51 Facts About Laura Chinchilla

Laura Chinchilla was one of Oscar Arias Sanchez's two Vice-Presidents and his administration's Minister of Justice.

Laura Chinchilla was the eighth woman president of a Latin American country and the first and so far only woman to become President of Costa Rica.

Laura Chinchilla was sworn in as President of Costa Rica on 8 May 2010.

Laura Chinchilla previously served as a Fellow at the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service.

Laura Chinchilla was born in the Desamparados district of San Jose, the oldest child of her family with three younger brothers.

Laura Chinchilla's father is Rafael Angel Chinchilla Fallas, who served as comptroller of Costa Rica from 1972 to 1987, and maintained general popularity among the public.

Laura Chinchilla attended the University of Costa Rica where she obtained a degree in political science, and she then attended Georgetown University in the United States for a master's degree in public policy.

Laura Chinchilla then returned to Costa Rica to work as a policy consultant for security and judicial reform.

Laura Chinchilla married Mario Alberto Madrigal Diaz on 23 January 1982.

Laura Chinchilla met her second husband, Jose Maria Rico Cueto, a Spanish lawyer who held Canadian citizenship, in 1990 while both were working as consultants for the Center for the Administration of Justice at the Florida International University in Miami, Florida.

Laura Chinchilla became the Vice Minister of Public Security under President Jose Maria Figueres.

Laura Chinchilla was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica in 2002.

Laura Chinchilla became the First Vice President of Costa Rica in 2006, taking the position of Minister of Justice and Peace.

Laura Chinchilla held these positions until 2008, when she resigned to run for President of Costa Rica in the 2010 general election.

Laura Chinchilla's opponents accused her of being "a puppet of Arias", with one campaign advertisement depicting her as a marionette in his hands.

Laura Chinchilla campaigned on the issues of social welfare, economic competitiveness, environmental protection, and domestic security.

Laura Chinchilla used the slogan firme y honesta, suggesting both a strong criminal policy and an anti-corruption platform, both of which were significant priorities for the public.

Laura Chinchilla did not explicitly campaign on women's issues so as not to alienate voters, instead promoting issues that benefited families.

Laura Chinchilla spoke of improving infrastructure, child care, and law enforcement.

Laura Chinchilla took office with the National Liberation Party holding 24 of the Legislative Assembly's 57 seats, giving her party a plurality.

Laura Chinchilla had a mixed relationship with the legislature, feuding with both the opposition and with members of her own party.

One year into her term, Laura Chinchilla rejected Mendoza's proposal to raise congressional pay, causing the coalition government to break down.

Laura Chinchilla did not have a strong political base among her constituents while president, even from voters within her own party.

Laura Chinchilla's leadership was challenged in 2011 when Arias's brother, Rodrigo Arias Sanchez, announced his candidacy for president in the 2014 general election.

Laura Chinchilla responded by writing a criticism of the action in the Miami Herald and seeking adjudication from the International Court of Justice.

Laura Chinchilla presented a significant image of "soft or feminine" leadership.

Laura Chinchilla's supporters saw this as a sign of conciliation, while detractors saw it as an inability to act independently.

Laura Chinchilla's leadership was often contrasted with that of her predecessor, Arias, who maintained a strong, authoritative image and was less open to collaboration.

In 2016, Laura Chinchilla was considered one of the most powerful women in Central America according to the World Economic Forum.

Laura Chinchilla appointed 42 cabinet ministers during her presidency, and she kept several ministers from the Arias presidency.

Laura Chinchilla elevated the National Institute of Women to cabinet level status.

Laura Chinchilla's politics have been described as centre-right, and she is considered a social conservative.

Laura Chinchilla was expected to give continuity to the previous government's pro-free trade policies.

Laura Chinchilla signed free trade agreements with China and Singapore, but the deals were not completed.

Laura Chinchilla began the process of incorporating Costa Rica into the OECD.

Laura Chinchilla increased taxes on corporations and allocated the funds to security.

Laura Chinchilla had significant experience in security issues when she was elected president, as this was the main area in which she worked, and it was one of her main policy areas of interest.

Laura Chinchilla rejected more punitive measures against crime outside of major drug trafficking crimes.

Laura Chinchilla held a moderate position on crime, favoring strong enforcement in conjunction with prevention.

Laura Chinchilla was a supporter of environmentalist policies while she was president.

Laura Chinchilla continued the Avancemos program that Arias had established in 2006 to give financial support to families in extreme poverty as their children progress in school.

The program was expanded in May 2014 when Laura Chinchilla signed the National Network of Care into law, creating the Technical Secretariat of the Network of Care.

Laura Chinchilla opposed separation of church and state in Costa Rica, wishing to retain its status as a Roman Catholic nation.

Laura Chinchilla opposed in vitro fertilisation, but she legalized it in April 2013 following an order from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Laura Chinchilla personally opposed same-sex marriage as president, but she agreed to sign bill that made it legal.

Laura Chinchilla led the Observation Mission deployed by the OAS to Mexico to observe the June 2015 federal election, as well as the Observation Electoral Mission during the 2016 elections in the US, and the electoral process in Brazil and in Paraguay in 2018.

Laura Chinchilla currently teaches at Georgetown University at the Institute of Politics and Public Service and is the titular of the Cathedra Jose Bonifacio, at the University of Sao Paulo, since 2018, and leads the Latin American Chair of Citizenship in the School of Government and Public Transformation of the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education.

Since 2016, Laura Chinchilla has been serving as the president of the Advisory Council of She Works, a company focused on the empowerment of women; and is a rapporteur for the freedom of expression of the Telecommunications Organization of Latin America.

Laura Chinchilla was widowed on 15 April 2019, when her husband died of Alzheimer's.

In 2019, Laura Chinchilla served on the advisory board of the annual Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme, co-chaired by Thomas Piketty and Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Laura Chinchilla holds Honorary Doctorates from the University for Peace of the United Nations, Georgetown University, and Kyoto University of Foreign Studies.