The next leader of the Libertarian Movement in Costa Rica sees a lot of ideology behind the planned Coastal Territories and Communities Law (Spanish acronym: Tecocos). In an interview with digital newspaper El Pais, Carlos Gongora explained that Tecocos is about “an ideological and fundamental principle of the libertarians, which comes down to respect for private property. It is based on a concept called the ownership society.”

Property ownership is indeed fundamental for the libertarian ideology, which has gained significant ground in Costa Rica in the last few years. According to Gongora, who is currently a legislator from the old capital of Cartago, legislative projects such as Tecocos help to give preference in coastal land ownership to families who have been living there for generations.

The Tecocos project promises to polarize the legislative body at the National Assembly as it returns for debate in the near future. The preamble to the proposed law indicates that although our coastal zones have brought considerable profit to luxury resorts, there are about fifty thousand families living in these zones who lack the resources of the upper and corporate classes to lay a legal claim to land. When the big resort operators acquire land near the coast, many of these families end up being displaced.

Part of the Tecocos project is to incorporate some aspects of our ecological conservation laws into the family life and culture of the coastal communities. It is going to be difficult to achieve fairness with this project, since some of the land that Tecocos aims to facilitate for the communities may already be protected by the government. Still, the libertarians think that member of these communities should possess legal title to their land. It is not clear yet if the titles will have restrictions in place to restrict the sale or transfer of land rights to luxury resort developers, or to wealthy foreigners, for the right price.

When asked further about the law, Gongora explained that “Tecocos is just one important reflection upon the ownership society. There are many other examples, like a proposal to break up the electricity monopoly even further.”

It is important to note that the concept of an ownership society was co-opted by former U.S. President George W. Bush in 2005.