Costa Rica is a small nation with favorable geography, a great balance of population and density with some fantastic externalities that let them focus on domestic affairs.
Also, while its nice, its not especially wealthy, nor situated in a way to become an important geopolitical chess-piece.
no oil
no ticket.
Not being a chess piece also is part of their success however. Don't want to be the mouse under a herd of dancing elephants.
He said compared to its neighbors tho
Panama has done pretty well itself after the narcotrafficking president was ousted back in the late 80s.
The US never installed a puppet dictator in Costa Rica or enforced embargos, as opposed to all its neighbours.
by lying about its grid, being non-industrial, and having power demand on par with a city despite having the name of a country