Laura Chinchilla

Laura Chinchilla Miranda (born 28 March 1959) 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. She was one of Óscar Arias Sánchez's two vice presidents. She was his administration's Minister of Justice. She was the governing PLN candidate for President in the 2010 general election. She won with 46.76% of the vote.

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. 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. He died in April 2019, aged 84.

Political career
Chinchilla graduated from the University of Costa Rica. She received her master's degree in public policy from Georgetown University.
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.

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.

References

Category:1959 births
Category:Presidents of Costa Rica
Category:Living people
Category:People from San José, Costa Rica