... Oscar Arias Sanchez ( Nobel Peace Prize ) ...
by Infocostarica Staff

The president of Foundation Arias, an organization dedicated to furthering the peace, Dr. Arias drew up the peace plan which was used as a basis for negotiations to end the Central American conflict. During a 1987 Central American summit, Dr. Arias presented his peace plan which called for an immediate cease fire in all guerrilla wars, a suspension of outside military aid, general amnesty and negotiations between conflicting parties, as well as long-term measures such as free elections and general reductions in armed forces. The Arias plan was a great stride toward peace and a base for future progress.

In addition to studies in his native Costa Rica, Dr. Arias was educated in the United States and Great Britain, earning his doctorate from the University of Essex. He began his political career as an activist with the Partido de Liberacion Nacional (PLN), one of Costa Rica's two major parties. In 1972, he was appointed minister of national planning and political economy. He served with distinction in this post until 1977. In 1979, he was elected general secretary of the PLN, the party's highest position.

Dr. Arias resigned that post in 1984 to seek nomination as the PLN candidate for the presidency. He received the nomination, and in 1986 was elected president.

Soon after his election, he met with the presidents of other Central American nations. Determined to end war in Central America, Dr. Arias used Costa Rica "moral authority" as a state with no army to promote his negotiated solution for the region.

Still before assuming the presidency, Oscar Arias made a trip by the countries of Central America and South America, personally inviting the Heads of Government to be present in the taking of being able. When taking the reins from the government nine Latin American presidents met in San Jose. In this meeting President Arias summoned to a " continental Alliance in defense of the democracy and the freedom ". In this opportunity he affirmed the principle of that every Central American can enjoy of the same freedom and guarantee of democracy social and economic, that each nation have the right of choose, by means of selection free and clean, the type of government more suitable for take care of good the necessity and the interest of his town, and that neither the weapon neither the regime totalitarian can take the right of decide by they. Then, guided by Oscar Arias, Costa Rica assumed an active role in the search of the democracy and the peace for the countries of the region.

Dr Oscar Arias has received honorary doctorates of different universities such as those from Harvard, Washington, Illinois, Oviedo, Franklin and Marshall, Southern Connecticut, Dartmouth, Ithaca, and Quinnipiac, as well as of other prestigious educative institutions. He has also received numerous prizes, among them the Prize Jackson Ralston, the Prize Prince of Asturias, the Prize of La Paz Martin Luther King, the Humanitarian Prize Albert Schweitzer, the Medal of the Freedom of Filadelfia, and the Prize of the Américas.