First Ladies and Gentlemen of Costa Rica

First Lady or First Gentleman (Spanish: Primera dama de Costa Rica and Primer caballero de Costa Rica) is the title of the wife or husband of the president of Costa Rica. Traditionally, the president's wife was colloquially known as la presidenta ("the president", with a feminine -a ending). The current term was first used under Federico Alberto Tinoco Granados.

First Lady of Costa Rica
Incumbent Claudia Dobles Camargo since 8 May 2018
Inaugural holder	Pacífica Fernández Oreamuno
Formation	1847

Operations

The Office of First Lady of First Gentleman is allocated no official funding from the government budget of Costa Rica.[1] Instead, the office and officeholder relies on private donations to cover the expenses.[1] These funds support the first lady's causes and foundations, which traditionally focus on cultural, environmental, and social issues.[1] The office of Leila Rodríguez Stahl, the first lady 2002 to 2006, had a staff of approximately 60 at its largest.[1] However, many of those staffers worked pro bono or were employed temporarily from other government offices.[1]

First ladies and gentlemen of Costa Rica (1847–Present)

First Lady or Gentleman	President	Years in Office	Notes
Pacífica Fernández Oreamuno	José María Castro Madriz	1847-1849	José María Castro Madriz was the first President of Costa Rica, making Pacífica Fernández the inaugural First Lady.
Felipa Montes de Oca Gamero	Miguel Mora Porras	1849
Inés Aguilar Cueto	Juan Rafael Mora Porras	1849-1859
Sofía Matilde Joy Redman	José María Montealegre Fernández	1859-1863	Born in the United Kingdom
Esmeralda Oreamuno Gutiérrez	Jesús Jiménez Zamora	1863-1866
Pacífica Fernández Oreamuno	José María Castro Madriz	1866-1868
Esmeralda Oreamuno Gutiérrez	Jesús Jiménez Zamora	1868-1870
Gerónima Montealegre Fernández	Bruno Carranza Ramírez	1870
Emilia Solórzano Alfaro	Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez	1870-1876
Isaura Carazo Peralta	Aniceto Esquivel Sáenz	1876
Guadalupe Gutiérrez García	Vicente Herrera Zeledón	1876-1877
Emilia Solórzano Alfaro	Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez	1877-1882
Angélica Guardia Solórzano	Saturnino Lizano Gutiérrez	1882
Cristina Guardia Gutiérrez	Próspero Fernández Oreamuno	1882-1885
Pacífica Fernández Guardia	Bernardo Soto Alfaro	1885-1890
Luisa Alvarado Carrillo	José Rodríguez Zeledón	1890-1894
Manuela Rodríguez Alvarado	Rafael Yglesias Castro	1894-1902
Adela Salazar Guardia	Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra	1902-1906
Adela Herrán Bonilla	Cleto González Víquez	1906-1910
Vacant since President Oreamuno was unmarried	Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno	1910-1914
Vacant, since President González was unmarried	Alfredo González Flores	1914-1917
María Fernández Le Cappellain	Federico Tinoco Granados	1917-1919
Clementina Quirós Quirós	Juan Bautista Quirós Segura	1919
Natalia Morúa Ortíz	Francisco Aguilar Barquero	1919-1920
Elena Gallegos Rosales	Julio Acosta García	1920-1924	Born in El Salvador
Vacant since President Oreamuno was unmarried	Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno	1924-1928
Adela Herrán Bonilla	Cleto González Víquez	1928-1932	Died in 1932 while President González was still in office
Beatriz Zamora López	Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno	1932-1933	Beatriz Zamora López died in office in 1933. There was no First Lady until 1936
María Eugenia Calvo Badia	Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno	1936	Second wife of President Oreamuno
Julia Fernández Rodríguez	León Cortés Castro	1936-1940
Yvonne Clays Spoelders	Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia	1940-1944	Born in Belgium. First woman to serve as a Costa Rican diplomat.
Etelvina Ramírez Montiel	Teodoro Picado Michalski	1944-1948
Henrietta Boggs	José Figueres Ferrer	1948-1949	Born in the United States. Boggs and Figueres divorced on January 1, 1954[2]
Vacant since President Ulate was unmarried	Otilio Ulate Blanco	1949-1953	President Ulate never married, though he was in a long-term relationship with Haydée Rojas Smith for many years.
Karen Olsen Beck	José Figueres Ferrer	1954-1958	Born in Denmark. Olsen married President Figueres in office on February 7, 1954, becoming First Lady.[2]
Olga De Benedictis Antonelli	Mario Echandi Jiménez	1958-1962	Daughter of Italian parents
Marita Camacho Quirós	Francisco José Orlich Bolmarcich	1962-1966
Clara Fonseca Guardia	José Joaquín Trejos Fernández	1966-1970
Karen Olsen Beck	José Figueres Ferrer	1970-1974	Born in Denmark
Marjorie Elliott Sypher	Daniel Oduber Quirós	1974-1978	Born in Canada
Estrella Zeledón Lizano	Rodrigo Carazo Odio	1978-1982
Doris Yankelewitz Berger	Luis Alberto Monge Álvarez	1982-1986	Costa Rica's first Jewish First Lady[3]
Margarita Penón Góngora	Óscar Arias Sánchez	1986-1990
Gloria Bejarano Almada	Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier	1990-1994	Born in Mexico
Josette Altmann Borbón	José María Figueres Olsen	1994-1998
Lorena Clare Facio	Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría	1998-2002
Leila Rodríguez Stahl	Abel Pacheco de la Espriella	2002-2006	Rodriguez won the Miss Costa Rica pageant in 1960[1]
Vacant, since President Arias was divorced at the time.	Óscar Arias	2006-2010
José María Rico	Laura Chinchilla Miranda	2010-2014	Born in Spain. 1st First Gentleman of Costa Rica
Mercedes Peñas Domingo	Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera	2014-2018	Born in Spain. Peñas and Solis are not married.[4]
Claudia Dobles Camargo	Carlos Alvarado Quesada	2018-2022

References

1. Lopez G., Mauricio (2003-12-01). "Primera Dama de la República: Leila Rodríguez, servidora a tiempo completo". La Nación (San José). Retrieved 2016-07-29.
2. "American Girl and Costa Rican President Wed". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. 1954-02-08. Retrieved 2016-07-23.
3. "Costa Rica Will Have a Jewish First Lady with the Inauguration of Luis Alberto Monge to the President". Jewish Telegraph Agency. 1982-04-20. Retrieved 2016-06-13.
4. "Meet Costa Rica's future First Lady, Mercedes Peñas Domingo". Inside Costa Rica. 2014-04-15. Retrieved 2016-06-14.