Miguel Angel Rodriguez Echeverria

Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría (San José, January 9, 1940) is a Costa Rican economist, businessman, lawyer, and politician. Rodríguez was Minister of Planning (1967-1970) and of the Presidency (1970) and Director of the Central Bank during the administration of José Joaquín Trejos (1966-1969), deputy of the Legislative Assembly in the period 1990-1994, the same in which He served as President of Congress, 43rd President of the Republic from May 8, 1998 to May 8, 2002 and was unanimously elected Secretary General of the Organization of American States on June 7, 2004, a post he voluntarily he resigned in October of the same year to appear to face legal charges in Costa Rica.

Rodríguez was a politician of liberal economic thought who favored the reduction of the State, free trade, the opening of public monopolies and the construction and maintenance of public infrastructure with the participation of the private sector, policies that he implemented since his Presidency. His Christian social policy achieved the approval of the Worker Protection Law, which established a multi-pillar pension system, as well as the defense of mothers and children with the Responsible Paternity Law. In his government, he faced social protests as a result of his efforts to approve a package of laws that opened the telecommunications and electricity monopolies of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute, which have been seen as an iconic moment of Costa Rican popular mobilizations.

Accused of having received bribes from the French firm Alcatel for the award of telecommunications contracts, Rodríguez resigned as OAS General Secretary and voluntarily returned to the country where, upon his previously announced arrival, he was arrested and prosecuted for enrichment and convicted to five years in prison, a sentence that was later revoked and declared innocent by two unanimous sentences of the Court of Appeal of Sentences and another of the Criminal Cassation Chamber. In the latest sentences, all the evidence that had previously been declared illegitimate was taken as valid.

Life and family

He was born in San José, on January 9, 1940, in a family made up of the Colombian immigrant of Asturian origin Manuel Rodríguez Támara and the Costa Rican Blanca Echeverría Velázquez. His family traces many lines of Spanish descent, both Creole and from various Latin American regions (Mexico, Nicaragua, Colombia), as well as Italian and Afro-Costa Rican. He is married to Lorena Clare Facio with whom he had three children: Miguel Alberto, Andrés and Ana Elena. Miguel Alberto died at the age of fifteen in an accident.

Paternally descended from the Rodríguez de Santurio lineage, originally from the Principality of Asturias, whose first members arrived in the 18th century in Cartagena de Indias, (present-day Colombia). His paternal great-great-grandfather Enrique Rodríguez Santurio was one of the signatories of the Colombian Independence Act of November 11, 1811. In addition, he is a second cousin of Dr. Carlos Rodríguez Quirós, IV Archbishop of San José. His paternal family migrated to Costa Rica at the beginning of the 20th century.

Additionally, in his maternal line, he descends directly from José Castro Madriz, twice president of Costa Rica (1847-1849 and 1866-1868).

He completed primary education at the Buenaventura Corrales School and secondary education at the La Salle College (graduated from the I Promotion). He graduated with a degree in Economics and Social Sciences (1962) and a Law degree (1963) from the University of Costa Rica. He earned an M.A. (1966) and a Ph.D. in economics (1966) from the University of California, Berkeley.

Charges with the private sector

Between the 1970s and 1980s, he worked in the private sector. He presided over the company Grupo Ganadero Internacional, S.A. and led business organizations nationwide.

Academic positions

For five decades, Rodríguez has been active in the academic field as a professor at the School of Economics of the University of Costa Rica and at the Autonomous University of Central America. He is the author of numerous books and articles on economic, social and and politicians. He was a visiting professor at the University of California Berkeley in 1968, at the Carlos Tercero University in 2003, and from 2002 to 2004 at the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington. He has served in recent years on the board of directors of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and on the advisory board of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue , as well as chairing the advisory group of the consultancy Manatt Jones Global Strategies .

Public and political officials

His first public position was as Alternate Director of the Planning Office from 1966 to 1968. He was then Minister of Planning from 1968 to 1969 and director of the Central Bank from 1966-1969 during the presidency of José Joaquín Trejos of the National Unification Party, being later elected deputy in 1990 for the Social Christian Unity Party, coming to preside over the Legislative Assembly. He was vice president of the Christian Democratic Organization of America since 1991 and president in 1995. He was elected OAS Secretary General during the 34th regular session of the OAS General Assembly, held in Quito, Ecuador, in June 2004. He took office on September 15, 2004, but resigned a month later to return to his country and thus face directly the accusations made against him.

Race for the presidency

His first attempt to become president of the Republic was as a pre-candidate in the 1989 Social Christian primaries where he faced Rafael Calderón Fournier, who obtained 76% of the votes. Although it was known that Rodríguez had no chance of to win since the PUSC was a party that was sustained on the Calderonist bases that saw Calderón Fournier (son of the historic leader of Calderonism) as an unavoidable figure. Even so, Rodríguez's candidacy was strategic and allowed him to become known. He participated again in the 1993 convention, this time against Juan José Trejos, son of former Social Christian president José Joaquín Trejos and now as the official party since Calderón had won the 1990 elections. Rodríguez prevailed against Trejos in a campaign where he was accused of first time of being "neoliberal" and of not following social-Christian principles, and even Trejos does not immediately support him as was the custom, although he finally did.

Thus, Rodríguez faced José María Figueres of the National Liberation Party, also the son of a former president, José (Pepe) Figueres, in a rigidly bipartisan environment. During the campaign Figueres also accused Rodríguez of being neoliberal and of seeking to dismantle the Welfare State and the social conquests of Costa Rica. Finally, Figueres defeated Rodríguez at the polls, although by a narrow margin.

Rodríguez would be a candidate once again for the PUSC four years later, this time without needing a convention since there was no other candidate and he was considered the most suitable for having almost won in 1994, for which he was elected candidate by acclamation of the National Assembly of his party on June 29, 1997. He faced the liberationist candidate José Miguel Corrales, affected by the unpopularity of the government of José María Figueres, whom he defeated, thus managing to be elected president for the constitutional period from 1998 to 2002..

See also

• Costa Rica Policy