Costa Rica Selects New Chief Prosecutor

Vice Public Security Minister Jorge Chavarría was selected chief prosecutor Monday, with 14 of the 22 votes in the plenary assembly of the Supreme Court of Justice.

He was selected from a pool of six candidates to replace former Chief Prosecutor Francisco Dall’Anese, who was appointed head of the United Nations’ International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) in June.

The 57-year-old has served as interim chief prosecutor and as international consultant for issues concerning the organization of justice systems, including work to modernize chief prosecutors’ offices in El Salvador and Mexico.

He has also written extensively on the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking, as well as on the modernization and administration of criminal justice.

President Laura Chinchilla has praised him as “someone who has been open to dialogue and has the capacity to coordinate with other branches of the Republic.”

Chavarría will be the seventh chief prosecutor since the office was created in 1975. He is due to assume the post on Oct. 15.