Costa Rica President Arias: Stop reckless funding of Latin American militaries

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, Nobel Peace Prize winner and current mediator of the Honduran standoff, had an interesting op-ed piece in the Washington Post last week.

Arias writes that the current Honduran conflict is not an anomaly but the natural outgrowth of governments spending more on their militaries than on the basic human needs of their people. The Honduran conflict, says Arias, “demonstrates that the combination of powerful militaries and fragile democracies creates a terrible risk.”

“Until we improve this balance,” Arias continues, “we will always leave open the door to those who would obtain power through force — whether a little or a great deal, approved by the majority or only by a few.

Costa Rica abolished its own army in 1948. Oscar Arias was elected to a second term as President of Costa Rica in 2006.