Forgotten World (76): Costa Rica
A dominant theme of NightHawk is that we live in a wide and varied world and we should know more about other countries and other cultures and learn to respect them. Therefore, on 15 occasions now, I’ve had a week-long feature devoted to parts of the world that tend to be under-reported or even forgotten. You can check out the previous 75 entries here. This week, I am going to run an 16th series of postings on this theme.
Costa Rica is the only Central American country that I have visited and it is in a class of its own in the region. It gained its independence from Spain via Mexico in 1821. Although there are claims that the country has had more than 115 years of uninterrupted democracy, their presidential election history shows otherwise. Nonetheless, the country has had at least six decades years of uninterrupted democracy which is by far the longest in Latin America.
For decades now, it has stood out for its stability and it has no standing army. Its 4.3 million citizens have benefited from the most developed welfare system in the region and enjoy one of the highest life expectancy levels in the Western hemisphere and better living standards than their war-torn neighbours. The current President Oscar Arias was president from 1986-90 and resumed the office in February 2006. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his role in talks that helped to end two civil wars in the region.