President Oscar Arias and others celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Central American Peace Accords, an initiative that brought him world fame and the Nobel Peace Prize.
Drafted by Arias during his first term as President of Costa Rica (1986-1990), the plan helped end years of military conflict in the region.
The initiative, signed in Guatemala City Aug. 7, 1987, by the presidents of Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, called for national reconciliation, cessation of hostilities, amnesty decrees, free elections, democratization, assistance for refugees, the end of foreign aid to irregular forces, and a ban on the use of any state’s territory for aggression against another.
Arias’ role in drafting the accords won him the Nobel Peace Prize in October 1987.
He used the money – $335,571 – to found the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress, which organized the 2007 commemoration together with the Costa Rican government.
Arias celebrated the anniversary of the peace plan at a summit in San José in August with the presidents of Guatemala, Panama, Honduras and El Salvador.
Nicaragua, which has chilly relations with its southern neighbor, was the only signing country not represented at the summit.
