José María Villalta Florez-Estrada (born August 13, 1977) is a Costa Rican attorney,

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He was the only representative in the Costa Rican Parliament of the leftist party Frente Amplio (Broad Front) for the period that comprised 2010–2014. Villalta also was the candidate of the Frente Amplio for the presidential elections of 2014 in Costa Rica.

Biography

José María is the son of Laura Florez-Estrada (a Peruvian citizen) and Mario Salazar Villalta (a Costa Rica citizen). He attended primary school in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, where he lived some years with his maternal family. In Costa Rica he attended middle school and high school. Later he studied at 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 ...

, where he held positions in student organizations such as the Association of Law Students and the High Student Council (1997-1998). He was a student representative on the University Council and a board member of the Federation of Students (FEUCR) in 1998–2000. During his years as university student, Villalta actively participated in marches against

neoliberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

reforms. In 2002 he graduated with a degree in

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

. Between 2001 and 2009, he hosted a television program dedicated to ecological topics. José María was first parliamentary advisor of José Merino del Río in the last two years of his first term with the Partido Fuerza Democrática (Democratic Force Party) (2000-2002). Then he was advisor of the deputy Gerardo Vargas with Partido Acción Ciudadana (Citizens Action Party) and again with José Merino's advisor in 2002–2006 with the Frente Amplio (Broad Front). He was then elected to the Parliament on the list of San José. He was also an active participant in the movement against CAFTA. On March 9, the National Assembly chose Villalta as the Frente Amplio candidate for the presidential elections in February 2014. He was defeated in the first of two rounds of elections, where he obtained around seventeen percent of the valid votes. Since 2008, Villalta lives in a committed relationship with the journalist Lauren Chinchilla Alvarado. They have one son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villalta, Jose Maria 1977 births Living people People from San José, Costa Rica Broad Front (Costa Rica) politicians Members of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica University of Costa Rica alumni Costa Rican agnostics