Politics of Costa Rica

Since 1821 Costa Rica is independent from Spain

Costa Rica has one of the most peaceful histories in Latin America

You can still feel the peaceful attitude of the country today. Since the 19th century there were just two short violent periods, that were both settled by the democratic government.
President José Figueres Ferrer disestablished the army by a constitutional amendment on 8 May 1949.

The work of the frontier-defense has been adopted by the police, but there still exist a safety guard with about 9000 guards.

In the year 1983 the president Luis Alberto Monge proclaimed the permanent and active neutrality of Costa Rica, regarding the worsening of the civil-war in Central America. The following president Óscar Arias Sánchez received the “Nobel Price for Peace” for his engagement to prevent violence and war, in 1987.

Óscar Arias got elected again in 2006 and was able to guide Costa Rica in the right direction. Costa Rica is also named “Swiss of Central America”, not only because of the mountains, but primarily because of its political neutrality.
In February 2010 the first woman in the history of Costa Rica was elected president. Laura Chinchilla, from the PLN party, was served as president from 2010 to 2014. Unfortunately, she was not able to maintain the direction of the former presidents, which is why she was leaving the office in an unpopular position. Due to her controversial policy, the PLN lost votes and the PAC with the candidate Guillermo Solis, polled the votes.

Guillermo Solis has won the election on April 6th, 2014 and is Costa Ricas president since May 2014.