Laura Chinchilla sworn President of Costa Rica

Nksagar :San Jose, May 9 Laura Chinchilla is sworn in as the first woman preside
nt of Costa Rica. She has pledged to bring more peace and quality education in t
he country. Chinchilla sworn in at 11.39 a.m. local time (1739 GMT) Saturday, as
she put on the presidential sash, at a ceremony in the capital city of San Jose
.Two new vice presidents were also sworn in Saturday.
Chinchilla on assumption of office first signed an executive decree that places
a moratorium on open-pit gold mining in the country.The decree suspends “indefin
itely” the “exploration, extraction and processing of the materials extracted th
rough the use of cyanide and mercury.”The new decree also repeals an executive o
rder issued on March 18, 2008, by her predecessor, Oscar Arias, that established
an
“environmental safeguard” for mining in the country and laid out the basic envir
onmental ground rules for the activity in Costa Rica.
Chinchilla, in her Presidential acceptance speech, promised to work with all of
Costa Rica’s political spectrum and citizens.“Leadership consists in crafting ag
reements. Costa Rica is our shared home and no one should seek a monopoly on the
truth,” she was quoted as saying by Xinhua.The president said she would raise t
he nation’s education budget.“We will work as a team for more peace in Costa Ric
a, with more police so that Costa Rica’s children are free to enjoy the fruits o
f liberty,” Chinchilla said.“We will also work to make Costa Rica more competiti
ve, but also to make sure that the achievements of some do not conflict with the
rights of others,” she said.
Presidents of Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Georgia, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, E
l Salvador, Nicaragua and Spain’s crown prince Felipe attended the ceremony.
Chinchilla won the presidential election Feb 7, 2010 with 46.8 percent of votes.
Her term runs till 2014.Chinchilla also signed into law the creation of a natio
nal anti-drug commission. According to the decree, the commission will be in cha
rge of combating drug trafficking and reducing the consumption of illegal substa
nces in Costa Rica.
Posted by Nksagar at 7:14 PM
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