Juan Diego Castro Fernández

Juan Diego Castro
Personal details
Born (1955-06-09) 9 June 1955
Cartago, Costa Rica
Political party National Integration Party
Alma mater University of Costa Rica
La Salle University

Juan Diego Castro Fernández (Cartago, Costa Rica, 9 June 1955) is a Costa Rican lawyer and politician. Castro is a Defense lawyer who studied Law and Criminal science at the University of Costa Rica and has a Doctorate degree in Mediation from Universidad La Salle. Castro was Minister of Public Safety between 1994 and 1997 during the presidency of José María Figueres (PLN). He became the first cabinet member to receive a Motion of no confidence by the Legislative Assembly[1] when he summoned police forces to fence off Parliament as a means to press for the reform of the Penal Code. Subsequently, Castro resigned as Minister of Safety and was named Minister of Justice.[2] He unsuccessfully ran for the presidency as the nominee of the conservative-leaning National Integration Party in the Costa Rican general election, 2018.[3]

Costa Rican general election, 2018

Castro launched his unexpected presidential campaign presenting himself as a political outsider and with a strong anti-establishment and anti-corruption speech.[4] Promising to "rule by decree" and with a very loud "hard hand" rhetoric (uncommon in Costa Rican politics as the country is famous for its political centrism), Castro has been compared with figures like Donald Trump [5]and Rodrigo Duterte,[6] and accused of right-wing populism[7] and far-right positions,[4] albeit he rejects the comparisons.[8]

Despite his unexpected lead in the polls throughout most of the campaign, his support plummeted in the final days. Castro came in fifth place, garnering only 9.56% of the votes in the February 4th Presidential Election, [9]. His poor performance did not qualify him for the runoff election scheduled for April 1, 2018.

References

  1. ↑ Cascante, Luis Fernando (2016). "Juan Diego Castro: "A este país no lo arregla nadie"". La República.
  2. ↑ "Renunció el ministro Juan Diego Castro". La Nación (Costa Rica). 1997. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  3. ↑ "Juan Diego Castro y PIN hacen casa común". La Republica. 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Presidential campaigns get under way". The Economist. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  5. ↑ "A Trump in the Tropics? Why a Demagogue became the Leading Contender in Costa Rica's Upcoming Election - OxPol". OxPol. 2018-01-09. Retrieved 2018-03-08.
  6. ↑ Umaña, Carlos (March 29, 2017). "Juan Diego Castro y la oleada post-Trump en Costa Rica". Semanario Universidad. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  7. ↑ Madrigal, Luis. "El populismo como arma: el caso de Juan Diego Castro". MundoCR. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  8. ↑ Castillo, Brian (May 31, 2017). "Juan Diego Castro responde a comparaciones con Donald Trump". La Prensa Libre. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  9. ↑ Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones Costa Rica. "Presidential Results Costa Rica February 2018". Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones.
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