By Alvaro Murillo and Alexander Villegas
SAN JOSE, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Laura Fernandez will be Costa Rica’s next president, pushing ahead with a populist mandate set by her predecessor that includes promises of constitutional reforms and the suspension of civil liberties to fight crime at a time of rising drug violence.
Fernandez, 39, built her career as a political consultant and civil servant in Costa Rica’s Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy, where current President Rodrigo Chaves appointed her as minister in 2022.
A staunch supporter of Chaves, Fernandez went on to be his chief of staff, before launching her own campaign for president.
Legislator Pilar Cisneros, who leads the government faction in Congress and is considered a key figure in Chaves’ rise to power, said a group of about 10 people close to Chaves, including the president, handpicked Fernandez.
“Few people know the state like she does — you know where the knots are,” Cisneros said.
Known for her theatrical speaking style and her taste for dancing which she often demonstrates at campaign rallies, Fernandez was born in Esparza in the coastal province of Puntarenas, and grew up in the capital of San Jose.
She is married with a young daughter and is a conservative Catholic with a strong family message, which has helped her attract support from the country’s growing evangelical groups.
She spoke of her admiration for El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, known for his tough approach to crime and gangs, and said she would enact states of emergency in high crime areas that would limit civil liberties. She also promised to complete the construction of a high-security penitentiary modeled on El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison.
During the campaign, opponents accused Fernandez of being a “puppet” for Chaves and questioned her autonomy.
“What will govern is her – she will be the president – but she would be a fool not to show that she has the support of Don Rodrigo. She is loyal to our political project,” said Cisneros.
Flanked by supporters in San Jose after declaring victory, Fernandez promised a new era of politics in Costa Rica.
“The change will be profound and irreversible,” Fernandez said, announcing that the Central American nation was entering a new political era.
The second republic of Costa Rica, which started after the civil war of 1948, “is a thing of the past,” she said. “It is up to us to build a third republic.”
Fernandez will be the second female president of Costa Rica after Laura Chinchilla, who governed from 2010 to 2014. Since leaving office, Chinchilla has taken on a number of roles in international organizations and universities and has become a vocal opponent of the governments in Venezuela and Nicaragua.
She has also become one of the most outspoken critics of the current Costa Rican government and its political movement, saying it follows a “predictable script” of other authoritarian leaders in the region. She called Fernandez “rude and populist” and “a bad copy of the president.”
(Reporting by Alvaro Murillo and Alexander Villegas, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Lincoln Feast.)