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José María Figueres

José María Figueres Olsen (born 24 December 1954) is a Costa Rican businessman and politician, who served as President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998. He also ran for president in the 2022 presidential election but was defeated by Rodrigo Chaves.

José María Figueres
Figueres in 2012
42nd President of Costa Rica
In office
8 May 1994 – 8 May 1998
Vice PresidentRodrigo Oreamuno Blanco
Rebeca Grynspan
Preceded byRafael Ángel Calderón Fournier
Succeeded byMiguel Ángel Rodríguez
CEO and Director of the World Economic Forum
In office
2000–2004
Minister of Agriculture
In office
1989–1990
PresidentÓscar Arias Sánchez
Preceded byAntonio Álvarez Desanti
Succeeded byJuan Rafael Lizano Sáenz
Minister of Foreign Trade
In office
1986–1988
PresidentÓscar Arias Sánchez
Preceded byNone
Succeeded byLuis Diego Escalante Vargas
Personal details
Born (1954-12-24) 24 December 1954 (age 69)
San José, Costa Rica
Political partyPLN
Spouse(s)Josette Altmann Borbón (div.)
Cinthya Geovanna Berrocal Quirós
Children2
Parent(s)José Figueres Ferrer
Karen Olsen Beck
Alma materUnited States Military Academy (BS)
Harvard University (MPA)
ProfessionBusinessman and politician
Signature

Figueres started his career as an engineer working in agribusiness. After a decade, he entered public service as Minister of Foreign Trade and then Minister of Agriculture. In 1994, he was elected President of Costa Rica,[1] as the nation's youngest elected president of the 20th century (Alfredo Gonzalez Flores became president in 1914 at the age of 36, however he was not elected directly, as he was appointed by the National Assembly). He left the presidency of Costa Rica in 1998, since then he has been involved in global issues such as climate change, sustainable development, and technology.

In 2000, Figueres joined the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. In 2004, he resigned over the undeclared receipt of more than 900,000 US dollars in consultancy fees from the French telecommunications firm Alcatel.[2] Later, he worked with Concordia 21 in Madrid. Since 2010, he has been Chairman of the Carbon War Room, an independent non-profit organization focused on the global transition to a low-carbon economy. On 27 March 2012, Sir Richard Branson announced that he was appointed as the new President of the Carbon War Room.

Biography edit

José María Figueres is the son of José Figueres Ferrer (known as Don Pepe), who was a three-time President of Costa Rica. His mother, Karen Olsen Beck, an American social worker born to Danish immigrant parents, later adopted Costa Rican nationality.[3] After serving as First Lady, she was appointed Ambassador to Israel in 1982. In 1990, she was elected Member of Congress for the 1990–1994 legislature.

Figueres grew up in La Lucha, a farm community his father Don Pepe founded in 1928. There José María attended the public school Cecilia Orlich Figueres, before going on to study at the Colegio Humboldt and later at the Lincoln High School, both in San José.

Figueres has three younger siblings, Christiana Figueres, Mariano and Kirsten. Christiana Figueres was Executive Director of the UNFCCC, responsible for international climate change negotiations. From the first marriage of his father, Figueres has an older brother, Marti, and a sister, Muni. Muni Figueres has held various public positions, and since 2010 she has served as the Costa Rican Ambassador to the United States.

José María has two children from his first marriage to former First Lady Josette Altmann Borbón, José María and Eugenia. The marriage between Figueres and Altmann ended in divorce. He is currently married to Cinthya Berrocal Quirós.

Education edit

Figueres completed his undergraduate studies at the United States Military Academy (West Point), where he graduated in the Class of 1979 with a major in Engineering. While attending West Point, he attended and completed the U.S. Army's Ranger Training Course in 1975. He was awarded the Army Ranger tab and was the class Distinguished Honor Graduate.

Later, he continued his academic studies at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, graduating in 1991 with a master's degree in Public Administration. During his studies at Harvard, Figueres also attended courses at Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School.

Business career edit

Upon returning to Costa Rica after concluding his studies at West Point, he joined and later led the restructuring process of the deeply indebted family business, Sociedad Agroindustrial San Cristobal (SAISC) .[citation needed] Figueres helped return the business to profitability by disposing of non-productive assets, reducing leverage, improving the efficiency of many industrial processes, and focusing on expanding exports.[citation needed]

Years later, in 1990, Figueres co-founded Energía Global Inc. a renewable energy company with operations in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Chile. The business was later sold and today it continues to operate as a subsidiary of ENEL.[citation needed]

In 1999, Figueres joined the Board of Directors of Terremark Worldwide Inc, on which he served for five years. He then continued to be closely associated with the company in its international expansion projects. Terremark is involved in transforming and securing enterprise-class IT on a global scale, providing industry managed services, cloud computing, colocation and web hosting solutions for enterprise IT infrastructures from their data centers. In 2011, Terremark was acquired by Verizon.

In 2005, Figueres undertook a one-year assignment as Managing Director of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization, responsible for refocusing global consulting within the group. This group is the largest Arab group of professional services firms, headquartered in Amman, Jordan, with over 73 offices in 23 countries. From 2006 to 2009, Figueres served on the International Advisory Board of Abraaj Capital, the largest Middle East Private Equity firm with over $6 billion of assets under management. In 2009, he joined the Advisory Board of Grupo Arcano, an independent financial services firm based in Madrid, Spain.[citation needed]

In 2010, Figueres joined IJ Partners in Geneva, Switzerland, as a Managing Partner. IJ Partners was founded in 2009 during the global economic crisis, to provide financial services to private individuals and family offices investing exclusively in tangible assets.

Figueres served on the board of the Rocky Mountain Institute, including as chairman until 2017.

Political career edit

In 1986 Nobel Peace Prize Laurate and President Óscar Arias (1986–1990), appointed Figueres to overhaul the ailing National Railway System, INCOFER. He was then appointed Minister in the Arias government, first of Foreign Trade and later of Agriculture. Upon the completion of the governmental period Figueres continued his academic studies at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, graduating in 1991 with a master's degree in Public Administration.

Following his graduate studies at Harvard, Figueres returned to Costa Rica and declared his intention to seek the nomination of the political party he belonged to, the National Liberation Party. After a heated and much-disputed primary election process involving five candidates, Figueres won the party's nomination in 1993 and went on to the national election that he won in February 1994. José María Figueres Olsen was elected President of Costa Rica for four years at the age of 39, the nation's youngest elected president in the 20th century (Alfredo González Flores took office in 1914 at the age of 36. However he was not elected by popular vote but rather appointed by Congress.

Presidency (1994-1998) edit

According to Leonardo Garnier, minister of Planning and Economic Policy during the Figueres' administration, the latter promoted Sustainable Development as the integrating architecture of governmental action. This program was anchored on three pillars: Firstly, to transform the Costa Rican economy towards one of higher productivity, with special emphasis on technology. Secondly, for the Costa Rican society to express greater solidarity by opening opportunities of wellbeing for all. Thirdly, for society to develop itself in harmony with nature (from the book "Gobernando en Tiempos de Cambio: Administración Figueres Olsen", by Leonardo Garnier). The administration is credited with having worked to advance and promote further integration of Costa Rica into the globalised economy.[4]

Figueres reformed and reorganized many public institutions including the closing of some of them, such as Banco Anglo Costarricense (which was plagued with corruption charges) and the National Railway System (INCOFER) which after being re-organized several times was again insolvent. The latter decision was reversed by the following administrations, which actually invested in modernizing the railway, with apparent success.[5] The Figueres Administration contributed to the establishment of Intel Corporation in Costa Rica.

His administration also launched several initiatives to improve national education, including a constitutional reform approved by Congress to dedicate 6% of GDP towards public education; introduced English as a second language in public schools from the first grade up; consolidated the installation of computer labs in high schools.[6]

During his term, government created the EBAIS (Primary Teams of Basic Health Care) as a provider of preventive medicine in the communities, primarily by giving easy access to medical services.

He was also an early leader on climate change, putting in place the first price on carbon in the world in Costa Rica in 1995. In 1994, he proposed to the U.S. Government via the U.S. Department of Energy negotiation of a U.S. - Costa Rica bilateral agreement on climate change. This was the first such agreement in the world, was negotiated in 1994 and signed by President Figueres and U.S. Vice President Al Gore in the Indian Treaty Room of the White House on September 30, 1994. From then on, Costa Rica continued to lead on climate change, engaging other nations across the Americas and under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, helping to ensure the success of the Kyoto Protocol and since. Jose Maria's sister, Christiana Figures, played a leading role, advising President Figueres, negotiating the agreement with the U.S., and engaging other nations, eventually becoming Costa Rica's representative in the global climate treaty negotiations, and then the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Controversies edit

Chemise case edit

In 1991, when Figueres was seen as a possible contender for the presidency, brothers David and José Romero published a book accusing Figueres of having participated in the extrajudicial execution of a drug dealer named Jose Joaquin Orozco, known as "Chemise".[7] The basis for this allegation dated back to March 7, 1973.[8] Figueres accused the Romero brothers of libel and in 1993 a court acquitted them while condemning their main source, former drug-enforcement officer Walter Campos. In 1998 another court sentenced the Romero brothers to seven years' imprisonment for making a false accusation, but that sentence was appealed and revoked due to procedural issues.[9] In 2000, two years after Figueres left office, the legal proceeding ended with a settlement between the Romero brothers and Figueres's lawyers.[citation needed]

Religion edit

In the middle of Figueres' presidential campaign, anonymous allegations arguing Figueres was not Roman Catholic were widely spread and picked up by the media. Costa Rica's political constitution establishes the Catholic faith as the official State religion.[10] To dispel the strong rumors Monsenor Román Arrieta, Archbishop of San José and President of the Episcopal Conference was obliged to pronounce himself acknowledging that Figueres had been baptized a Roman Catholic.[citation needed]

Alcatel edit

In 2004, Costa Rica's Attorney General opened official investigations against two other former presidents, for alleged financial misconduct. Both were placed under arrest. Shortly afterwards local media reports claimed Figueres had also received payments from Alcatel.[11] It was reported that Figueres had earned nearly US$900,000 for three years of consultancy work on telecommunications with Alcatel, initiated two years after his presidency, and while already working in Europe. Figueres disclosed all his financial affairs and requested the Costa Rican Internal Revenue Service to review his tax returns. Following this review, Figueres amended his tax filings to include income earned outside of Costa Rica, which is not subject to Costa Rican tax, and paid 67.2 million Costa Rican colones in taxes. On 5 December 2005 the Internal Revenue Service of Costa Rica notified Figueres of no financial misconduct with resolution number 5452000009594 dated 27 October 2005.[citation needed]

A Congressional Commission took it upon themselves to investigate the allegations. The Commission of Control of Public Revenue and Expenditure (Comisión de Control del Ingreso y el Gasto Público) summoned Figueres. On 6 September 2005, Judge Maria Morales of the First Circuit Court of Costa Rica pronounced a ruling in Figueres' favour, and against the Congressional Commission's procedures. The Commission also failed to register a report on the findings before the Congress, as stipulated in Congressional Procedural Regulations.

In the context of the allegations, Figueres resigned from his role as CEO and executive director of the World Economic Forum in October 2004.[12] Transparency International had highlighted this incident in their Global Corruption Report in 2006.[13] Figueres was never summoned nor charged by the Costa Rican Attorney General's office.[14] On 19 September 2007, the Attorney General formally announced that there were no grounds on which to press any charges against Figueres.[15]

Paradise Papers edit

In November 2017 an investigation conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism cited his name in the list of politicians named in the "Paradise Papers" allegations.[16]

International awards edit

President Figueres has received international awards for his work and adherence to the tenets of Sustainable Development.

  • Kew Gardens Annual Award, 1995
  • Botanic Research Institute Texas, 1996
  • State Botanical Garden in Missouri, 1996
  • First recipient of the Global Prize from the World Bank's Global Environmental Fund for leadership and efforts for the environment, 1998
  • Liberty Prize from the Max Schmidheiny Foundation and St. Gallen University in Switzerland, 1998
  • Award of the Climate Institute, Washington D.C., 1998
  • Order of José Matías Delgado Grand Silver Cross from the Republic of El Salvador, 1999
  • Sustainability Award in Switzerland, 2003

International work edit

Upon leaving government in 1998 President Figueres founded Entebbe (Costa Rican Foundation for Sustainable Development). The foundation started and developed pioneering programs, such as LINCOS (Little Intelligent Communities), APVE (Clean Transport Alternatives) and CENTAIRE (Center for monitoring and evaluation of Air Quality in Central America). A large number of academic, social and communal organizations, as well as private sector partners contributed to the development of these programs. In the same field of deploying technologies to boost development, together with Nicholas Negroponte and Jeffrey Sachs, Figueres founded the "Digital Nations Consortium", a program overseen by the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1999 he was called upon by Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the United Nations to chair a working group on Information, Communication, Technology (ICT). He was later elected Chairman of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (ICT).

While leading the ICT Task Force, in mid-2000 Figueres was appointed Managing Director of the World Economic Forum (WEF), and independent international organization dedicated to improving the state of the world by bringing together world leaders to establish alliances that can influence industry, regional and global agendas. Three years later he was appointed the first CEO of the WEF. His responsibilities included coordinating the annual meeting of the forum in Davos, Switzerland, which brought together prominent corporate leaders, heads of State and government, as well as respected personalities from the academic, cultural and religious world.

Figueres resigned from the WEF towards the end of 2004, when consulting work with Alcatel appeared in the international media. Andre Schneider, the WEF's spokesman said that Figueres acknowledged violating the rules of the forum by not declaring that he was being retained as a consultant when he took the post and while he was working at the forum. In his letter of resignation, Figueres apologized to forum founder Klaus Schwab for failing to inform the organization that he had entered the consultancy "many months before joining the Forum."

Since having left government in Costa Rica, Figueres has served on numerous boards. He has served as a director of the World Wildlife Fund, the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, the World Resources Institute (WRI), and the Stockholm Environment Institute. In 2008, Figueres has served as Chairman of the Global Fairness Initiative, taking on the role from its founding chairman, Bill Clinton. He is a board member of FRIDE, the Earth Council Geneva, Population Action International, and is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of DARA. From 2009 until 2011, he served on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Advisory Group on Climate Change and Energy. In 2010, He joined the Carbon War Room as its first chairman. In the academic field, He also served on the Dean's Alumni Leadership Council at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and he is a member of Thunderbird School of Global Management, where he often participates in global business events. Figueres is a founding member of the Club de Madrid,[17] an independent non-profit organization with the objective to promote "Democracy that Delivers", composed of more than 100 former Presidents and Prime Ministers from all over the world.

References edit

  1. ^ El Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones: Presidentes de la República de Costa Rica
  2. ^ "WEF director resigns over undeclared fees". SWI swissinfo.ch. 29 October 2004.
  3. ^ "American Girl and Costa Rican President Wed". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. 8 February 1954.
  4. ^ . 8 February 2012. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  5. ^ Jimenez 87 (8 April 2009). "Crtrenes: Incofer contrata más personal para operación de tren a Heredia*". Crtrenes. Retrieved 22 March 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ . 24 January 2008. Archived from the original on 24 January 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  7. ^ David Romero and José Romero, El caso Chemise, D. Mora, San José, Costa Rica (1991).
  8. ^ Article by journalist Laffitte Fernández (in Spanish)
  9. ^ . Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2007.
  10. ^ . 24 January 2008. Archived from the original on 24 January 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  11. ^ . 17 May 2009. Archived from the original on 17 May 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  12. ^ "CEO resigns". World Economic Forum. 29 October 2004.
  13. ^ "Global Corruption Report 2006 - Transparency International, Page 147" (PDF). Global Corruption Report 2006 - Transparency International.
  14. ^ "Ex-President José María Figueres Olsen to head Liberation Party". 9 February 2015.
  15. ^ . 11 October 2007. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  16. ^ "Explore The Politicians in the Paradise Papers - ICIJ". ICIJ. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  17. ^ . Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2012.

External links edit

  • Carbon War Room 1 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  • Website - Jose Maria Figueres Olsen
  • United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force
  • Biography of José María Figueres by CIDOB (in Spanish)
Political offices
New office Minister of Foreign Trade
1986–1988
Succeeded by
Luis Diego Escalante Vargas
Preceded by Minister of Agriculture
1989–1990
Succeeded by
Juan Rafael Lizano Sáenz
Preceded by President of Costa Rica
1994–1998
Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by
Carlos Manuel Castillo
PLN nominee for President of Costa Rica
1994
Succeeded by
Preceded by PLN nominee for President of Costa Rica
2022
Most recent

josé, maría, figueres, this, spanish, name, first, paternal, surname, figueres, second, maternal, family, name, olsen, father, three, time, president, costa, rica, josé, figueres, ferrer, olsen, born, december, 1954, costa, rican, businessman, politician, serv. In this Spanish name the first or paternal surname is Figueres and the second or maternal family name is Olsen For his father and three time president of Costa Rica see Jose Figueres Ferrer Jose Maria Figueres Olsen born 24 December 1954 is a Costa Rican businessman and politician who served as President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998 He also ran for president in the 2022 presidential election but was defeated by Rodrigo Chaves Jose Maria FigueresFigueres in 201242nd President of Costa RicaIn office 8 May 1994 8 May 1998Vice PresidentRodrigo Oreamuno BlancoRebeca GrynspanPreceded byRafael Angel Calderon FournierSucceeded byMiguel Angel RodriguezCEO and Director of the World Economic ForumIn office 2000 2004Minister of AgricultureIn office 1989 1990Presidentoscar Arias SanchezPreceded byAntonio Alvarez DesantiSucceeded byJuan Rafael Lizano SaenzMinister of Foreign TradeIn office 1986 1988Presidentoscar Arias SanchezPreceded byNoneSucceeded byLuis Diego Escalante VargasPersonal detailsBorn 1954 12 24 24 December 1954 age 69 San Jose Costa RicaPolitical partyPLNSpouse s Josette Altmann Borbon div Cinthya Geovanna Berrocal QuirosChildren2Parent s Jose Figueres FerrerKaren Olsen BeckAlma materUnited States Military Academy BS Harvard University MPA ProfessionBusinessman and politicianSignatureFigueres started his career as an engineer working in agribusiness After a decade he entered public service as Minister of Foreign Trade and then Minister of Agriculture In 1994 he was elected President of Costa Rica 1 as the nation s youngest elected president of the 20th century Alfredo Gonzalez Flores became president in 1914 at the age of 36 however he was not elected directly as he was appointed by the National Assembly He left the presidency of Costa Rica in 1998 since then he has been involved in global issues such as climate change sustainable development and technology In 2000 Figueres joined the World Economic Forum in Switzerland In 2004 he resigned over the undeclared receipt of more than 900 000 US dollars in consultancy fees from the French telecommunications firm Alcatel 2 Later he worked with Concordia 21 in Madrid Since 2010 he has been Chairman of the Carbon War Room an independent non profit organization focused on the global transition to a low carbon economy On 27 March 2012 Sir Richard Branson announced that he was appointed as the new President of the Carbon War Room Contents 1 Biography 2 Education 3 Business career 4 Political career 5 Presidency 1994 1998 6 Controversies 6 1 Chemise case 6 2 Religion 6 3 Alcatel 6 4 Paradise Papers 7 International awards 8 International work 9 References 10 External linksBiography editJose Maria Figueres is the son of Jose Figueres Ferrer known as Don Pepe who was a three time President of Costa Rica His mother Karen Olsen Beck an American social worker born to Danish immigrant parents later adopted Costa Rican nationality 3 After serving as First Lady she was appointed Ambassador to Israel in 1982 In 1990 she was elected Member of Congress for the 1990 1994 legislature Figueres grew up in La Lucha a farm community his father Don Pepe founded in 1928 There Jose Maria attended the public school Cecilia Orlich Figueres before going on to study at the Colegio Humboldt and later at the Lincoln High School both in San Jose Figueres has three younger siblings Christiana Figueres Mariano and Kirsten Christiana Figueres was Executive Director of the UNFCCC responsible for international climate change negotiations From the first marriage of his father Figueres has an older brother Marti and a sister Muni Muni Figueres has held various public positions and since 2010 she has served as the Costa Rican Ambassador to the United States Jose Maria has two children from his first marriage to former First Lady Josette Altmann Borbon Jose Maria and Eugenia The marriage between Figueres and Altmann ended in divorce He is currently married to Cinthya Berrocal Quiros Education editFigueres completed his undergraduate studies at the United States Military Academy West Point where he graduated in the Class of 1979 with a major in Engineering While attending West Point he attended and completed the U S Army s Ranger Training Course in 1975 He was awarded the Army Ranger tab and was the class Distinguished Honor Graduate Later he continued his academic studies at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University graduating in 1991 with a master s degree in Public Administration During his studies at Harvard Figueres also attended courses at Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School Business career editUpon returning to Costa Rica after concluding his studies at West Point he joined and later led the restructuring process of the deeply indebted family business Sociedad Agroindustrial San Cristobal SAISC citation needed Figueres helped return the business to profitability by disposing of non productive assets reducing leverage improving the efficiency of many industrial processes and focusing on expanding exports citation needed Years later in 1990 Figueres co founded Energia Global Inc a renewable energy company with operations in Costa Rica Guatemala and Chile The business was later sold and today it continues to operate as a subsidiary of ENEL citation needed In 1999 Figueres joined the Board of Directors of Terremark Worldwide Inc on which he served for five years He then continued to be closely associated with the company in its international expansion projects Terremark is involved in transforming and securing enterprise class IT on a global scale providing industry managed services cloud computing colocation and web hosting solutions for enterprise IT infrastructures from their data centers In 2011 Terremark was acquired by Verizon In 2005 Figueres undertook a one year assignment as Managing Director of Talal Abu Ghazaleh Organization responsible for refocusing global consulting within the group This group is the largest Arab group of professional services firms headquartered in Amman Jordan with over 73 offices in 23 countries From 2006 to 2009 Figueres served on the International Advisory Board of Abraaj Capital the largest Middle East Private Equity firm with over 6 billion of assets under management In 2009 he joined the Advisory Board of Grupo Arcano an independent financial services firm based in Madrid Spain citation needed In 2010 Figueres joined IJ Partners in Geneva Switzerland as a Managing Partner IJ Partners was founded in 2009 during the global economic crisis to provide financial services to private individuals and family offices investing exclusively in tangible assets Figueres served on the board of the Rocky Mountain Institute including as chairman until 2017 Political career editIn 1986 Nobel Peace Prize Laurate and President oscar Arias 1986 1990 appointed Figueres to overhaul the ailing National Railway System INCOFER He was then appointed Minister in the Arias government first of Foreign Trade and later of Agriculture Upon the completion of the governmental period Figueres continued his academic studies at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University graduating in 1991 with a master s degree in Public Administration Following his graduate studies at Harvard Figueres returned to Costa Rica and declared his intention to seek the nomination of the political party he belonged to the National Liberation Party After a heated and much disputed primary election process involving five candidates Figueres won the party s nomination in 1993 and went on to the national election that he won in February 1994 Jose Maria Figueres Olsen was elected President of Costa Rica for four years at the age of 39 the nation s youngest elected president in the 20th century Alfredo Gonzalez Flores took office in 1914 at the age of 36 However he was not elected by popular vote but rather appointed by Congress Presidency 1994 1998 editAccording to Leonardo Garnier minister of Planning and Economic Policy during the Figueres administration the latter promoted Sustainable Development as the integrating architecture of governmental action This program was anchored on three pillars Firstly to transform the Costa Rican economy towards one of higher productivity with special emphasis on technology Secondly for the Costa Rican society to express greater solidarity by opening opportunities of wellbeing for all Thirdly for society to develop itself in harmony with nature from the book Gobernando en Tiempos de Cambio Administracion Figueres Olsen by Leonardo Garnier The administration is credited with having worked to advance and promote further integration of Costa Rica into the globalised economy 4 Figueres reformed and reorganized many public institutions including the closing of some of them such as Banco Anglo Costarricense which was plagued with corruption charges and the National Railway System INCOFER which after being re organized several times was again insolvent The latter decision was reversed by the following administrations which actually invested in modernizing the railway with apparent success 5 The Figueres Administration contributed to the establishment of Intel Corporation in Costa Rica His administration also launched several initiatives to improve national education including a constitutional reform approved by Congress to dedicate 6 of GDP towards public education introduced English as a second language in public schools from the first grade up consolidated the installation of computer labs in high schools 6 During his term government created the EBAIS Primary Teams of Basic Health Care as a provider of preventive medicine in the communities primarily by giving easy access to medical services He was also an early leader on climate change putting in place the first price on carbon in the world in Costa Rica in 1995 In 1994 he proposed to the U S Government via the U S Department of Energy negotiation of a U S Costa Rica bilateral agreement on climate change This was the first such agreement in the world was negotiated in 1994 and signed by President Figueres and U S Vice President Al Gore in the Indian Treaty Room of the White House on September 30 1994 From then on Costa Rica continued to lead on climate change engaging other nations across the Americas and under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change helping to ensure the success of the Kyoto Protocol and since Jose Maria s sister Christiana Figures played a leading role advising President Figueres negotiating the agreement with the U S and engaging other nations eventually becoming Costa Rica s representative in the global climate treaty negotiations and then the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Controversies editChemise case edit In 1991 when Figueres was seen as a possible contender for the presidency brothers David and Jose Romero published a book accusing Figueres of having participated in the extrajudicial execution of a drug dealer named Jose Joaquin Orozco known as Chemise 7 The basis for this allegation dated back to March 7 1973 8 Figueres accused the Romero brothers of libel and in 1993 a court acquitted them while condemning their main source former drug enforcement officer Walter Campos In 1998 another court sentenced the Romero brothers to seven years imprisonment for making a false accusation but that sentence was appealed and revoked due to procedural issues 9 In 2000 two years after Figueres left office the legal proceeding ended with a settlement between the Romero brothers and Figueres s lawyers citation needed Religion edit In the middle of Figueres presidential campaign anonymous allegations arguing Figueres was not Roman Catholic were widely spread and picked up by the media Costa Rica s political constitution establishes the Catholic faith as the official State religion 10 To dispel the strong rumors Monsenor Roman Arrieta Archbishop of San Jose and President of the Episcopal Conference was obliged to pronounce himself acknowledging that Figueres had been baptized a Roman Catholic citation needed Alcatel edit In 2004 Costa Rica s Attorney General opened official investigations against two other former presidents for alleged financial misconduct Both were placed under arrest Shortly afterwards local media reports claimed Figueres had also received payments from Alcatel 11 It was reported that Figueres had earned nearly US 900 000 for three years of consultancy work on telecommunications with Alcatel initiated two years after his presidency and while already working in Europe Figueres disclosed all his financial affairs and requested the Costa Rican Internal Revenue Service to review his tax returns Following this review Figueres amended his tax filings to include income earned outside of Costa Rica which is not subject to Costa Rican tax and paid 67 2 million Costa Rican colones in taxes On 5 December 2005 the Internal Revenue Service of Costa Rica notified Figueres of no financial misconduct with resolution number 5452000009594 dated 27 October 2005 citation needed A Congressional Commission took it upon themselves to investigate the allegations The Commission of Control of Public Revenue and Expenditure Comision de Control del Ingreso y el Gasto Publico summoned Figueres On 6 September 2005 Judge Maria Morales of the First Circuit Court of Costa Rica pronounced a ruling in Figueres favour and against the Congressional Commission s procedures The Commission also failed to register a report on the findings before the Congress as stipulated in Congressional Procedural Regulations In the context of the allegations Figueres resigned from his role as CEO and executive director of the World Economic Forum in October 2004 12 Transparency International had highlighted this incident in their Global Corruption Report in 2006 13 Figueres was never summoned nor charged by the Costa Rican Attorney General s office 14 On 19 September 2007 the Attorney General formally announced that there were no grounds on which to press any charges against Figueres 15 Paradise Papers edit See also Paradise PapersIn November 2017 an investigation conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism cited his name in the list of politicians named in the Paradise Papers allegations 16 International awards editPresident Figueres has received international awards for his work and adherence to the tenets of Sustainable Development Kew Gardens Annual Award 1995 Botanic Research Institute Texas 1996 State Botanical Garden in Missouri 1996 First recipient of the Global Prize from the World Bank s Global Environmental Fund for leadership and efforts for the environment 1998 Liberty Prize from the Max Schmidheiny Foundation and St Gallen University in Switzerland 1998 Award of the Climate Institute Washington D C 1998 Order of Jose Matias Delgado Grand Silver Cross from the Republic of El Salvador 1999 Sustainability Award in Switzerland 2003International work editUpon leaving government in 1998 President Figueres founded Entebbe Costa Rican Foundation for Sustainable Development The foundation started and developed pioneering programs such as LINCOS Little Intelligent Communities APVE Clean Transport Alternatives and CENTAIRE Center for monitoring and evaluation of Air Quality in Central America A large number of academic social and communal organizations as well as private sector partners contributed to the development of these programs In the same field of deploying technologies to boost development together with Nicholas Negroponte and Jeffrey Sachs Figueres founded the Digital Nations Consortium a program overseen by the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT In 1999 he was called upon by Secretary General Kofi Annan of the United Nations to chair a working group on Information Communication Technology ICT He was later elected Chairman of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force ICT While leading the ICT Task Force in mid 2000 Figueres was appointed Managing Director of the World Economic Forum WEF and independent international organization dedicated to improving the state of the world by bringing together world leaders to establish alliances that can influence industry regional and global agendas Three years later he was appointed the first CEO of the WEF His responsibilities included coordinating the annual meeting of the forum in Davos Switzerland which brought together prominent corporate leaders heads of State and government as well as respected personalities from the academic cultural and religious world Figueres resigned from the WEF towards the end of 2004 when consulting work with Alcatel appeared in the international media Andre Schneider the WEF s spokesman said that Figueres acknowledged violating the rules of the forum by not declaring that he was being retained as a consultant when he took the post and while he was working at the forum In his letter of resignation Figueres apologized to forum founder Klaus Schwab for failing to inform the organization that he had entered the consultancy many months before joining the Forum Since having left government in Costa Rica Figueres has served on numerous boards He has served as a director of the World Wildlife Fund the Botanical Research Institute of Texas the World Resources Institute WRI and the Stockholm Environment Institute In 2008 Figueres has served as Chairman of the Global Fairness Initiative taking on the role from its founding chairman Bill Clinton He is a board member of FRIDE the Earth Council Geneva Population Action International and is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of DARA From 2009 until 2011 he served on UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon s Advisory Group on Climate Change and Energy In 2010 He joined the Carbon War Room as its first chairman In the academic field He also served on the Dean s Alumni Leadership Council at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and he is a member of Thunderbird School of Global Management where he often participates in global business events Figueres is a founding member of the Club de Madrid 17 an independent non profit organization with the objective to promote Democracy that Delivers composed of more than 100 former Presidents and Prime Ministers from all over the world References edit El Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones Presidentes de la Republica de Costa Rica WEF director resigns over undeclared fees SWI swissinfo ch 29 October 2004 American Girl and Costa Rican President Wed Sarasota Herald Tribune 8 February 1954 Jose Maria Figueres Olsen 8 February 2012 Archived from the original on 8 February 2012 Retrieved 22 March 2022 Jimenez 87 8 April 2009 Crtrenes Incofer contrata mas personal para operacion de tren a Heredia Crtrenes Retrieved 22 March 2022 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint numeric names authors list link CONSTITUCIoN POLITICA REPUBLICA DE COSTA RICA 24 January 2008 Archived from the original on 24 January 2008 Retrieved 22 March 2022 David Romero and Jose Romero El caso Chemise D Mora San Jose Costa Rica 1991 Article by journalist Laffitte Fernandez in Spanish Court of Appeals ruling Spanish Archived from the original on 8 February 2012 Retrieved 4 September 2007 CONSTITUCIoN POLITICA REPUBLICA DE COSTA RICA 24 January 2008 Archived from the original on 24 January 2008 Retrieved 22 March 2022 The Tico Times Online Daily Page 17 May 2009 Archived from the original on 17 May 2009 Retrieved 22 March 2022 CEO resigns World Economic Forum 29 October 2004 Global Corruption Report 2006 Transparency International Page 147 PDF Global Corruption Report 2006 Transparency International Ex President Jose Maria Figueres Olsen to head Liberation Party 9 February 2015 DiarioExtra com 11 October 2007 Archived from the original on 11 October 2007 Retrieved 22 March 2022 Explore The Politicians in the Paradise Papers ICIJ ICIJ Retrieved 6 December 2017 Former Heads of State and Government Club de Madrid Archived from the original on 13 November 2013 Retrieved 7 March 2012 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jose Maria Figueres Olsen nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Jose Maria Figueres Carbon War Room Archived 1 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine Website Jose Maria Figueres Olsen Dean s Alumni Leadership Council John F Kennedy School of Government Harvard University United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force Biography of Jose Maria Figueres by CIDOB in Spanish Political officesNew office Minister of Foreign Trade1986 1988 Succeeded byLuis Diego Escalante VargasPreceded byAntonio Alvarez Desanti Minister of Agriculture1989 1990 Succeeded byJuan Rafael Lizano SaenzPreceded byRafael Angel Calderon Fournier President of Costa Rica1994 1998 Succeeded byMiguel Angel RodriguezParty political officesPreceded byCarlos Manuel Castillo PLN nominee for President of Costa Rica1994 Succeeded byJose Miguel Corrales BolanosPreceded byAntonio Alvarez Desanti PLN nominee for President of Costa Rica2022 Most recent Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Jose Maria Figueres amp oldid 1212500355, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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