Costa Rica’s president, Laura Fernandez, was evacuated by security officers on Friday after a loud explosion while on a visit to a mining location.
Laura Fernandez, the conservative populist president, later told reporters that she was unharmed following the panic at Crucitas, near the Nicaraguan border.
Fernandez and other politicians were exploring an area notorious for its unauthorized gold mines when a burst of unknown origin caused security with firearms to whisk her away in a car, video footage from the site reveals.
“It felt like what you see in a movie,” Fernandez said. “They grab you by the hair, throw you to the ground, and put you in a car,” she said.
“They examined me as per protocol, but I am fine,” she added.
The video footage shows Fernandez lying on the ground after the explosion, with bodyguards protecting her.
The president emphasized the dangers of illegal gold mining in the area, which pollutes the environment.
“I strongly condemn today’s attack against the president (of Costa Rica),” Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said in a statement on X.
“Organized crime cannot break us. I’m glad to know she is okay.”
On June 3, the government of this Central American country said it had received information about an alleged plot to assassinate Fernandez.
Fernandez, 39, succeeded her political mentor, Rodrigo Chaves, and easily won the February 1 elections on a promise to crack down on crime in a country long considered one of the safest in the Americas. In January, Chávez, too, said he was the target of an assassination plot.
