Fernando Cruz Castro is a

Costa Rican Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

lawyer and judge. He serves as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica.

Early life

He has a degree in Law from the

University of Costa Rica The University of Costa Rica (Spanish: ''Universidad de Costa Rica,'' abbreviated UCR) is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro Mo ...

and holds a Law Doctorate from the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

Career

He began his career as an agent of Faults and Misdemeanor in

Alajuela Alajuela () is a district in the Alajuela canton of the Alajuela Province of Costa Rica. As the seat of the Municipality of Alajuela canton, it is awarded the status of city. By virtue of being the city of the first canton of the province, it i ...

in 1972, where he served as a public prosecutor, general prosecutor, general judge, superior judge and president of the Court of Criminal Cassation. He was appointed as magistrate of the Constitutional Chamber, replacing Carlos Arguedas Ramírez, who retired in 2004. On 15 November 2012, 38 legislators of the Legislative Assembly did not re-elect Cruz, who received votes only from the benches of the Citizen Action Party, the Accessibility Without Exclusion Party and independent deputies

José María Villalta José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

and

Luis Fishman Luis Fishman Zonzinski (born 30 December 1947) is a Costa Rican politician. He was the President of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica from 1998 to 1999. Fishman Zonzinski was elected as the Second Vice President of Costa Rica alongside Li ...

. The then leader of the faction of the ruling National Liberation Party, Fabio Molina, stated that it was a call for attention to the Judiciary. The

opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comed ...

accused the ruling party of forging a political vendetta since Cruz had voted against the interests of the National Liberation Party, such as the presidential re-election, the

Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement :''Note: Within this article, "CAFTA" refers to the agreement as it stood before January 2004, and "CAFTA-DR" is used after that.'' The Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR; Spanish: ''Tratado de Libre ...

and the ''Crucitas'' mining case. His dismissal caused protests from citizens and staff of the

Judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

, as well as the condemnation of the

International Association of Judges The International Association of Judges (IAJ) is a professional, non-political, international organization of national associations of judges. It was founded in Salzburg in 1953 and has its headquarters in Rome. The IAJ promotes the Rule of Law a ...

. Fishman filed an appeal before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court arguing that the vote was taken at the wrong time, resulting in Cruz' automatic re-election. The substitute magistrates who heard the appeal agreed and Cruz was reinstated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz Castro, Fernando Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica judges Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of Costa Rica alumni Complutense University of Madrid alumni