Skip to main content

Jose Maria Figueres Olsen Biography

José María Figueres Olsen

(San José, 1954) Costa Rican politician who was President of the Republic (1994-1998).Jose María Figueres Olsen was the son of Karen Olsen Beck and José Figueres Ferrer, a leader of Catalan origin considered the father of modern Costa Rica, founder of the National Liberation Party (PLN) in 1951 and president of the country three times.

José María Figueres Olsen

He completed his primary studies at the La Lucha school and at the Humboldt school and secondary at Lincoln School.He graduated from West Point Military Academy with a degree in industrial engineering, and later expanded his studies at Harvard.At the end of his studies, he joined the companies founded by his father, which at that time were going through difficult times, mired in the economic crisis that devastated Costa Rica at the beginning of the eighties of the 20th century.José María Figueres managed to save family businesses and also created new ones that considerably increased the family fortune.

During the first term of President Óscar Arias (1986-1990), Jose María Figueres Olsen held the position of director of the Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles (INCOFER), with which he began his political activity.Subsequently, he was director of the Board of Administration and Development of the Atlantic Slope (JAPDEVA), Minister of Foreign Trade and Minister of Agriculture.

After the death of his father in 1990, sectors of the PLN proposed that promote his candidacy for the presidency, to which he dedicated himself for some time, except for a brief hiatus in 1991 to do a master's degree at Harvard University.The official designation was reached in June 1993, after defeating other candidates in a national convention, including Óscar Arias's wife, Margarita Peñón.In the elections held on February 6, 1994, he was elected President of the Republic of Costa Rica by defeating by few votes the official candidate of the Christian Democratic Unity Party (PUSC), Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría, of Christian Democratic tendency.They were the closest elections in the history of the country, which were defined by only two points of difference.

After his victory in the elections, Figueres Olsen reiterated his commitments made during the electoral campaign to improve education and health and boost the country's progress.Thus, during his tenure, the health care program based on the so-called EBAIS (Basic Equipment for Comprehensive Health Care) was designed and developed, which was very effective in improving health indices.

Important investments were also made in science and technology, telemedicine and environmental conservation programs and strategies, in order to create the foundations to advance towards the information society and sustainable development.With this, it was possible to attract high-tech companies such as Intel and many others.He also applied a plan to reduce public debt that included higher taxes and a privatization policy.He was succeeded in the presidency by Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría, winner of the 1998 presidential elections.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

John couch adams Biography

John Couch Adams (Laneast, 1819-Cambridge, 1892) British astronomer.He was director of the Cambridge Observatory from 1861.He investigated, independently of Le Verrier but at the same time as him, the perturbations of the orbit of Uranus, which led him to the demonstration of the existence of Neptune.

Jose Ricart Matas Biography

José Ricart Matas (Barcelona, ​​1893-1978) Spanish cellist and musicologist.He studied at the Municipal School of Music in his hometown and later expanded his studies in Paris.He gave numerous recitals throughout Europe, sometimes accompanied by his mother, the pianist Carmen Matas.He was a professor of cello at the Municipal Conservatory of Barcelona and Director of the Museum of Instruments of that city.In addition, he was a collaborator of the Spanish Institute of Musicology in the field of folklore and musical iconography.His writings include the International Proverb of Music and Dance from 1950; the Biographical Dictionary of Music , published in 1956, and the essay entitled Musical instruments in the Hispanic iconography of the Middle Ages.

Ellery queen Biography

Ellery Queen Pseudonym under which two American crime novel writers, Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and his cousin Manfred B.Lee (1905-1971), published their common works.In 1929 Dannay and Lee published their first novel, The Mystery of the Roman Hat , which was very successful and led them to continue writing plots for their famous detective Ellery Queen character, the protagonist of more than thirty novels.Other titles are The Mystery of the Dutch Shoe (1931), The Scarlet Letters (1953) and Brass House (1968).

Francisco de Villalpando Biography

Francisco de Villalpando (?-Toledo, c. 1561) Spanish architect, sculptor and goldsmith.The grille of the main chapel of the Cathedral of Toledo and the front of the Colegio de los Infantes, in the same city, are notable works that reveal the Italian Renaissance influence.

François Mitterrand Biography

François Mitterrand (Jarnac, Charente, 1916-Paris, 1996) French socialist politician, president of the French republic between 1981 and 1995.Born into a middle-class Catholic family, he graduated in Law and Political Science in Paris.During World War II (1939-45) he was mobilized and taken prisoner by the Germans (1940); then he escaped and joined the collaborationist Vichy regime; from 1942 he was active in the Resistance, but without adhering directly to Charles De Gaulle.After his resignation, Mitterrand entered politics, being elected deputy by Nièvre in 1946, under a centrist label (only gradually would he evolve to the left). François Mitterrand Between 1947 and 1957 he held multiple positions in the changing ministerial combinations of the Fourth Republic: secretary of state for ex-combatants, secretary of State of Information, Undersecretary of the Presidency, Minister of Colonies, Minister of State, Minister delegated to the Council of Europe, Minister of the Interior a...

Alfred Maham, maritime power as a way to dominate the world

With the publication at the end of the 19th century of "Influence of power maritime on the history " , Alfred Maham showed that maritime power had been the decisive factor in the domain of the world .His book greatly influenced the policies of the most powerful of the world, collaborating to the arms race prior to the First World War . Alfred T.Maham was a navigator of the United States Navy and a geopolitical visionary .His work called " Influence of maritime power on history, 1660 - 1783 " contributed to the formation of the modern fleets of the world . His hypothesis states that terrestrial power without access to the sea was called to decay. Maham argued that a nation able to dominate the sea with its naval power and maintain a merchant marine can exploit the wealth of the world And the author saw England as the best example of that. The ship of the line Victory, battle of Trafalgar , 1805 .Painting of C...

George Gilbert Scott Biography

George Gilbert Scott (Gawcott, 1811-London, 1878) British architect.One of the most prominent representatives of the English Victorian neo-Gothic, he is the author of the Martyrs' Chapel in Oxford, Saint-Pancras station and the famous Albert Memorial in Hyde Park.

Jose Maria Nemesio Otaño Biography

José María Nemesio Otaño (José María Nemesio Otaño y Eguino, Azcoitia, 1880-San Sebastián, 1956) Spanish composer and musicologist, one of the essential figures in the reform of sacred music in Spain during the first half of the 20th century. He studied organ in Guipúzcoa and later counterpoint and composition with Vicente Goicoechea in Valladolid.In 1896 he entered the Society of Jesus and soon obtained the position of organist at the Loyola Basilica. In 1907 he organized the First National Congress of Sacred Music in Valladolid, and that same year he founded the magazine Hispanic Sacred Music , which, following the proposals of Pope Pius X, served to give new air to the religious music that had been performed in Spain until now. Since 1911 he was director of the choir of the Pontifical University of Comillas, which became a model of good functioning for other religious choral groups in Spain.Simultaneously, Otaño continued composing, giving classes and organizing activities...

Jose Mancisidor Biography

José Mancisidor (Veracruz, 1895-Monterrey, 1956) Mexican writer and historian.Of Marxist ideology, he participated in the Mexican Revolution.He is the author of various historical works on the first war of independence, on Juárez and on the revolution.His novels also have revolution or nationalism as their theme.These include The Riot (1931), The Red City (1932), The Dawn in the Pit (1953) and Frontera by the sea (1953).