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Paraíso
Paraíso
Canton
	Flag Seal
	Paraíso canton
	Paraíso Paraíso canton location in Costa Rica
	Coordinates: 9°43′46″N 83°46′14″W / 9.7294954°N 83.7706033°W
Country	Costa Rica
Province	Cartago
Creation	7 December 1848
Head city	Paraíso
Districts	Districts Paraíso; Santiago; Orosi; Cachí; Llanos de Santa Lucía;
Government
• Type	Municipality
• Body	Municipalidad de Paraíso
• Mayor	Michaell Álvarez Quirós (UP)
Area
• Total	476.99 km2 (184.17 sq mi)
Elevation	1,171 m (3,842 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	57,743
• Estimate (2022)	65,941
• Density	120/km2 (310/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC−06:00
Canton code	302
Website	https://www.muniparaiso.go.cr/

Paraíso is a canton in the Cartago province of Costa Rica.^[1]^[2] The head city is in Paraíso district.

History

Paraíso was created on 7 December 1848 by decree 167.^[3]

Geography

Paraíso has an area of 476.99 km² (184.17 sq mi) and a mean elevation of 1,171 m (3,842 ft).^[4]^[1]

Paraíso is an elongated canton that stretches southeast from its head city to encompass a swatch of the Cordillera de Talamanca (Talamanca Mountain Range).

Government

Mayor

According to Costa Rica's Municipal Code, mayors are elected every four years by the population of the canton.^[5] As of the latest municipal elections in 2024, the United We Can candidate, Michaell Álvarez Quirós, was elected mayor of the canton with 41.37% of the votes, with Merlyn Rojas Mora and Roger Ricardo Zúñiga Vega as first and second vice mayors, respectively.^[6]

Mayors of Paraíso since the 2002 elections^[7]
Period	Name	Party
2002–2006	Marvin Solano Zúñiga	PAPA^[a]
2006–2010	Marvin Solano Zúñiga	PML
2010–2016	Jorge Rodríguez Araya	PUSC
2016–2020	Marvin Solano Zúñiga	PASE
2020–2024	Carlos Manuel Ramírez Sánchez	PLN
2024–2028	Michaell Álvarez Quirós	UP

Municipal Council

Like the mayor and vice mayors, members of the Municipal Council (called regidores) are elected every four years. Paraíso's Municipal Council has 7 seats for regidores and their substitutes, who can participate in meetings but not vote unless the owning regidor (regidor propietario) is absent.^[5] The current president of the Municipal Council is the Progressive Liberal Party member, Aldo Mata Coghi, with National Liberation Party member Silvia Elena Arce Araya as vice president.^[8] The Municipal Council's composition for the 2024–2028 period is as follows:

Current composition of the Municipal Council of Paraíso after the 2024 municipal elections^[9]
Political parties in the Municipal Council of Paraíso

Political party		Regidores
Political party		№	Owner	Substitute
	United We Can (UP)	3	Kattia Alfaro Saenz	María Gabriela Solano Marín
			Jaime Andrés Coto Espinoza	Julio Sánchez Soto
			Milany Sofía Obando Mora	Ana Catalina Barquero Quesada
	National Liberation Party (PLN)	2	Luis Diego Calderón Sánchez	Javier Mauricio Hernández Castillo
	National Liberation Party (PLN)	2	Silvia Elena Arce Araya^(VP)	Sussana Irene Mata Quesada
	Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC)	1	Agustín Enrique Siles Solano	Walter Solano Segura^[b]
	Progressive Liberal Party (PLP)	1	Aldo Mata Coghi^(P)	Felipe Alberto Loaiza Araya

Districts

The canton of Paraíso is subdivided into the following districts:

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	±% p.a.
1864	4,238	—
1883	7,114	+2.76%
1892	7,819	+1.06%
1927	7,900	+0.03%
1950	11,426	+1.62%
1963	18,389	+3.73%
1973	22,281	+1.94%
1984	27,823	+2.04%
2000	52,393	+4.03%
2011	57,743	+0.89%
2022	65,941	+1.21%
Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos^[10] Centro Centroamericano de Población^[11]