Laura Chinchilla

Laura Chinchilla Miranda is a Costa Rican politician and the first female President of Costa Rica. She was one of Óscar Arias Sánchez’s two Vice-Presidents and his administration’s Minister of Justice. She was the governing PLN candidate for President in the 2010 general election, where she won with 46.76% of the vote.She is the sixth woman to be elected president of a Latin American country and the first woman to become president of Costa Rica. She was sworn as president of Costa Rica on May 8, 2010.

Chinchilla was born in Carmen Central, San José in 1959. Her father was Rafael Ángel Chinchilla Fallas (a former comptroller of Costa Rica) and 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 also holds Canadian citizenship; Chinchilla married him on 26 March 2000.