Ottón Solís
Encyclopedia
Ottón Solís Fallas is a Costa Rica politician. He graduated with a BEcons from the University of Costa Rica
in 1976 and gained a Master's Degree
in Economics from the University of Manchester
in 1978. He is currently an Eminent Scholar at the University of Florida
.http://www.latam.ufl.edu/News/Content/Solispressrelease.pdf
administration, acting in this capacity between 1986 and 1988. He was elected as a law-maker at the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica
from 1994 to 1998.
(Partido Accion Ciudadana), which, in the 2002 Costa Rican presidential elections broke the prevailing bipartisan political model to occupy a strong third place in the Presidential race.
A virtual tie between former President Óscar Arias
and Solís forced a recount in the 2006 presidential election
. Ultimately, Arias won, though by only a few thousand votes over the 40 percent threshold required to avoid a runoff. The Citizens' Action party won 17 of the 57 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, the national legislature, becoming the second most powerful political force of Costa Rica, ousting the Christian Social Unity Party from their traditional position. In the general election of 2010, Solis' PAC only received approximately 25% of the total vote, while his rival, Laura Chinchilla, the PLN's candidate obtained 47% of the vote turnover. It was the third attempt of Solis to reach the presidency of Costa Rica. on February 8 Solis announced that he was abandoning politics for good, expressing his desire to create spaces for a new emerging leaders with his party Solis leaves politics (in Spanish). In another interview Solis stated again that he is not planning to become again the PAC's presidential candidate. This decision reflects, in his opinion, the commitment of his party to renew Interview with Otton Solis (in Spanish).
How you can call that? I don’t know, but if God commands to say something then I’d say that our ideology is human rights and citizens’ action."
Solis has outspokenly criticized neoliberalism in Latin America that he associates with the policies advocated by the Washington Consensus
, which in his view are wrong, and have led Latin America countries towards the wrong path.
Interview
(CAFTA). He has called for the renegotiations of CAFTA to add protection for vulnerable farmers and industrial companies. He has said that, in its current form, "CAFTA will increase poverty in Central America because it will displace farmers and industrial workers and will increase the cost of health care." He also said that "I never imagined CAFTA was going to be so one sided", and "The law of the jungle benefits the big beast. We are a very small beast." Solís sees several possible detrimental aspects that could come from CAFTA. First he claims that it will cause the breakup of the public telecommunications and electricity monopolies which will have to be privatized. Additionally he argues that the lowered trade barriers will cause a flood of cheap food products from the United States and this will force small-scale farmers out of the internal market.
University of Costa Rica
The University of Costa Rica is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro, in the province of San José. It is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious institution of higher learning in...
in 1976 and gained a Master's Degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in Economics from the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
in 1978. He is currently an Eminent Scholar at the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
.http://www.latam.ufl.edu/News/Content/Solispressrelease.pdf
Early political career
Solís was the National Economics Minister and Political Planning during the Óscar AriasÓscar Arias
Óscar Arias Sánchez is a Costa Rican politician who was President of Costa Rica from 2006 to 2010. He previously served as President from 1986 to 1990 and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his efforts to end civil wars then raging in several other Central American countries.He is also a...
administration, acting in this capacity between 1986 and 1988. He was elected as a law-maker at the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica
Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly is the name given in some countries to either a legislature, or to one of its branch.The name is used by a number of member-states of the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as a number of Latin American countries....
from 1994 to 1998.
Founder of the Citizens' Action Party
Solis is the founder, president (he is not longer PAC's president) and three time presidential candidate of the he is tired of being a fool Citizens' Action PartyCitizens' Action Party
The Citizen's Action Party is a left-leaning political party in Costa Rica.Its platform is based on encouraging citizen participation and involvement in politics. One of its guiding ideals is to fight against corruption, arguing that it is one of the main causes of subdevelopment and voter apathy...
(Partido Accion Ciudadana), which, in the 2002 Costa Rican presidential elections broke the prevailing bipartisan political model to occupy a strong third place in the Presidential race.
A virtual tie between former President Óscar Arias
Óscar Arias
Óscar Arias Sánchez is a Costa Rican politician who was President of Costa Rica from 2006 to 2010. He previously served as President from 1986 to 1990 and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his efforts to end civil wars then raging in several other Central American countries.He is also a...
and Solís forced a recount in the 2006 presidential election
Costa Rica presidential elections, 2006
General elections were held in Costa Rica on 5 February 2006. In the presidential election, Óscar Arias of the National Liberation Party , a former president and Nobel Peace Laureate, was victorious over Ottón Solís of the Citizens' Action Party and twelve other minor-party candidates...
. Ultimately, Arias won, though by only a few thousand votes over the 40 percent threshold required to avoid a runoff. The Citizens' Action party won 17 of the 57 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, the national legislature, becoming the second most powerful political force of Costa Rica, ousting the Christian Social Unity Party from their traditional position. In the general election of 2010, Solis' PAC only received approximately 25% of the total vote, while his rival, Laura Chinchilla, the PLN's candidate obtained 47% of the vote turnover. It was the third attempt of Solis to reach the presidency of Costa Rica. on February 8 Solis announced that he was abandoning politics for good, expressing his desire to create spaces for a new emerging leaders with his party Solis leaves politics (in Spanish). In another interview Solis stated again that he is not planning to become again the PAC's presidential candidate. This decision reflects, in his opinion, the commitment of his party to renew Interview with Otton Solis (in Spanish).
Anti-neoliberalism
Solís asserts that his party- PAC- is not guided by any ideology. In an interview he stated that "We, at PAC, have not been interested in adopting an ideology. There are proposals that can be considered as coming from the center-right, such as the efficiency of the state, sound fiscal and monetary policies, the conviction that work is what takes to get people out of poverty. But there are other views that can be perceived as socialist, such as our conviction that access to such things as health, education, electricity, telecommunications, culture, technology, and sport, cannot be left to the market forces; universal access criteria must prevail in those cases."How you can call that? I don’t know, but if God commands to say something then I’d say that our ideology is human rights and citizens’ action."
Solis has outspokenly criticized neoliberalism in Latin America that he associates with the policies advocated by the Washington Consensus
Washington Consensus
The term Washington Consensus was coined in 1989 by the economist John Williamson to describe a set of ten relatively specific economic policy prescriptions that he considered constituted the "standard" reform package promoted for crisis-wracked developing countries...
, which in his view are wrong, and have led Latin America countries towards the wrong path.
Interview
Anti-CAFTA stance
Solís is a critic of the Central American Free Trade AgreementDominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement
The Dominican Republic – Central America Free Trade Agreement, commonly called DR-CAFTA, is a free trade agreement . Originally, the agreement encompassed the United States and the Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, and was called CAFTA...
(CAFTA). He has called for the renegotiations of CAFTA to add protection for vulnerable farmers and industrial companies. He has said that, in its current form, "CAFTA will increase poverty in Central America because it will displace farmers and industrial workers and will increase the cost of health care." He also said that "I never imagined CAFTA was going to be so one sided", and "The law of the jungle benefits the big beast. We are a very small beast." Solís sees several possible detrimental aspects that could come from CAFTA. First he claims that it will cause the breakup of the public telecommunications and electricity monopolies which will have to be privatized. Additionally he argues that the lowered trade barriers will cause a flood of cheap food products from the United States and this will force small-scale farmers out of the internal market.