Laura Chinchilla Miranda, the presidential elect of the Partido Liberación Nacional of Costa Rica has made history being the first female president in Costa Rica and in Central America. Laura Chinchilla was born on March 28, 1959 in San Jose, Costa Rica, the daughter of Rafael Angel Chinchilla Fallas, Comptroller General of Costa Rica during two administrations (1972-1987) and Emilce Miranda Castillo. Since 2000 she has been married to Jose Maria Rico Cueto and they have a son, José María Rico Chinchilla.

First Vice President of the Republic of Costa Rica and Minister of Justice in the administration of Óscar Arias Sánchez (2006-2010). Although she left office on October 8, 2008, to pursue further her political career and created the Laura Chinchilla campaign for the presidency of Costa Rica with the Partido Liberación Nacional.

Since 1990 she has worked as a consultant in Latin America and Africa for various international agencies in the area of institutional reform, with special emphasis on judicial reform and public security reform. Some consultancy led her to conduct assessments of the justice sector for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the coordination of studies and projects on judicial reform for the United Nations Program for Development ( UNDP) and assessments and advice on police reform to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Laura Chinchilla has been a speaker at various international forums on matters of public security and police reform. She has served on various reform initiatives that promote citizen security and human rights throughout Latin America, such as the Project Advisory Committee of Civil Society and Public Safety for the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), the Central American Dialogue Foundation Arias for Peace and Human Progress, and the Foundation for Peace and Democracy (FUNPADEM).  During this period Laura Chinchilla has published in both Spanish and English – books, monographs and articles on subjects relating to the administration of justice, public security and police reform. Career highlights of Laura include working in the public sector management as Deputy Minister of Public Security (1994 – 1996) and Minister of Public Safety (1996 to 1998). She was also Chairman of the Joint Drug Intelligence Center, Chair of the National Immigration Council, member of the National Drug Council, National Security Council and the Academic Council of the National Police Academy.

In the Costa Rica Legislature, she has worked in areas of judicial reform, public safety (police, drug trafficking, organized crime, etc..) Political and institutional reform (reform of the state and electoral reform), trade, technology, and children and youth programs.

Laura Chinchilla Biography during the last administration

After a bitter campaign, Laura Chinchilla managed to become vice president with the Partido Liberación Nacional and Oscar Arias Sanchez as the presidential candidate. She and Kevin Casas Zamora remained as first and second vice presidents respectively, and the cabinet was led by Dr. Oscar Arias Sanchez in the post of Minister of Justice. The Second Vice President Kevin Casas Zamora resigned on September 22, 2007 because of ethical questions. Laura Chinchilla campaign for Costa Rica president was born on October 8, 2008 driven by a citizen initiative that has pushed her to becoming the first female president of Costa Rica.

Laura Chinchilla Campaign

On Saturday, 10 October 2008, and after the Supreme Electoral Tribunal formally withdrew her credentials as Vice-President of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla announced to the media of her legitimate desire to run for the presidency of Costa Rica, and for her pre-candidacy Partido Liberación Naciona which needed to still vote for a leader of their ticket.

Voting for the ticket in the Partido Liberación Naciona was held on 7 June 2009, and declared Laura a winner by a margin greater than 15%, and was chosen by the Partido Liberación Naciona of Costa Rica to be the official candidate for presidency in 2010.

Laura Chinchilla’s campaigns main rival is Otto Guevara the candidate running on the ticket for Partido Movimiento Libertario. During the past year her rivals have personally attacked Laura with innuendos of poor character and as being a puppet for the President of the Republic Oscar Arias Sanchez and the PLN.  According to recent surveys, 45% of voters for Laura Chinchilla  has kept her in the lead followed by the candidate Guevara, who has experienced a surge in support from the electorate in the remaining months running up to the Feb. 7th elections. There is a third candidate Otton Solis who mostly dilutes the voter pool for Laura since she needs to win a clear 40% of the vote in order to win the elections. If it is less, even though she won amongst the other candidates, there will be a run off elections to determine the winner.

Originally Posted Here

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Laura Chinchilla’s win was apparent within a few hours of the closing of the voting, as rivals Ottón Solís and Otto Guevara declared defeat, not even waiting for the vote count to reach the half way mark.

Solís was the first to accept that Laura Chinchilla won, congratulating President Chinchilla and promising that this would be his last campaign, moving on to others things, paving the way for the others.

Guevara, moments later announced defeat but with a triumphant voice, claiming victory for a party that won more than 20% of the vote, a big win over the 9% support of 2006 and vowed the party to the presidency in 2014.

“With a lot of respect, we accept the reality,” said Solis, who was just 1 percent of votes away from a victory in 2006 elections.

President Chinchilla told her supporters gathered at the Crowne Plaza Corobici as the country’s next president, who would keep all the promises she made during the campaign.

“We don’t receive a bounced cheque from the people. To the contrary, we have shouldered solemn obligations to hold dialogues with all parties and social sectors,” she said.

Laura Chinchilla’s campaign platform included improvement of the country’s infrastructure, creation of a progressive income tax and new jobs with “green jobs” initiative.

She also has promised to create more job opportunities, better living conditions for children and senior citizens, as well as to combat crimes and drug trafficking.

Laura became the first female ministra de Seguridad from 1996 to 1998 and held the post of first vice-president in the Arias administration from 2006 to 2009, resigning to run for the presidency.

Voting began at 6am sharp, as all the 6.000 voting centres were in syncronized time with the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) and closed promptly at 6pm. At 8:15pm, Luis Antonio Sobrado, president of the TSE, announced the first voting results, showing Chinchilla with a firm lead, with more votes than her two main rivals combined.

Costa Rica is the only Latin American country which in 60 years has enjoyed democratic elections without interruption, said Emma Maria Mejia, chief of an observer mission from the Organization of American States (OAS).

Originally published here

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Local news is covering the regional locations where supporters of Laura Chinchilla for President have swamped and with good cheer. The lines at some voting stations are very long but the weather in Costa Rica today is mild which helps keep the crowds relaxed. Costa Ricans have a long history of this type of voting since Don “Pepe” Figueres restored Costa Rica to the people and created the second republic in 1948.

Local television has also been setting up stations outside voting locations with a traditional Speak Out or what the Costa Ricans call “QUEJESE” where voters walk up to a microphone being recorded by the television station. Most of the comments are in good spirits but many are complaining that promises made my politicians are not being kept and that they hope things will change. Prostitution and street drugs were raised a number of times by serious voters while the surrounding crowds laughed or belittled the speaker as someone who is a complainer.

Another issue for voters is the format in which Costa Rica sets up qualifications for voting. Where the voter registers or grows up is the location where they are only allowed to vote. Therefore, the political parties arrange for car pools and volunteers to shuttle voters to their voting booths. This requirement is also an opportunity for news reporters to stake out locations where known celebrities must show up to vote. Singers and actresses are among the Costa Rican interviewed. Finally, another nice touch that the TSE has implemented is using Anti Bacteria alcohol washes prior to voters handling ink pens to prevent the spread of infection at the stations.

Otherwise, this is a historic day in Costa Rica as voters elect the first female president into office. This is also the first time that a female has been on the ticket for any political party. Laura Chinchilla’s campaign has been long in the making and is finally over. We will provide continuing coverage as news comes in.

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President Laura Chinchilla?

There is still a risk of not receiving the required 40% margin to become president of costa rica. In that event, the voters still believe that Laura Chinchilla would win a run off election. For Laura Chinchilla’s campaign a post election run off would be viewed as a temporary hurdle to assuming the presidency of Costa Rica. While the rival candidates simply hope to dilute Laura Chinchilla’s required 40% in the hope that Otto Guevara could sneak into the presidency by a post election run off.

This scenario is very unlikely as even the opposing candidates have all but accepted the inevitable victory of Partido Liberación Nacional’s candidate and Oscar Arias hand picked successor Laura Chinchilla Miranda the first female president of Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica: Safety, Security and Prosperity

Our country cannot stop, we must continue to go forward. My proposal is to continue building a Costa Rica with Security and Prosperity.

Security
Insecurity affects all of us today, it is a complex problem which we must seriously consider. Insecurity has deep roots and requires action in two areas: Social Security and Public Safety.

Social Security
With the growth of our country we need to ensure working mothers and fathers that their families will have social security and welfare. We will do this by developing a national network which would focus on our children, of preschool age, and provide them with care and early education. Mothers and fathers should feel confident that while they work, their children will have the best of care our country can provide.

We will invest in education, healthcare and public transportation. We will develop a program of housing and urban development. Collectively we will create methods to improve the living conditions of the needy. For the first time, we will create a network of day care for seniors.

In short, we want everyone to have a better education, better employment opportunities and a respectable retirement.

Public Safety
We will commit anew to strengthen, empower and widen our law enforcement to help them combat crime more effectively.

We will organize to protect our communities and our schools while we will vigorously engage in the fight against drug traffickers.

We will offer more opportunities for our young people so that they can choose to develop a healthy lifestyle and stay away from dangerous activities.

We will enforce the laws so that those who commit crimes, are punished.

Prosperity
Costa Rica has all of the elements we need to achieve higher levels of development and welfare; The intelligence of our people, the ecological wealth of our country and the spirit of solidarity amongst our citizens.

Intelligence
The abilities of our people is crucial because collectively our knowledge plays an increasingly important role in the prosperity of nations. We will emphasize the areas of education and training, productivity and innovation, and science and technology.

Along this endeavor of strengthening our people we must ensure that it is built upon values of solidarity, respect, honesty and personal responsibility. We want a highly knowledgeable citizenship who thrive in a democratic culture that is tolerant and inclusive.

Ecology
We are the heirs of a unique natural wealth and know that our future is tied to environmentally sustainable economies and not those that destroy their own wealth.

We are in a position to become one of the leading economies that is built upon our government’s environmental responsibility. Costa Rica leads in the generation of clean energy, leads in environmentally friendly tourism which is in harmony with nature, and our high technology industries that have low environmental impact.

Let’s us lead in the care of our water, in the development of transportation networks and practices for managing solid waste and wastewater, so that we can achieve better environmentally sound development.

Solidarity
The prosperity we seek is for everyones benefit where equal opportunity allows everyone to participate which increases our standard of living. Democracies are stronger when its people share fairly the fruits of development. And we know that a secure society is where all its citizens have access to a decent life and future prosperity

To read the Spanish version click here

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Jaco Beach in front of DayStar's La Paloma Blanca

Jaco Costa Rica is clean and not polluted according to AyA labs results which were released a few days ago.  AyA is the Costa Rican ministry that is responsible for drinking water and water treatment and they sample beaches around Costa Rica as part of the Blue Flag program.  However, the AyA lab results just release showed that 6 other Costa Rican Beaches are still contaminated.

Before stepping foot in the water, best to be sure that the beach or river is not on the AyA list of the contaminated, following the findings by the water and sewer utility high contaminations of fecal matter in at least six beaches in Costa Rica. Testing by the Laboratorio Nacional de Aguas de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA) shows that the beaches of Los Baños, Portete and Cieneguita, in the province of Limón; the Tárcoles, Giacalillo and Quepos beaches in the province of Puntarenas, have a high level of contamination of fecal coliforms. These AyA lab results indicate that the above beaches are not fit for swimming.

In the meantime, Jaco Beach and Tamarindo passed the lab test after three years of water of very publicized water pollution problems. There was a huge effort by the business community spearheaded by management at DayStar along with the Canton of Garabito to clean up the water problems in Jaco. The result is Jaco is no longer on any of the polluted beach lists and continues to pass water tests. DayStar Properties in Jaco Beach has built many condos which brought many resident/owners to the clean up effort, who were concerned about Jaco Beach water pollution. Jaco Beach clean water lab results proves a community effort of engaged residents and business leaders can make the difference.

The accepted level in Costa Rica of coliform in the water is 240 coliforms per 100.000 milliliters of water. Some results to highlight where beaches are still polluted are Portete beach which the lab results showed 10.000 coliforms & Los Baños tested at 7.500 coliforms which are very elevated. Other moderate polluted beaches are Cieneguita beach tested at 700 coliforms, Tárcoles 850, Gucalillo 500, and Quepos 400.

One of the problems faced by these communities is the lack of local organizations to work in correcting the problems. The AyA tests the water quality of the beaches around the country as part of their “Bandera Azul Ecológica” program.

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Part 2 of the Guide to Purchasing a Costa Rica Condo Hotel is a brief description of what is the concept behind a condo-hotel.

What is the concept of a Condo Hotel?

The basic concept of a condo-hotel is the private ownership of individual units which collectively is managed as a hotel. Condo-hotel agreements vary but the basics are you own the unit or condo and when the managing hotel sells the room, you earn a commission or share in the profits. Large professional hotel management companies are the most successful users of this business model because they know hospitality and the logistics of servicing units which a hotel requires.

If managed correctly, the owner earns rental revenue which can augment the loan payment. An example, of a professional hotel management company would be Wyndham Worldwide. From the consumers point of view, they likely will not know their rented unit is privately owned unless the developer is still actively selling the units. Typically, condo hotels are in the luxury market and demand prices that normal hotel suites could not compete with.

In summary, from the buyers perspective a condo hotel offers the ability to buy into a larger value property because of the rental revenue sharing. This type of unit is truly a mixed investment; leisure and revenue generation. Unless, you are amongst the top tier of incomes of the world, earning income on your property investment when the unit is vacant is a sound business decision.

The condo hotel business model offers individual buyers to earn monthly revenue plus still earn appreciation in the property value of their investment. For developers, the condo hotel business model allows them to recoup their investment faster and begin earning a profit much earlier compared to the typical hotel development.

Check back with us for the next part of this guide: How would I benefit purchasing a Costa Rica property using the condo hotel business model?

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Costa Rica Tourism Report Q1 2010

After increasing from 2.06mn in 2006 to 2.29mn in 2007, the report expects arrivals to have increased to 2.51mn in 2008 before dipping down to 2.29mn in 2009. Arrival numbers are forecast to tick up again in 2010, and to grow to 3.5mn in 2014, at the end of our forecast period. The majority of tourists visit Costa Rica during the peak season (January-May) and come from the Americas. Arrivals from the country’s three most important source markets – the US, Nicaragua and Canada – increased steadily during 2004 to 2007. However, looking at the inbound tourism data by region, although 2008 continued to trend upwards in North America and Latin America, the report is forecasting arrivals numbers from both regions to decrease by 9.45% and 8.60%, respectively, in 2009. The next most important source markets in terms of arrivals are, in order, Panama, Mexico and Spain.

The main growth drivers for the industry are ecotourism and health tourism. Costa Rica has 32 national parks, eight biological reserves, 13 forest reserves and 51 wildlife refuges. The industry is estimated to suffer slightly in 2009 due to the ongoing recession, particularly in the US, and the H1N1 virus (swine flu), however it is forecast to see relatively quick turnaround beginning in 2010. The continued expansion of the Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport in the north and the growing amount of chartered flights from Europe all have the potential to drive growth in the market. Furthermore, the planned development of the Caribbean province, looks set to bring more tourists to this less-developed Costa Rican province. Indeed, already the province’s port has served as the finish line for the Transat Jacques Vabre sailboat race in 2009 and the race is scheduled to finish there in 2011, 2013 and 2015 as well. The port has also been added as a port of call in 2010 to two luxury cruise liners’ schedules.

Costa Rica’s tourism industry is a major contributor to the economy, accounting for about 7.8% of GDP in direct terms in 2008 and nearly 3% of total employment in 2006 – 49,000 individuals – according to data from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). However, the industry’s contribution to GDP is forecast to steadily decline, from 7.1% in 2009 to just 4.6% in 2014. Collective government expenditure on tourism was an estimated US$29.7mn in 2008, a 4% increase year-on-year (y-o-y). Collective government expenditure is forecast to slump slightly in 2009 to 27.9mn, bouncing back to 30.0mn in 2011. Expenditure is then forecast to rise to 35.5mn by the end of the forecast period in 2014. The government has proposed a tax on inbound airfares. The legislation, which has yet to pass in the Assembly, requests the addition of a fee of US$15 to all airfares, to replace the current 3% hotel tax. Part of the revenue from the tax, which is expected to be more than US$80mn a year, will fund some activities of Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (Costa Rican Tourism Board, ICT), including marketing, promotion and planning. The change in taxation came about due to the increasing amount of condominium and other private rentals that were not included under the umbrella of the hotel tax. New hotel developments are ongoing in the country, with major international companies including Intercontinental Hotels Group, Marriott Hotels & Resorts and Barceló constructing hotels near the beaches and in urban centers.

To get a copy of the complete report you can find it here

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Accepting the award Rossy Quesada Gomez at her cafe, Cafe del Mar,

Today, Jaco is not only a better place with the reduced stray animal population but the care of the local animals has increased through her advocacy and osmosis in the community. Katja makes it her business to make sure all animals are de-wormed and continue to receive parasite treatment each month. As a whole, the local Jaco population receives the benefit from this by eliminating the parasites in these animals who would carry these worms into our homes or infect our kids. Kids playing in the sand, at the playground or even the cute licking of the face by a dog are all methods of transmission for parasites.

Through Katja and the McKee Jaco project parasitic canine infestation is becoming a notion of the past. But it is with diligence and eventual education of the local community that help keep this momentum going. As a result, Katja bore the idea of having an animal advocate go to schools and teach student about the care of animals in our social lives. Another method of continuing this momentum is through the Golden Paw award which is awarded twice a year to a member of the local community who has proven their compassion and service toward animals.

On December 16, 2009, the award was presented to Rossy Quesada Gomez, the owner of the popular Cafe del Mar, located on the corner of the street that leads to Canciones del Mar hotel. Katja explained that Rossy helps all animals who pass by her restaurant or her house in Jaco Sol. She feeds them when they are hungry, makes sure that they get fixed and fosters them until they get adopted. All animals are welcome at Rossy’s places – she has 3 cats and 9 dogs of her own, with many others that are just “visitors.” Some of them she found injured on the street, others just came to her place and never left – and why would they when they receive a 3 square meals a day and plenty of table scraps from the customers eating at the cafe?

Thank you Rossy, for all the time and love you give to those furry little friends who need your help.

If you would like to donate and/or support the efforts of Katja Bader and McKee Jaco project you can visit their site here: http://www.mckee-jaco.com/

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Ever since the Iran-Contra scandal people had this image of Central America as a dangerous area to visit and not friendly to northern Americans. But in the last 15 years Central America has been lifted out of this obscure, war torn, guerrilla war to a peaceful region. Sitting in the middle of most of the Central American drama is the democratic republic of Costa Rica which has no military and has been an important ally of the United States for the last 60 years. Once people got the idea out of their heads that Central America is a war zone, tourism began. Costa Rica where capitalism has prospered; was the first country to see its future and made the adjustments needed to attract an international tourism market. As a result, with political and economic stability, it is no secret why Costa Rica has become an area of foreign dwellers who are investing their money in second homes, vacation homes, and investment properties.

Today, Costa Rica has excellent and low cost healthcare, excellent private schools and prep schools, high speed internet on the ever increasing fiber optic network, low crime, and low taxes. All of these features continue to attract property investors and developers alike. DayStar Properties in Jaco has been at the forefront of this new market of buyers and investors. Lisle Head of Coldwell Banker Jaco has supported DayStar for years and has many clients who are happy investor with this developer. DayStar is one of the few operational projects that was born in the last 5 years when real estate growth took a turn for the skyrocket. If you are imagining buying at DayStar or any other project here in town you may wonder what next?

Now that you are here, walking on the beach during the sunset, having a drink beside the pool, enjoying lunch at the marina with friends, tee time at 6 for 18 holes and/or hiking in the rainforest is wonderful but for most people who are adventurous enough to purchase a property in Costa Rica they are going to want to discover more. So stay tuned for the second part of this article which addresses the opportunities here in Costa Rica for travel, adventure, and business opportunities that can keep your daily life rewarding and abundant.

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