Former President of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, has been appointed to be new Vice President of World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid (WLA – CdM). This organization is the largest forum of democratically elected former presidents and PMs working to encourage democracy, its institutions and values all over the world. Chinchilla, who was the first woman to become President of Costa Rica, is standing in for Jorge Quiroga, former President of Bolivia. She will share the presidency with Cassam Uteem, former President of Mauritius. Since 2013 the current President of WLA – CdM is Vaira Vike-Freiberga, former President of Latvia.
Laura Chinchilla stands out for her dedication to many of the organization’s activities and her commitment to the values held by WLA – CdM. Specifically, Chinchilla’s contributions to the Shared Societies Project, where she co-led the Working Group on Sustainable Development, has been particularly relevant to the project’s impact. The former President of Costa Rica collaborated in drafting the reports analysing the main three pillars of the project – economic, environmental, social – which in the future should define a harmonious, inclusive growth that leaves no one behind, paying particular attention to vulnerable collectives.
Laura Chinchilla’s first activity with WLA – CdM was the Next Generation Democracy Regional Roundtable of the Americas held in Bogotá in 2015. Next, she participated in another meeting related to the NGD project on the quality of democracy in Latin America at the Centro Fox in 2017 (Guanajuato, México).
Now that she’s bee appointed Vice President of the organization, Laura Chinchilla will focus on areas of her interest, like protecting the environment, empowering women and promoting social inclusion and democracy in Latin America. These important topics driving her commitment resonate with her work as President of Costa Rica and many other public service roles. After holding several ministerial positions, Chinchilla went from becoming Vice President of Costa Rica in 2006 to winning the presidential elections in 2010.
Besides her roles as public servant in Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla will also bring to WLA – CdM her experience at the international level. She has been a consultant for Africa and Latin America on reforming and reinforcing institutions with international organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme and the Inter American Development Bank. Recently, Laura Chinchilla has been appointed as the head of the election observation mission for the next presidential elections in Paraguay by the Organization of American States.
You can read more details of her biographonin our website.
