CASE HISTORIES

Costa Rica becomes a Force for Peace without an Army

Costa Rica is a small Central American country that plunged into a civil war in 1948 after an election fiasco. Jose Maria Figueres Ferrer ("Don Pepe"), a coffee grower, engineer, economist and a philosopher, led the Revolutionary Army and emerged victorious. He made many visionary reforms – suffrage for women, full citizenship to blacks, presidential term limits and an independent Electoral Tribunal to oversee future elections. His most consequential reform was unexpected – he dismissed his own army and adopted of a new constitution that permanently abolished the army.

The abolition of the army enabled the state to dedicate more resources to education and health, and made it stand apart from the other Central American nations, which have been besieged by coups d'etat, dictatorships, military rulers, and civil wars.

Costa Rica’s pacifism was put to the test in 1986, a time of great regional discord. The civil war in neighboring Nicaragua had spilled into Costa Rica as both the Sandanistas and the Contras had set up military bases in the northern area of Costa Rica. Dr. Oscar Arias Sanchez was elected President of Costa Rica with the promise to do something about the situation. Much to the chagrin of the U.S. government, Arias expelled the combatants and enforced the nation’s official proclamation of neutrality. His vision of a Central America free from war, strife and repression, widely known as the Arias Peace Plan, culminated a year later in the Esquipulas II Accords that ended the civil wars in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. On August 7, 1987, all five Central American Presidents met in Guatemala to sign these accords. For his efforts, Dr. Arias was awarded the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize. See a speech by Dr. Arias “Peace and Justice in the New Century”