Costa Rica’s New Lake Arenal Tourism Law Draws Conflict-of-Interest Questions

A governing-party lawmaker promoted and voted for a new law legalizing tourism and commercial activity around Lake Arenal without disclosing that her family owns a lakeshore lodge that stands to benefit from it.

Cindy Murillo Artavia, a deputy for President Laura Fernández’s Pueblo Soberano party, spoke in favor of bill 22981 and voted for it in two floor debates, the first on May 28. The measure, which is now enacted, authorizes low-impact productive and tourism activity in and around the Lake Arenal reservoir, a zone that until now sat in legal limbo because much of it falls inside a protected area.

For the roughly 700 families who have built hotels, restaurants and tour operations along the lake over the years, the law is meant to end that uncertainty and give their businesses a clear legal footing. It was pushed by the Executive Branch, backed by business and tourism chambers, and supported by the municipalities of Tilarán and San Carlos. President Fernández placed it on the agenda for extraordinary sessions so it could be voted on, a move Murillo publicly thanked her for.

The controversy centers on what Murillo did not say. During the floor debate, she framed her support as an act of justice for the displaced communities of Viejo Arenal and Viejo Tronadora, the towns flooded in 1978 to create the reservoir, telling colleagues she was in Congress to speak for those families. She did not mention that her own family holds property on the lakeshore.

According to National Registry records, a company called Jhasu de Arenal S.A., registered in March 2018, owns a lakeside lot where the Tinajas Arenal Lakefront Lodge, a three-star hotel and restaurant, operates. The deputy’s father is listed as the company’s board president and her mother as secretary, while Murillo herself appears as treasurer and a sister as comptroller. It has been reported that the lakefront parcel where the lodge sits is registered in the deputy’s name.

The head of the Pueblo Soberano legislative bloc, Nogui Acosta, defended Murillo on Sunday, saying she receives no benefit from the law. He noted that the family acquired the property long before the bill was conceived and argued that sitting on a company’s board does not mean she holds shares in it. He said Murillo would provide the explanations that relate to her.

Lake Arenal is one of Costa Rica’s best-known inland destinations, a long, scenic reservoir below the Arenal Volcano near La Fortuna, popular with foreign residents and visitors for its lakeside drives, fishing, windsurfing and growing cluster of small hotels and restaurants. For property owners and would-be investors in the area, the law could be significant, clarifying what kinds of businesses are permitted along shoreline that had been off-limits to formal commercial use.

The episode adds to scrutiny of disclosure standards in the Assembly, where lawmakers are expected to flag personal interests in the matters they vote on. As of this report, Murillo had not publicly addressed the conflict beyond her remarks on the floor.

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