Costa Rica Culture & News: President Luis Guillermo Solis Bans 'Presidential Worship'
Costa Rica's president on Wednesday passed a measure that would seem foreign to many world leaders who seek to have their names associated with their country's greatest works.
Luis Guillermo Solis, the leader of Costa Rica, has passed a decree that bars his name from any and all commemorative plaques laid at the site of public works projects, according to a report from the BBC.
"The worship of the image of the president is over, at least under my government," Solis told reporters, the BBC reported. "The works are from the country and not from a government or a particular official."
Solis also has told reporters that he did not want his portrait to be hung in public offices, which is common in Costa Rica, as in many other countries.
At future public-works sites, the commemorative plaques will only bear the year the project started, rather than the name of the president and his administration, which up until now had been common practice in Costa Rica.
These type of humble acts are part of the reason Solis was the first third-party candidate in more than 50 years to win a Costa Rican presidential election, according to the Tico Times. Solis is a member of the center-left Citizen Action Party.
Solis, who was sworn in last month, reportedly took 31 percent of the vote in the first round of the presidential election in February. The opinion polls that followed also heavily favored Solis, prompting his main rival to stop campaigning and effectively concede the presidential race.
Last month, Solis won the presidency with nearly 78 percent of the vote, according to the BBC.
The Tico Times reported that Solis ran a campaign that promised transparency and the elimination of wasteful government spending -- like putting extra letters on commemorative plaques.