Constituency Aserrí | Constituency Aserrí, San José Party Citizens' Action Party | |
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President Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría, (1998-2002) President Rafael Calderón Fournier, (1990-1992) | ||
Víctor Manuel Morales Mora is a Costa Rican politician and lawyer. He has served as a government minister in three different administrations and served a deputy. He was the mayor of Aserrí between 2010 and 2014.
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Biographic information
Morales was born in Poás de Aserrí. He grew up in Aserrí proper. He studied at Andrés Corrales Mora Elementary and the Liceo de Aserrí High School, where he was the President of his student government. He attended the University of Costa Rica where he studied political science and philosophy, earning a national certificate that enabled him to practice law.
Public service
Between 1978 and 1986, Morales worked as a municipal register. In 1982, he was president of the group Social Christian Youth, a political advocacy organization. Between 1990 and 1992, Morales served as Vice-Minister of Labor to Rafael Calderón Fournier.
In 1992, he was elected as a deputy to the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, serving only two years. In 1995, Morales was elected President of his party, the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC for its Spanish initials).
Between 1998 and 2002, he was Minister of Labor during to Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría. In this position, he pushed for the Workers' Protection Law, which provided basic rights to unrepresented workers.
In 2006, Morales left PUSC. Morales was one of a number of PUSC members to abandon the party after a string of corruption scandals.
While teaching law between 2006 and 2010, Morales was also a legal adviser.
Mayor of Aserrí
In 2010, Morales was elected mayor of Aserrí, a municipality in the San José with a population of nearly 60,000 He ran as part of a coalition of parties: PAC, PUSC, and Accessibility without Exclusion (PASE for its Spanish initials). During his campaign, Morales promised to increase public security with the creation of a municipal police force, assure water security, increase citizen participation through such measures as a digital communications line to city officials, improve accessibility for disabled persons, and support environmental protections. As mayor, Morales participated in the United Nations Disaster Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Morales also instituted a problem-solving forum called "Dialogues" that sought to resolve conflicts through consensus.
With less than a month left in his term as mayor, President elect Luis Guillermo Solís appointed Morales to his cabinet as Minister of Labor.