Luis Guillermo Solís

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Luis Guillermo Solís (2014)

Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera (born April 25, 1958 in San José ) is a Costa Rican historian, diplomat and politician. From 2014 to 2018 he was President of Costa Rica .

Life

Origin and education

Solís' mother was an Afro-Caribbean educator. His father was a small business owner. His family comes from the small town of Turrialba ( Province of Cartago ), but he grew up in Montes de Oca ( Province of San José ). Solís studied history at the Universidad de Costa Rica . He then completed a master's degree in Latin American Studies at Tulane University in New Orleans (US state Louisiana).

Scientific career

In 1981 he became a university lecturer in history and political science at the Universidad Nacional and the Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR). In the meantime, he was part of the Fulbright Program at the University of Michigan and an Associate Researcher at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Florida International University . Finally he became Vice Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at UCR from 1999–2002. 2002-2004 directed the UCR's postgraduate program in Central American Politics. From 2005 to 2008 he was regional coordinator for research and development of the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (Flacso).

Political career

Solís joined the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN). From 1986 to 1990, during Óscar Arias ' first presidency , he served as Chief of Staff to the Foreign Minister. He was involved in drawing up the peace plan for Central America, for which Arias was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 . Between 1994 and 1998 he was Ambassador to Panama, Ambassador for Central American Affairs and then Director General for Foreign Policy in the government of President José María Figueres Olsen . From 2002 to 2003 he was Secretary General of the PLN.

In 2005 he resigned from the party, along with other important members. They alleged serious irregularities in internal party elections and a loss of original values. In 2009 he joined the Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC) instead .

Presidency

Solís, who has never held an electoral office or mandate before, was run in a 2013 PAC public primary as a presidential candidate for the 2014 election . In the first ballot, he surprisingly came in first with 30.6% just ahead of Johnny Araya Monge from the PLN. Araya gave up his candidacy on March 5th in order not to waste money on a hopeless election campaign in view of his poor poll numbers. According to the constitution, the runoff election had to take place on April 6th as planned. Solís called on voters to take part in large numbers despite the race that has already been decided. With a turnout of 56.6%, 77.8% of the votes cast went to him. In absolute numbers this is over 1.3 million, the highest number of votes that a President in Costa Rica has ever received. He was officially introduced to his post on May 8, 2014. He was the first president in 60 years who did not belong to either the PLN or the Partido de Unidad Socialcristiana (PUSC; or their predecessors).

The Costa Rican constitution does not allow direct re-election of the president. Solís' fellow party member Carlos Alvarado Quesada was elected as his successor in the 2018 presidential election.

Web links

Commons : Luis Guillermo Solís  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Biografía Luis Guillermo Solís In: Teletica.com , accessed March 9, 2014.
  2. ^ A b CV Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera In: NuevaMayoria.com , accessed March 9, 2013.
  3. ↑ a b Luis Guillermo Solís: “Un historiador que busca crear su historia”. In: El Financiero , February 4, 2014.
  4. ↑ Pablo Guerén Catepillán: Corrales dice adiós a Liberación. In: Al Día , January 18, 2005.
  5. ^ Esteban Oviedo: Johnny Araya desiste de Presidencia y liderará al PLN en oposición. In: La Nación , March 6, 2014.
  6. ^ Peter Gaupp: Triumph for Luis Guillermo Solís - Costa Rica elects the "President of Change" . Neue Zürcher Zeitung, April 7, 2014.
  7. ↑ Solís is the winner. taz.de, April 7, 2014
  8. ↑ New President Luis Guillermo Solís introduced. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . May 9, 2014, accessed May 9, 2014 .
predecessor Office successor
Laura Chinchilla President of Costa Rica
May 8, 2014 - May 8, 2018 		Carlos Alvarado Quesada
personal data
SURNAME Solís, Luis Guillermo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Solís Rivera, Luis Guillermo (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Costa Rican historian, diplomat, and politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 25, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH San Jose