Ammon News - Laura Fernandez will be Costa Rica's next president, pushing forward 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 surging drug violence.

Fernandez, 39, built her career as a political adviser and civil servant at Costa Rica's Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy, where current President Rodrigo Chaves appointed her minister in 2022.

Flanked by supporters in San Jose after declaring victory, Fernandez promised a new era of politics in Costa Rica.

"Change will be deep and irreversible," Fernandez said, announcing that the Central American nation was entering a new political era.

Costa Rica's second republic, which began after the 1948 civil war, "is a thing of the past," she said. "It's up to us to build the third republic."

Fernandez will be Costa Rica's second female president after Laura Chinchilla, who governed from 2010 to 2014. Since leaving office, Chinchilla has taken on a number of roles at international organizations and universities and become a vocal opponent of the governments in Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Reuters