Born: 28 March 1959, Costa Rica
Education
1981: BA in Political Science, University of Costa Rica, San José. 1989: MA in Public Policy, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA. Public life Chinchilla has built a career around her interest in judicial and public security reform. Since 1990 she has worked as an academic and a consultant specialising in judicial reform and public security reform (particularly police reform), for various international organisations in Latin America and Africa, including USAID, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). She is involved in several international and regional initiatives to promote judicial reform, reform in citizen security, policing and human rights, including programmes run by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress and the Central American Foundation for Peace and Democracy (Funpadem). Chincilla first served as vice minister and later minister for public order in the period 1994-1998, under the administration of José María Figueres. In parliament her listed areas of interest are judicial reform, public security (policing, drugs trafficking, organised crime) political and institutional reform (state reform and electoral reform), external trade, technology, children & youth. Time Line:
1989-1990 Ministry of Planning and Political Economy (MIDEPLAN)
o Consultant and technician on state reform and structural adjustment programmes
1994- 1996
o Vice minister for public security and governance
o National Drugs Council (CONADRO), ruling council member
o President of the National Council on Migration
1996- 1998
o Minister for public security and governance
o Centro de Inteligencia Conjunto Antidrogas (CICAD), president of the directors council
2002-2006
o Congress member in the legislative assembly
o President of the Special Commission on Drug Trafficking
o Member of the Commission on Judicial Affairs
o Member of the Commission on International Affairs
2006-2010
o First vice- president
o Minister for Justice Strengths Chinchilla is clearly favoured by the president, and his backing should help secure her candidacy over any rival nominee from the ruling Partido de Liberación Nacional (PLN). She is an experienced administrator and is popular. Her core competencies of judicial reform and public security will appeal to Costa Rican voters, who are increasingly concerned about rising levels of violent crime and insecurity in the country. Her democratic credentials are impeccable. Weaknesses: Her close links with the Arias family could be an electoral disadvantage. Also, despite being minister of justice, Chinchilla has not spent a lot of time in the public eye and her policy stance on many key economic and external issues (like Cafta, relations with the US, Costa Rica's regional affairs etc) is not well known. Prospects
Although President Arias has not yet officially endorsed Chinchilla, his recent fulsome praise for her, in addition to his comments that he would like a woman to replace him, strongly suggest she is being lined up as his successor. On 15 April, Arias told local daily La Nación that, "Chinchilla is a woman with a great calling to public service, and she has shown leadership, responsibility, and hard work in all of her positions." Fernando Zumbado, the anti-poverty minister, was the first cabinet member to officially announce his support of Chinchilla. In late April Zumbado (who himself was thought to have presidential aspirations) suggested that Chinchilla's candidacy was already assured, and that all she needed to do was choose. Chinchilla has not denied the recent speculation but has said it is too early to make a decision either way. She has until February 2009 to decide, after which point she would be required to leave office in order to launch her campaign. She has certainly raised her public profile of late, spending more time at political events and accompanying the president on trips around the country. Notably, a March survey by Unimer gave Chinchilla the highest public opinion rating of any elected official. This suggests that the electorate currently favours her over Johnny Araya, mayor of San José and another possible PLN presidential candidate in 2010. If elected at the 2010 polls, Chinchilla be Costa Rica's first woman president.
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