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Elizabeth Fonseca Corrales

Elizabeth Bernardita Fonseca Corrales (Heredia, 20 August 1949) was a deputy in the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly from 2006 to 2010, representing San José. Fonseca holds a doctorate in History and American Society from the University of Paris.^[1] She was president of the Citizens' Action Party (PAC for its Spanish initials) in 2010.

Political career[edit]

Fonseca is a founding member of PAC. She was elected as a deputy for San José in Costa Rican general elections in 2006. She helped organize PAC's opposition to the Central American Free Trade Agreement in 2006 and 2007.^[2]

Following the resignation of Alberto Cañas Escalante, Fonseca and medical doctor Rodrigo Cabezas both applied for the PAC presidency Fonseca was elected,^[2] promising to raise PAC's institutional profile.^[3] In 2013, Fonseca used her position to push for open primaries,^[3] which resulted in the election of Luis Guillermo Solís as PAC's presidential candidate. Solís would go on to win 78% of the national vote in the general election.

Fonseca credits PAC with breaking the nation's two-party rule by making the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC for its Spanish initials) a minority party in the National Assembly.^[4] While the National Liberation Party (PLN for its Spanish initials) maintains its majority, PUSC has lost many legislative seats to PAC.

Fonseca was appointed Minister of Culture in 2014.^[5]

Awards[edit]

Following the publication of her doctoral thesis in 1983, Fonseca gained significant academic recognition.^[6] The topic of her thesis, agrarian and colonial history in Costa Rica, helped document the country's early history.^[6]

• “Aquileo J. Echeverría” National Prize for History, 1984
• “Cleto González Víquez” Prize for Geography and History, 1984
• Professor in Residence, Academy of Geography and History, Costa Rica
• Academic Correspondent to Argentine, Venezuelan, Guatemalan, and Portuguese Academies of Geography and History

Publications and research[edit]

Fonseca has written or collaborated on the following projects and books:

• "Juan Manuel de Cañas"
• "Costa Rica colonial. La tierra y el hombre" ("Colonial Costa Rica: The Land and The People")
• "Historia de un pueblo indígena: Tucurrique" ("History of an Indigenous Tribe: Tucurrique")
• "Historia. Teoría y métodos" ("History: Theory and Methods")
• "Centroamérica. Su historia" ("Central America: Its History")
• "Historia General de Centroamérica. Tomo II" ("General History of Central America: Volume II")
• "Costa Rica en el Siglo XVIII" ("Costa Rica in the 18th Century")

References[edit]