President of Costa Rica

Laura Chinchilla Miranda, President of Costa Rica since May 8, 2010

Laura Chinchilla Miranda, President of Costa Rica

Laura Chinchilla Miranda, current president of Costa Rica. Chinchilla ran from the Partido Liberación Nacional of Costa Rica for the general elections of 2010. Laura Chinchilla was born on March 28, 1959 in San Jose, Costa Rica, the daughter of Rafael Angel Chinchilla Fallas, Comptroller General of the Republic during two administrations (1972-1987) and Emilce Miranda Castillo. Since 2000 she has been married to Jose Maria Rico Cueto and they have a son, José María Rico Chinchilla.

First Vice President of the Republic of Costa Rica and Minister of Justice in the administration of Óscar Arias Sánchez (2006-2010). Although she left office on October 8, 2008, to pursue further her political career and created the Laura Chinchilla campaign for the presidency of Costa Rica with the Partido Liberación Nacional.

Since 1990 she has worked as a consultant in Latin America and Africa for various international agencies in the area of institutional reform, with special emphasis on judicial reform and public security reform. Some consultancy led her to conduct assessments of the justice sector for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the coordination of studies and projects on judicial reform for the United Nations Program for Development ( UNDP) and assessments and advice on police reform to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Laura Chinchilla has been a speaker at various international forums on matters of public security and police reform. She has served on various reform initiatives that promote citizen security and human rights throughout Latin America, such as the Project Advisory Committee of Civil Society and Public Safety for the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), the Central American Dialogue Foundation Arias for Peace and Human Progress, and the Foundation for Peace and Democracy (FUNPADEM).  During this period Laura Chinchilla has published in both Spanish and English – books, monographs and articles on subjects relating to the administration of justice, public security and police reform. Career highlights of Laura include working in the public sector management as Deputy Minister of Public Security (1994 – 1996) and Minister of Public Safety (1996 to 1998). She was also Chairman of the Joint Drug Intelligence Center, Chair of the National Immigration Council, member of the National Drug Council, National Security Council and the Academic Council of the National Police Academy.

In the Costa Rica Legislature, she has worked in areas of judicial reform, public safety (police, drug trafficking, organized crime, etc..) Political and institutional reform (reform of the state and electoral reform), trade, technology, and children and youth programs.

Laura Chinchilla Biography during the last administration

After a bitter campaign, Laura Chinchilla managed to become vice president with the Partido Liberación Nacional and Oscar Arias Sanchez as the presidential candidate. She and Kevin Casas Zamora remained as first and second vice presidents respectively, and the cabinet was led by Dr. Oscar Arias Sanchez in the post of Minister of Justice. The Second Vice President Kevin Casas Zamora resigned on September 22, 2007 because of ethical questions. Laura Chinchilla campaign for Costa Rica president was born on October 8, 2008 driven by a citizen initiative that has pushed her to becoming the first female president of Costa Rica.

Laura Chinchilla Campaign

On Saturday, 10 October 2008, and after the Supreme Electoral Tribunal formally withdrew her credentials as Vice-President of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla announced to the media of her legitimate desire to run for the presidency of Costa Rica, and for her pre-candidacy Partido Liberación Naciona which needed to still vote for a leader of their ticket.

Voting for the ticket in the Partido Liberación Naciona was held on 7 June 2009, and declared Laura a winner by a margin greater than 15%, and was chosen by the Partido Liberación Naciona of Costa Rica to be the official candidate for presidency in 2010. On May 8, 2010, Laura Chinchilla was sworn in as the President of Costa Rica.