Abel Pacheco
Abel Pacheco de la Espriella (born 22 December 1933) is a Costa Rican psychiatrist and retired politician who served as the 44th President of Costa Rica from 2002 to 2006. A member of the Social Christian Unity Party, he campaigned on a platform of continuing free-market reforms and implementing an austerity program. He was also the first president of Costa Rica to be elected in a runoff election.
Also recorded as Abel Pacheco de la Espriella
Abel Pacheco

R. D. Ward · This image was released by the United States Department of Defense with the ID 050511-D-9880W-053 (next). This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag · Public domain
- Name
- Abel Pacheco de La Espriella
- Born
- 22 December 1933
- Birthplace
- San José, Costa Rica
- Spouse
- Elsa María Muñoz Batha (?–?)
- Education
- National Autonomous University of Mexico Louisiana State University
- Occupation
- * Psychiatrist
- Nationality
- Costa Rica
- Honours
- Grand Cross and Special Class of the Order of the Sun of Peru · Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Charles · Order of Juan Mora Fernández
- Languages
- Spanish
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Documentary summary
Abel Pacheco de la Espriella (born 22 December 1933) is a Costa Rican psychiatrist and retired politician who served as the 44th President of Costa Rica from 2002 to 2006. A member of the Social Christian Unity Party, he campaigned on a platform of continuing free-market reforms and implementing an austerity program. He was also the first president of Costa Rica to be elected in a runoff election.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q217794 · wikipedia · Abel Pacheco
In this article
Biography
Biography
Abel Pacheco studied at National Autonomous University of Mexico and Louisiana State University. The recorded working language is Spanish. Employment is recorded with University of Costa Rica. Positions recorded include President of Costa Rica. Distinctions recorded are Grand Cross, Special Class of the Order of the Sun of Peru, Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Charles and Order of Juan Mora Fernández.

presidente de Costa Rica, Abel Pacheco
Dereck Camacho
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Abel Pacheco de La Espriella • Honorific Suffix — OSC OSP • Order — 44th President of Costa Rica • Term Start — 8 May 2002 • Term End — 8 May 2006 • Vice President — Lineth Saborío Chaverri Luis Fishman Zonzinski • Predecessor — Miguel Ángel Rodríguez • Successor — Óscar Arias • Office1 — Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica • Term Start1 — 1 May 1998 • Term End1 — 30 April 2002 • Predecessor1 — Alberto Cañas Escalante • Successor1 — Édgar Mohs Villalta • Constituency1 — San José (1st Office) • Birth Name — Abel Pacheco de la Espriella • Born — 22 December 1933 • Birthplace — San José, Costa Rica • Party — PUSC • Spouse — Elsa María Muñoz Batha (?–?) • Children — 6 • Education — National Autonomous University of Mexico Louisiana State University • Occupation — * Psychiatrist • businessman • media personality • politician • writer
Early life
Early life
Abel Pacheco and his first wife, Elsa María Muñoz Batha, had five children: Abel, Elsa, Yolanda, Sergio and Valeria. Pacheco married his second wife, Leila Rodríguez Stahl, a former Miss Costa Rica winner, on 20 November 1975. He and Rodríguez had one son, Fabian.
Career
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 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. On 1 February 1998 he was elected to serve as a party-list deputy in Costa Rica's unicameral 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 – Pacheco got 58% of the vote, beating Rolando Araya of the social democratic PLN by a narrow margin.
Identity
Identity
Abel Pacheco is recorded as having received Grand Cross, Special Class of the Order of the Sun of Peru, Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Charles and Order of Juan Mora Fernández.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1933
Abel Pacheco born at San José.
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.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q217794: Abel Pacheco
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Abel Pacheco”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
scholarly publication
- Pacheco de la Espriella, Abel (Costa Rica), The Statesman’s Yearbook Companion, 2019
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2019
Foreign honours
• Italy • Two Sicilies Two Sicilian Royal Family: Knight Grand Cross of Merit of the Two Sicilian Royal Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George • Monaco: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Charles (21 November 2003) • 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.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.El Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones: Presidentes de la República de Costa Rica
- 2.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
- 3.Biografía: Leila Rodríguez Stahl de Pacheco Primera Dama de la República de Costa Rica. Ministerio de Hacienda.
- 4.Duke of Calabria hosts banquet for President of Costa Rica. Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George. 9 April 2004.
- 5.Duke of Calabria, Cardinal Pompedda awarded the National Order of Juan Mora Fernandez by Costa Rican President. Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George. 10 April 2004.
- 6.Nomination by Sovereign Ordonnance OpenDocument number 16064 of 21 November 2003 (French)
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Pacheco de la Espriella, Abel (Costa Rica), The Statesman’s Yearbook Companion, 2019Crossref registry
Verifiedreference work
Partially resolvedreference work
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Further particulars
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Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
The authorities additionally record the heading Abel Pacheco de la Espriella. His recorded language was Spanish. His recorded confession was Catholicism. He married Leila Rodríguez Stahl. Pacheco received Grand Cross, Special Class of the Order of the Sun of Peru, Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Charles and Order of Juan Mora Fernández. Connected to 1 other published record in the VALÉORINE Encyclopedia.
Identity and origins
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Within the Encyclopedia
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,960 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Abel BonnardAuthor
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- Abel WornellAuthor
- Abel-François VillemainAuthor
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