countries in Central America, but crime has surged in recent years as it has become a transit route for drug smuggling to the US.
Costa Rica is building a maximum-security prison modeled on El Salvador's anti-terrorism CECOT center, where hundreds of Venezuelans were held without trial after deportation from the US early last year.
Like El Salvador, Costa Rica has agreed to accept non-citizens deported from the US under a March agreement.
Rights groups have condemned the so-called "third-country agreements" for stranding deportees in countries where they have no ties and may face inhumane conditions.
Fernandez's right-wing Sovereign People's Party (PPSO) won 31 of 57 seats in the single-chamber legislature, giving her party an absolute majority as she takes office.
Source: www.aljazeera.com