What's On Doņa Laura's
Agenda?
Laura
Chinchilla is now Costa Rica's next
president, winning by a landslide Sunday's
elections, becoming the first woman
president in the history of Costa Rica.
So, what is next for president-elect doņa
Laura?
The first on her agenda was to fulfill a
promise to the "La Negrita" - the Virgen de
Los Angeles, whom she had made a promise to
visit if she won the elections.
Early Monday morning, doņa Laura,
accompanied by her husband and son,
visited the Basilica de Cartago and then the
grave of her grandparents, placing a flower
arrangement on the grave in Desamparados and
shedding a few tears.
For today, Tuesday, she is expected to
accompany her son for the beginning of the
school year and then visit Zapote, for the
first time since she left the
vice-presidency in 2008, to meet with
president, Oscar Arias.
The transition of power will be completed on
May 8, when doņa Laura will be formally
sworn in, when she will begin her four year
term and possibly face the greatest
challenge of shedding her image of an Arias
puppet and assert her our independence and
leadership style.
Throughout her presidential campaign,
doņa Laura has maintained
conservative stance in articulating her
policies.
When asked by the press on how her
presidency would differ from that of Arias,
Chinchilla responded by explaining how she
would improve existing plans.
"The country had a significant amount of
growth and development over the past four
years," doņa Laura on Sunday.
"Much of my government's work is to
continuously develop the existing
initiatives and propel them forward."
Security tops Chinchilla's agenda. According
to a 2009 survey conducted by the
Universidad Nacional, the
majority of the respondents cited crime,
insecurity, drugs, assaults and domestic
violence as the most urgent issues for the
country.
To curb the spike in crimes, the
president-elect said she would assign more
border police to combat drug trafficking,
install electronic surveillance systems, and
provide police forces with improved
equipment, such as bullet proof vests and
new radios.
Another pillar of the doņa Laura campaign
centered on improving the country's ailing
infrastructure, as many roads, bridges and
ports are in bad shape.
The president-elect vowed to provide
significant funds for the transportation
ministry to improve roads and to further
develop the ports of Limon, on the
Caribbean, and of Puntarenas, on the
Pacific.
Doņa Laura also pledged to create jobs by investing
in infrastructure. Other economic initiatives
include imposing flat rate for income tax
and creating green jobs.
The president-elect said she intends to
reduce poverty on family-by-family basis,
and by continuing to provide scholarships
for poor students through the "avancemos"
program.
She also plans to offer more families with
the daycare option, possibly by creating a
nationalized daycare system for working
mothers.
People are sure keep their eyes open on
whether she keeps all her campaign promises
and turn up the pressure if she begins to
digress.
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