In a historic ceremony at the INS-Estadio Nacional in San José, Laura Fernández Delgado was sworn in as Costa Rica’s 50th president, beginning the 2026–2030 constitutional term. She is only the second woman to lead the Central American nation, following Laura Chinchilla’s groundbreaking 2010 inauguration.
In an unusual twist, outgoing president Rodrigo Chaves Robles handed over the presidential sash and then immediately assumed dual cabinet roles — as Minister of the Presidency and Chief of Staff, as well as Minister of Finance — in the new government. The ceremony saw at least five attendees requiring medical attention due to heat and travel-related conditions, with one man hospitalized at Hospital México for a pre-existing cardiac condition.
