Laura Chinchilla

Laura Chinchilla Miranda (born 28 March 1959)^[1] served as the President of Costa Rica from 2010 to 2014. She was the eighth woman president of a Latin American country and the first and so far only woman to become President of Costa Rica.^[2] She was one of Óscar Arias Sánchez's two vice presidents. She was his administration's Minister of Justice.^[3] She was the governing PLN candidate for President in the 2010 general election. She won with 46.76% of the vote.^[4]

Laura Chincilla
President of Costa Rica
In office 8 May 2010 – 8 May 2014
Vice President	Alfio Piva
Preceded by	Óscar Arias
Succeeded by	Luis Guillermo Solís
Personal details
Born	Laura Chinchilla Miranda (1959-03-28) 28 March 1959 (age 66) San José, Costa Rica
Political party	National Liberation Party
Spouse(s)	José María Rico (2000–2019; his death)
Children	1 son
Alma mater	University of Costa Rica Georgetown University

Personal life

Chinchilla was born in Carmen Central, San José in 1959. Her father was Rafael Ángel Chinchilla Fallas. He was a former comptroller of Costa Rica.^[source?] Her mother was Emilce Miranda Castillo. She married Mario Alberto Madrigal Díaz on 23 January 1982 and divorced on 22 May 1985. She had a son in 1996 with José María Rico Cueto, a Spanish lawyer who has a Canadian citizenship; Chinchilla married him on 26 March 2000.^[5] He died in April 2019, aged 84.^[6]

Political career

Chinchilla graduated from the University of Costa Rica. She received her master's degree in public policy from Georgetown University.^[7][8] Before politics, Chinchilla worked as a NGO consultant in Latin America and Africa. She specialized in judicial reform and public security. She served in the José María Figueres Olsen administration as vice-minister for public security (1994–1996) and minister of public security (1996–1998).

From 2002 to 2006, she served in the National Assembly as a deputy for the province of San José.^[9]

Chinchilla was one of two vice-presidents elected under the second Arias administration (2006–2010). She resigned the vice-presidency in 2008 in order to prepare her run for the presidency in 2010. On 7 June 2009 she won the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) primary with a 15% margin over her nearest rival, and was thus endorsed as the party's presidential candidate.

Her term ended in 8 May 2014.