Every December 1, Costa Ricans remember the moment when the founder of the modern republic, José Figueres Ferrer, took a sledgehammer to the walls of the army’s headquarters at the Bellavista Fortress in San José and said it would henceforth be the home of the national museum.
The act officially abolished the army, just seven months after Figueres Ferrer emerged victorious in the bloodiest event in Costa Rica’s twentieth-century history: the 1948 civil war that was sparked when the ruling party refused to hand over power after losing an election.
Costa Rica has been a model of stability in a volatile neighbourhood ever since, at least in part because the savings on military spending have been directed toward improving the health and education of its citizens.
Figueres Ferrer, who served three terms as the country’s social democratic president, told The Los Angeles Times in 1986 that he considered Costa Rica to be “an exemplary little country. In the next century, maybe everyone will be like us.”
Recent history has not been kind to such optimism, and Costa Rican society is convulsed by discussions over whether it can continue to be “like us.”
The Ticos, as Costa Ricans proudly call themselves, remain a contented lot, officially the twelfth happiest country on the planet in the World Population Review’s rankings, ahead of the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. The joke is that a line of scarlet macaws flying in formation is the “Tico air force,” out on manoeuvres.
However, this previously tranquil part of the tropics is being assailed by external pressures that mean the great powers are taking an almost unprecedented interest in the region, and the reinstatement of Costa Rica’s army is no longer unthinkable.
Crime and corruption have risen as Costa Rica has become the first transshipment point for cocaine heading from Latin America to the United States and Europe. Traffickers who used to pay cash now pay in cocaine, creating a domestic market that has seen gangs emerge to fight for territory. In 2023, the homicide rate hit
17.3 per 100,000 people, which is double the rate from a decade earlier. Narco money has found its way into national politics before, and the concern is that its tentacles might now corrupt the judiciary, Congress, law enforcement and political parties.
A second external pressure is the flood of irregular migrants who have travelled through the Darien Gap in Panama and are heading north to the US border. Costa Rica has become a transit hub for the estimated 500,000 people who attempted to make that journey last year, swamping the resources of a small country of just 5.2 million people.
The third extrinsic problem Costa Rica faces is the rising geopolitical tensions created by its authoritarian northern neighbour, Nicaragua, which has bound itself ever closer to its patron, Russia.
Costa Rica managed to go its own way during the Cold War, even as a war raged in Nicaragua between the Sandinista government of Daniel Ortega and the US-backed Contra rebels in the mid-1980s. The United States put heavy pressure on the government in San José to allow itself to be used as a base for the Contras (and it was later revealed that a secret runway was built just south of the Nicaraguan border to supply the rebels). But the Costa Ricans remained officially neutral, and President Óscar Arias Sánchez won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his plan to end conflict in the region.
Costa Rica has a joint patrol agreement with the United States, allowing ships and crews to arrive at the country’s ports for refuelling. But the constitution is clear that no foreign troops are allowed on Costa Rican territory.
Nicaragua has no such qualms and the Ortega government, which has become increasingly repressive, passed legislation in 2022 authorizing the presence of Russian troops, warships and planes in the country. Allegations have emerged that Russian intelligence is using Nicaragua as a base to spy on the United States and its allies.
The history of Costa Rica and Nicaragua is checkered, dating back to gaining their independence from Spain in 1821. Three years later, Costa Rica annexed the Nicaraguan province of Nicoya, which is now the province of Guanacaste, home to many of Costa Rica’s top beach resorts.
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Publish date : 2024-12-23 01:39:00
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