Region

Economic Planning and Policies: Julio Villafuerte Cubillo, New Homeland

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The Voice gives you the opportunity to meet the candidates through the following profiles. Today we present:

Julio Villafuerte Cubillo, 60 years old, is from Santa Cruz and has been the Regional Director of the Ministry of Economic Planning and Policy (MIDEPLAN – Ministerio de Planificación y Política Económica) since 2011.

He earned a degree in Economic Planning from the National University, a master’s in Rural Development in Israel and studied Food Planning in Spain.

As the Regional Director of MIDEPLAN, he has strengthened the ties with canton councils and municipal governments, to whom he has given the job of producing plans for local human development. Through his management he has been able to direct resources to finance feasibility studies and regulatory plans on subjects such as land use and costs of public works. In addition, he has promoted improvements in road infrastructure in the province of Guanacaste with the local governments and MOPT.

Villafuerte thinks that Guanacaste has strong economic potential but that it doesn’t have clear policies that drive the region’s development: “We need to promote essential projects such as strengthening agriculture and livestock, using new technologies and making the regional market dynamic, as well as promoting the water project for Guanacaste from the canton of Tilarán through the Río Piedras, in order to supply the province with potable water,” he commented.

Regarding environmental protection, Villafuerte says that it involves everyone and deserves responsible citizenship, the protection of the environment, and waste treatment: “How many of us know where we leave our used water? Many times we say that it’s the responsibility of institutions… We all have a degree of responsibility; we have to be vigilant and ensure they fulfill the laws,” he affirmed.

The New Homeland Party (Partido Patria Nueva) to which Villafuerte belongs is social democratic and has a divergent ideology, as it has adopted a mix of liberal ideas related to social guarantees as well as public and individual freedoms. In addition, it nurtures socialist ideas in the sense of being revolutionary and reformist, for the sake of better and greater development of the country. 

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