# Assembly fails 34–21 to lift Chaves’s immunity on the BCIE video-contract file

Date: 2025

## The fact

On 22 September 2025 Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly held the first sitting-president desafuero vote in the country’s history. 34 deputies voted to lift [Rodrigo Chaves](/people/rodrigo-chaves)’s immunity so prosecutors could try alleged influence-peddling on a BCIE-funded video contract; 21 voted against; 2 were absent. 38 votes were required. He kept immunity. AP recorded the tally.

## Context

Federico Cruz remains unresolved. He did not sit as every deputy. The Fiscalía allegation is not a completed conviction.

August 2025 commission hearing is parent weather. December 2025 TSE block is a later child. Keep Assembly fails 34–21 to lift Chaves’s immunity on the BCIE video-contract file on 2025-09-22 separate from neighbouring 8 May 2022 oath, 22 September 2025 immunity vote, December 2025 TSE block, and 8 May 2026 dual-minister posts.

The president of Costa Rica is head of state and head of government. He can send bills, appoint ministers, and later accept a cabinet post. He does not sit as an Assembly teller, a TSE magistrate, or a BCIE disbursement clerk.

## Evidence and sources

Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica carries the official instrument or communique. Associated Press records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is [civic space](/drivers/civic-space) and confrontational continuity: a completed immunity shield on a BCIE file.

## What is established and what is not

Established: On 22 September 2025 the Assembly voted 34–21; 38 were required; he kept immunity; it was the first sitting-president desafuero vote.

Not established: A unique later conviction as Contribution.size, or that the BCIE contract is a completed theft integer.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

He kept fuero. Prosecutors had alleged. Cruz is named, not minted.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Assembly fails 34–21 to lift Chaves’s immunity on the BCIE video-contract file, not a later speech about Assembly fails 34–21 to lift Chaves’s immunity on the BCIE video-contract file.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Assembly fails 34–21 to lift Chaves’s immunity on the BCIE video-contract file on 2025-09-22 is not a licence to treat every later Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Assembly fails 34–21 to lift Chaves’s immunity on the BCIE video-contract file into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to The Assembly voted. He kept fuero. Prosecutors had alleged. Cruz is named, not minted. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Rodrigo Chaves: https://factrail.ai/people/rodrigo-chaves

## Drivers

- Civic Space: https://factrail.ai/drivers/civic-space
- Chaves austerity-confrontational presidency: https://factrail.ai/drivers/chaves-austerity-confrontational

## Sources

- https://www.infobae.com/america/america-latina/2025/09/23/el-congreso-de-costa-rica-rechazo-retirar-la-inmunidad-al-presidente-rodrigo-chaves/
- https://apnews.com/article/costa-rica-rodrigo-chaves-corruption-ae9f742cd06e0ec524c2f1659af69864
- https://www.asamblea.go.cr/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/cr-chaves-immunity-vote-2025