Nobel Prize-winning Costa Rican politician Oscar Arias Sanchez has been the president of his country twice and is known for his effective Central American peace plan. Born into an affluent coffee-farming family, Sanchez completed his PhD from the University of Essex and has more than 50 honorary doctorates.

The first female president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, had worked as an NGO consultant in Africa and Latin America before stepping into politics. The National Liberation Party member has earned several honorary doctorates and now teaches public policy at Georgetown University. Though an LGBT sympathizer, she opposes same-sex marriages.



















Leticia Herrera Sánchez is a Nicaraguan politician who served as the National Assembly of Nicaragua's vice president from 1985 to 1990. A former guerrilla leader, Herrera was one of the first female commanders of a socialist political party called Sandinista National Liberation Front, which opposed Anastasio Somoza's dictatorial government.

