Profile in action – Laura Chinchilla
Almost two years ago Laura Chinchilla accepted the proposal from Óscar Arias and submitted her name for the Presidency of Costa Rica. Today, Laura Chinchilla acknowledges that she did not grasp what President Arias was setting into motion.
On Monday 14 January 2008, during the inauguration of Guatemalan president Alvaro Colom in Guatemala City, President Óscar Arias confessed to his now former Security Minister Fernando Berrocal, that his desire was to see Laura Chinchilla as president of Costa Rica.
“I said we had to support it. His argument was that his successor should be a woman, that the country was ready for a woman, Laura has what it takes,” recalls Berrocal.
“I said it seemed premature. We were only two years into our administration and it was better to have more accomplishments, which would prove more credible in the campaign promises,” recounts the former minister.
When Óscar Arias has a project in mind, the people who work with him know that they have only one option: do it.
The Grooming of President Laura Chinchilla
Days after that conversation in Guatemala, Vice President Laura Chinchilla arrived on scene in a more conspicuous public display. The Arias administration did not hide its intention to mold a presidential image of Laura Chinchilla, and immediately began to distribute to the media her weekly schedule of activities, something that had not been done in nearly two years since taking office.
On March 6, 2008, a Zapote journalists wrote an article, without apparent reason, entitled “Vice President Laura Chinchilla is a model of the successful woman in the political arena.” The odd article highlighted Laura Chinchilla’s work in public service with statements like: “She has made great advances in the fields of justice and security.”
Two days later, on March 8 during a day in Canas, Guanacaste, which happened to be the International Women’s Day, Arias himself said publicly that he would deliver the presidential seat in 2010 to a woman. That same month, after two years of keeping a low profile, Laura Chinchilla was publicized as the coordinator of a high-level committee which submitted a comprehensive proposal to fight against organized crime. This publicity ensured quick media exposure.
The truth is that the President Arias needed to prepare the field, especially since San Jose Mayor Johnny Araya, who never had Arias’ support, was already immersed in a subtle campaign for his presidential candidacy, and Antonio Alvarez Desanti had returned to the PLN and openly announced his interest in bidding for the chair of Zapote. Thus began Laura Chinchilla’s presidential who is the eldest daughter of the Municipal Court of the Republic, Rafael Angel Chinchilla Fallas.
Laura Chinchilla Political Positioning & the Rivals’ Mudslinging
Ironically, Laura’s candidacy being chosen by President Arias became the biggest drag on his presidency. That insider decision making and how the inner members of the PLN created the votes to nominate Laura had been the principal criticism or preferred weapon of Laura’s presidential opponents. The opponents voiced the mistakes of the Arias government and how a Nobel Peace Prize winner is choosing a successor. They accused Laura Chinchilla of being a puppet and of her ability to make independent decisions that are not of the PLN party line.
In fact, those who were close to the selection process said that Laura had never asked for the presidential nomination. Furthermore there were others ministers that helped build a consensus for Laura and that she was not the candidate ”of Arias”, as they say, when you included the others in this decision. ”Laura was not very interested in the idea of being a candidate. She is not the type of person who would jockey inside the inner council. It was something she did not relish. I know that she seriously considered whether to accept or not, “says Kevin Casas, who accompanied her on the presidential ticket of Arias until he was pulled because of a controversial 2007 government memorandum that had been revealed.
Please check back in a few days for Part 2 of ”Laura Chinchilla – The Making of a Costa Rica President” Part 2 begins with: “ To try and understand how Laura came to be in the position to be nominated as president of Costa Rica , you need to know where she came from, what she has done and how she has succeeded.”
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