Tarrazú

Government

Mayors in Tarrazú are elected every four years by the canton's population. In the 2024 municipal elections, Fernando Portuguez Parra of the Social Christian Unity Party won the mayoralty with 50.15% of the vote; Marjorie Castro Barrantes and Alejandro Javier Bonilla Herrera serve as first and second vice mayors. The Municipal Council has five regidores and their substitutes, elected for the same term. The council's composition for 2024–2028 is set.

Geography

Tarrazú covers 291.27 km² at a mean elevation of 1471 m. The Pirrís River (also called the Parrita River) forms much of the northern boundary of the three-pronged canton, which extends south across the Coastal Mountain Range to the border with Quepos canton in Puntarenas Province.

Economy

Highland coffee is the main income source for local people, though tourism and avocado production are growing in importance. San Marcos has become the region's economic center. The Costa Rican Institute of Electricity invested millions in the Pirrís Hydro Dam, which began generating energy in March 2011 and is the highest dam of its kind in Central America, supporting development in the highlands and coastal Quepos and Parrita areas. The region relies heavily on remittances from emigrants in the United States, especially New Jersey; few households lack a family member working there.

This outmigration has brought thousands of Panamanian laborers for the annual coffee harvest. Tarrazú, particularly the San Lorenzo area, is considered to produce Costa Rica's most desirable coffee. Finca Palmilera coffee is grown here, and in November 2012 it was the most expensive coffee sold in Starbucks shops in the United States.