... I don't understand this concern over what China gives to Costa Rica. No one got upset when the Taiwan government was giving CR money for various project. Mainland China is far and away more recognized as the legitimate China then Taiwan by an overwhelming majority of the worlds countries. CR saw the opportunity to help itself out by switching their recognition. The rest of Central America has stayed with Taiwan and are being rewarded with funding of various projects by the Taiwanese.
Remember dollar diplomacy in emerging countries was and is practiced by the United States and most other major powers. It was okay for the U.S. to support Venezuela but now it is a big no no for Russia to do it. Third World countries have and always will be available to the highest bidder.
US aid to 3rd world countries may not be 100% benign, but comparing what democratic countries like the US or even Taiwan do to what other countries like China or Venezuela do with their so-called aid is like comparing apples and oranges. If the US adds strings to its aid packages it is as likely to be to pressure donee countries to clean up their act on human rights as it is anything else (not-withstanding the ridiculous anti-abortion, abstinenance stance of the Bush religious right era). Just check out this highly relevant article from Friday's AMCostaRica:
China, four others reported subverting democracy A new report finds that five influential authoritarian states — China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and Pakistan — are actively undermining democracy within their borders and abroad. Their efforts to taint international development and subvert organizations that promote human rights are organized, sophisticated and well-resourced.
The report says they serve as models of authoritarianism for the 21st century, increasingly employing their own brand of soft power. Call it “Authoritarianism 2.0.â€
The report contains implicaitons for Costa Rica because its new international partner, the People's Republic of China, is featured.
The report, titled "Undermining Democracy: 21st Century Authoritarians," was released by Freedom House, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia Thursday, the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in China. "Undermining Democracy" features analysis from prominent experts on the ways in which these five countries are preventing the emergence of an international system based on the rule of law, human rights, and free expression.
China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, and Venezuela were selected due to their geopolitical importance, integration into broader economic, political, and security networks, and influence on international policymaking. Pakistan does not actively promote anti-democratic measures, but is included because of the weakness of its central government and its enabling of extremism at home and abroad, particularly in Afghanistan.
The report includes five key findings:
• Authoritarian foreign aid: By doling out billions of dollars in no-strings-attached foreign aid, these regimes are hobbling international efforts to improve governance and reduce corruption. China, for example, is now the largest lender to Africa, according to the World Bank.
• International organizations under siege: These regimes are actively disrupting the human rights and democracy work of international bodies such as the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Organization of American States. These authoritarian states have created new institutions to counter organizations that promote human rights and accountable governance.
• Democracy redefined: Authoritarian regimes are tarnishing the public understanding of democracy by distorting its meaning at home in state-dominated media and abroad through well-financed international media ventures.
• Internet under growing threat: Authoritarians are using sophisticated and well-funded techniques to subvert legitimate online discourse, especially in China, Iran and Russia.
• Illiberal education: By either actively promoting or enabling the distortion of history through a nationalistic or extremist lens, authoritarian regimes are creating a new generation that is hostile toward democracy and suspicious of the outside world.
“This study helps explain the causes behind the global political recession that has emerged in recent years and frames the serious challenges facing the Obama administration†said Jennifer Windsor, Freedom House executive director.
Jeffrey Gedmin, president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, observed that “These authoritarian states are devoting enormous resources to manipulating news and information. Countries such as Russia and Iran are among the worst offenders in denying their own citizens access to information of political consequence.â€
“Twenty years since the Tiananmen crackdown, China has modernized its strategy of suppression,†said Libby Liu, president of Radio Free Asia. “The sophistication of media management by the Chinese authorities, including market-based censorship combined with more traditional methods of intimidation, suggests a system that is both repressive and resilient.â€
Of China, the report says: "It has become apparent in recent years that both Beijing and its authoritarian allies around the world see the Chinese system as a viable competitor to democracy. Terms such as democracy and human rights are retained in their lexicons, but they are redefined to serve authoritarian interests. Even in some democratic or recently democratic developing countries, including Thailand, the appeal of the China model has started to grow.
The Óscar Arias Sánchez administration has allied itself with China at the expense of democratic Taiwan and is accepting vast sums of the country's money. China is even building a new soccer stadium in Parque la Sabana with its own imported labor.The report says that Chinese authorities have forged a multifaceted and increasingly sophisticated set of policies to undermine democratic development, policies that are comprehensive, encompassing the political, legal, social, and media spheres.
One of the tools China has used to expand its international influence and promote its model of governance is the fast-growing network of Confucius Institutes. The institutes, which provide instruction in Chinese language and culture, typically operate as partnerships between Chinese universities and a university in the host country, such as the Universidad de Costa Rica.
Some observers, according to the report, have raised concerns about the potential effects of Chinese state influence on academic freedom in the host countries. A set of draft guidelines for the institutes suggests that Chinese authorities would require them to comply with political directives on sensitive issues, such as Taiwan’s international status or historical inquiry related to persecuted ethnic and religious minorities, it said.
The Undermining Democracy overview essay, which includes key findings and project background, is available
HERE! 
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, I seem to remember that it was aimed at foreign powers attempting to exert influence in the Western Hemisphere. In fact it was formulated because of the fear that Spain was going to attempt to retake it's former colonies in the region. The U.S. being a new nation without resources to combat such a move got the British, then a major naval power, to support the promulgation of "The Monroe Doctrine." The thinking being that Spain would not act knowing that the British Navy would act as the "policeman" to prevent Spain from seizing control of it's former colonies.
Pura Vida 
The natural Soviet connection to Cuban Communists had everything to do with why we were so opposed to them throughout the entire period of the Cold War whether any FORMAL connection existed at the very very beginning or not.
