“Virgin Mojito” by JPS68 – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Commons

A group of legislators in Costa Rica held a party and drank liquor while Congress was assembled and in session. Such was the news report filed by Jacqueline Solano of daily tabloid Diario Extra a week ago, and the legislators defended their entitlement to such behavior by citing the lack of rules of conduct.

The boozy shindig took place in a chamber adjacent to the plenary, and the revelers were 11 legislators who sit in the Foreign Affairs Committee; ostensibly, the occasion was a display of Cuban culture at the Assembly. It so happens that this particular Committee has previously come under heavy criticism because the public thinks that its members simply enjoy the globetrotting travel that comes at the expense of taxpayers in Costa Rica; this new incident involving Caribbean cocktails at the Assembly is certainly adding to the criticism, but the legislators do not believe they did anything improper.

Mojitos are traditional Cuban cocktails that are essentially highballs mixed with rum, sugarcane juice, lime, spearmint, and carbonated sparkling waters served on ice. The idea of enjoying these cocktails at the Assembly was formulated by Legislator Marta Arauz of the majority National Liberation Party (Spanish initials: PLN); she explained:

As part of the Foreign Affairs Committee, we have come to the agreement that we should be more involved in cultural exchanges with other nations because the public thinks we are a travel club, and that is not the case. The reality is that we handle several important legislative projects that involve international politics; we are currently evaluating ways to make this Committee more visible to the public, and one idea is to celebrate the Independence Days of the countries we are friendly with.

 

We chose the mojito as an emblematic Cuban drink; it was paid with a contribution made by each legislator and by the Cuban Embassy. We did not serve that much; no one got drunk. We also had some appetizers.

The vice president of the Legislative Assembly, Legislator Luis Vasquez from the Christian Social Unity Party (Spanish initials: PUSC) explained that enjoying mojitos during a plenary session is not something that can be dealt with at the disciplinary level because there is no standing set of rules to do so. In 2010, the Constitutional Chamber ordered the Assembly to come up with a formal disciplinary manual, but the legislators have not gotten around to it.