View source for Abel Pacheco

{{Short description|President of Costa Rica from 2002 to 2006}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{BLP sources|date=October 2007}}
{{family name hatnote|Pacheco|de la Espriella|lang=Spanish}}
{{Infobox Officeholder
| name                = Abel Pacheco de La Espriella
| image               = Defense.gov News Photo 050511-D-9880W-053 Abel Pacheco cropped.jpg
| caption             = Pacheco in 2005
| order               = 44th [[President of Costa Rica]]
| term_start          = 8 May 2002
| term_end            = 8 May 2006
| vicepresident       = [[Lineth Saborío Chaverri]]<br/>[[Luis Fishman Zonzinski]]
| predecessor         = [[Miguel Ángel Rodríguez]]
| successor           = [[Óscar Arias]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1933|12|22|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[San José, Costa Rica|San José]], Costa Rica
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| constituency        = 
| office3             = Deputy of the [[Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica]]
| term_start3         = 1 May 1998
| term_end3           = 30 April 2002
| predecessor3        = [[Alberto Cañas Escalante]]
| successor3          = Édgar Mohs Villalta
| constituency3       = [[San José Province|San José]] (1st Office)
| party               = [[Social Christian Unity Party|PUSC]]
| spouse              = Elsa María Muñoz Batha (?–?)<br>{{marriage|[[Leila Rodríguez Stahl]]|1975}}
| profession          = [[Psychiatry|Psychiatrist]]
| signature           = 
| footnotes           = 
}}

'''Abel Pacheco de la Espriella''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-Abel Pacheco from Costa Rica pronunciation (Voice of America).ogg|ə|ˈ|b|ɛ|l|_|p|ə|ˈ|tʃ|eɪ|k|oʊ}} {{respell|ə|BEL||_|pə|CHAY|koh}}; born 22 December 1933) is a Costa Rican politician who was president of [[Costa Rica]] between 2002 and 2006,<ref>[http://www.tse.go.cr/pdf/ifed/PresidentesCR-Cuadros.pdf El Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones: Presidentes de la República de Costa Rica]</ref> representing the [[Social Christian Unity Party]] ''(Partido Unidad Social Cristiana'' – PUSC).<ref>Pacheco assumes presidency. The Salt Lake Tribune. May 9, 2002,  PageA2. [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SLTB&p_theme=sltb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=100E40C2889F08FB&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022212835/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SLTB&p_theme=sltb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=100E40C2889F08FB&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |date=22 October 2012 }}</ref> He ran on a platform to continue free market reforms and to institute an austerity program, and was elected, in a second electoral round, with 58% of the vote in April 2002.

==Biography==
===Early life===
Abel Pacheco and his first wife, Elsa María Muñoz Batha, had five children: Abel, Elsa, Yolanda, Sergio and Valeria.<ref name=bio/> Pacheco married his second wife, [[Leila Rodríguez Stahl]], a former [[Miss Costa Rica]] winner, on 20 November 1975.<ref name=bio/> He and Rodríguez had one son, Fabian.<ref name=bio>{{cite news|title=Biografía: Leila Rodríguez Stahl de Pacheco Primera Dama de la República de Costa Rica |url=http://www.hacienda.go.cr/centro/datos/Articulo/Biograf%C3%ADa%20de%20la%20primera%20dama.doc |work=Ministerio de Hacienda |access-date=2016-07-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130119033738/http://www.hacienda.go.cr/centro/datos/Articulo/Biograf%C3%ADa%20de%20la%20primera%20dama.doc |archive-date=2013-01-19 }}</ref>

===Career===
Pacheco is a medical doctor who graduated from [[Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México]] with a degree in Psychiatry from [[Louisiana State University]].

During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s Pacheco was a popular presenter of short programmes on Costa Rican television. During this time he continued to teach at the [[University of Costa Rica]]{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}} and personally attended to customers at the  gentleman's outfitters, '' El Palacio del Pantalón'', that he had established in downtown San José in the mid-1980s. He also wrote a series of novels and a number of popular songs.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

On 1 February 1998 he was elected to serve as a party-list deputy in Costa Rica's [[unicameral]] [[Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica|Legislative Assembly]], representing the province of San José for the PUSC.

In the run-up to the 2002 presidential election, the PUSC party convention selected him to be its candidate by an overwhelming 76% of the delegates' votes on 10 June 2001. His candidacy was seen as a victory for the  rank-and-file members over the party's entrenched hierarchy.

In the first round of the election Pacheco received 38.6% of the vote: just short of the 40% needed to avoid a run-off. On 7 April 2002, in the second round – the first time the mechanism had been used since the rules were introduced &ndash; Pacheco got 58% of the vote, beating [[Rolando Araya Monge|Rolando Araya]] of the [[social democratic]] [[National Liberation Party (Costa Rica)|PLN]] by a narrow margin.

==Books==
Pacheco is the author of a number of books, including both, fiction and non-fiction. Among other titles of the books that he penned are: Paso de tropa (1969), and Más abajo de la piel (1972).
His work has been translated to more than 20 different languages, given its importance to Costa Rican cultural heritage.

Abel Pacheco was awarded with the prize " Citizen of the World"  for his valuable contribution to culture and literature around the world.

== Honours ==

=== Foreign honours ===
* {{flag|Italy}}
** {{flagicon|Two Sicilies}} [[House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies|Two Sicilian Royal Family]]: Knight Grand Cross of Merit of the [[Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George|Two Sicilian Royal Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Duke of Calabria hosts banquet for President of Costa Rica |url=http://www.constantinian.org.uk/duke-of-calabria-hosts-banquet-for-president-of-costa-rica/ |website=Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George |date=9 April 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Duke of Calabria, Cardinal Pompedda awarded the National Order of Juan Mora Fernandez by Costa Rican President |url=http://www.constantinian.org.uk/duke-of-calabria-cardinal-pompedda-awarded-the-national-order-of-juan-mora-fernandez-by-costa-rican-president/ |website=Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George |date=10 April 2004}}</ref>
* {{Flag|Monaco}}: Knight Grand Cross of the [[Order of Saint-Charles]] (21 November 2003) <ref>Nomination by Sovereign Ordonnance [http://www.legimonaco.mc/Dataweb/jourmon.nsf/100ab120e52ceb84c12568ce002f2909/4a81121f7dd82fc3c1256def00342a15 OpenDocument number 16064 of 21 November 2003] (French)</ref>
*  Pacheco has received several international awards for his literature work.
*  Citizen of the World international award, given to exemplary citizens that have had a major contribution to the culture and arts in the world.
*   National Literature Prize for his book: " Mas abajo de la piel ".
*   Filantropic awards given his active contribution to Social Corporate Responsibility.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.cidob.org/biografias_lideres_politicos/america_central_y_caribe/costa_rica/abel_pacheco_de_la_espriella Biography by CIDOB] (in Spanish)

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{{s-par}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Alberto Cañas Escalante]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Deputy of the [[Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica]] for San José's 1st office|years=1998–2002}}
{{s-aft|after=Édgar Mohs Villalta}}
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{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Miguel Ángel Rodríguez]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Social Christian Unity Party|PUSC]] nominee for President of Costa Rica|years=[[2002 Costa Rican general election|2002]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Ricardo Toledo]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Miguel Ángel Rodríguez]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[President of Costa Rica]]|years=2002–2006}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Óscar Arias]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{CostaRicaPresidents}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pacheco, Abel}}
[[Category:1933 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Politicians from San José, Costa Rica]]
[[Category:Social Christian Unity Party politicians]]
[[Category:Costa Rican psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Presidents of Costa Rica]]
[[Category:Members of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica]]
[[Category:National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni]]
[[Category:Louisiana State University alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Costa Rica]]
[[Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint-Charles]]