Indigenous Crafts, Political Re-enchantment and the Rationale of Heritage Making in Costa Rica

In 2013, the then president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, gave Pope Francisco a stole with indigenous motifs woven by craftswomen of the Térraba indigenous community. By doing so, she deliberately displayed to the world how important these are to Costa Rica. ² Paradoxically, during her previous European tour, she significantly underestimated the number of indigenous peoples in Costa Rica and claimed the country had Latin America’s most advanced law towards indigenous autonomy, keeping quiet the fact that not only had it still not been passed, but both her government and the one before hers had actually delayed its parliamentary approval. ³