Background
Rodrigo Carazo Odio was born in Cartago on 27 December 1926.
government official politician president
Rodrigo Carazo Odio was born in Cartago on 27 December 1926.
As protégé of José Figueres Ferrer, he served during Figueres' 1953-1958 presidency as director of the new National Institute of Housing and Urban Development. Subsequently, he spent much of the 1960s as a businessman in Venezuela and as Figueres’ personal contact with Democratic Action Party leaders in Caracas. He returned to Costa Rica in 1966 to seek the National Liberation Party (PLN) nomination in 1970, but he encountered Figueres’ own determination to return to the presidency. His spirited but unsuccessful challenge resulted in his being virtually driven from the party.
In 1974 Carazo was defeated by the PLN nominee. Daniel Oduber Quiros, but in 1978, capitalizing on charges of corruption and inefficiency in the Oduber presidency, he led the Unity coalition to victory.
As the presidential program failed, Carazo’s popularity plunged, and in 1982 Luis Alberto Monge,the PLN candidate whom Carazo had beaten in 1978, was the victor.