Chinchilla Faces
Tough
Challenges: Rise
in Crime,
Poverty And
Keeping Promise
To Help Poor And
Elderly
President-elect,
Laura
Chinchilla, who
is sworn in
today at noon as
the country's
first female
president, faces
a number of
challenges
during the next
four years:
rising poverty,
increased
insecurity and
fiscal deficit
made worse by
the world
economic crisis.
Laura
Chinchilla (in
white),
accompanied by
her husband,
José María Rico
(her right),
René Castro,
foreign minister
- appointed (her
far right) and
the Prince
Felipe de Borbón
(her left) wave
for the cameras
on Friday.
As she starts
her
administration
today,
Chinchilla must
prove herself to
shed her image
of being a Oscar
Arias puppet, as
the opposition
has very well
painted her.
Chinchilla is
expected to
continue many of
Arias' programs
and with his
support of free
trade and
international
business ties.
But, doña Laura
is sure to face
a tough
legislature as
the Partido
Liberación
Nacional (PLN)
lacks an
absolute
majority.
The 51 year old
president is a
Georgetown
University
graduate and is
not new to the
political scene
and government.
She has held the
portfolios of
the country's
security and
justice
ministries and
last resigned as
the country's
first
vice-president
in the Arias
administration
to run for the
presidency.
Her father was
Costa Rica's
Comptroller
General for many
years.
Chinchilla is
seen as a
president that
will be tough on
crime and
continue Costa
Rica's direction
for a healthy
fiscal
condition,
pulling in the
reigns following
Arias' increase
in public
spending amid
the economic
crisis.
The new
president is
also expected to
keep her
campaign promise
to help the poor
and the elderly,
but that may
have to wait
until the
country is
completely out
of the economic
crisis, which
under the Arias
leadership was
not as hard hit
as many other
countries.
Arias reminded
Costa Ricans
that last week
in his May 1
speech, saying
that in Costa
Rica not one
bank failed
because of the
crisis.
To help
Chinchilla in
that department,
her second
vice-president,
Luis Liberman,
is the founder
of Costa Rica's
largest private
bank, Interfin,
which sold out
to Scotiabank.
Liberman ran
Scotiabank until
recently,
resigning to
take part in
Chinchilla's
administration.
Chinchilla will
also have to
prove herself
that a woman in
Costa Rica can
be a good
leader. She
follows in the
footsteps of
four female
presidents in
Latin America -
in Panama,
Nicaragua, Chile
and Argentina -
having to plow
through the
"machismo" that
is part of Latin
social and
political
culture.
For Arias, who
is now 69 years
old, says he
will retire from
national
politics, after
completing his
second term
today. However,
there is no lack
of rumours that
Arias will be
active behind
the scenes and
that his brother
Rodrigo, who
also steps down
as ministro de
la Presidencia,
today, may make
a run for the
presidency in
2014, keeping
the Arias legacy
or "Arismo"
alive.
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