In a ranking that measures the level of peace in countries around the world, Costa Rica is 28th out of 161 countries overall and 1st among Latin American countries ranked (Note 1). This ranking scores factors such as violent crime and homicide, the volume of arms imports, and deaths due to conflict, and Costa Rica obtains scores closer to peace, including for its low incidence of internal and external conflict. This is thought to be related to its history of abolishing the national army in 1948. In May 2020, the country even designated December 1 as Abolition of the Army Day, and the principle has been carried on to the present. Why did Costa Rica abolish its army, and what happened afterward? This article takes a closer look at peace in Costa Rica.

A museum with bullet scars from the conflict (Photo: Adam Jones / Wikimedia Commons [CC-BY-SA 2.0])

Historical background of Costa Rica

Costa Rica, located in Central America, borders Nicaragua and Panama and had a population of about 4.99 million as of 2018. Looking back at its history, nomadic peoples settled in Costa Rica around 1000 BCE. Influenced culturally by both Central and South America, small communities were formed across what is now Costa Rican territory. Over the first centuries CE, larger groups emerged, and some groups had political hierarchies.

In the 16th century, as in other countries in Latin America, it was conquered by Spain. In the course of Spanish colonization, many Indigenous people lost their lives due to violence. Settlers from Spain also brought infectious diseases, which claimed many more Indigenous lives. It is said that the Indigenous population, which stood at 120,000 in 1569, had declined to around 10,000 by 1611. As in other parts of Central America, plantations were established, and people brought from the African continent as enslaved laborers were forced to work there. However, because Costa Rica was far from Guatemala, the center of Spain’s Central American colonies, and had few natural resources, there was less intervention from Spain compared to other Latin American countries. As a result, people living there more often worked in subsistence agriculture.

Compared with other plantations in Latin America, Costa Rica’s plantations were not very large, and the number of enslaved workers was relatively small. Among Spain’s colonies, Costa Rica was the poorest, and even settlers themselves were in a state where they could not sustain their livelihoods. Because of this hardship, settlers found it difficult to “buy and maintain” people as slaves and often freed them from that status. Consequently, compared with other parts of Central America, slavery in Costa Rica collapsed earlier. On the other hand, even after emancipation, those who had been enslaved were not regarded as Costa Rican citizens, and their legal status was not recognized.

Around the 19th century, Spain’s colonial rule weakened due to wars, and autonomous governments began to appear within the colonies. In 1821, the five Central American countries, including Costa Rica, dissolved their ties with Spain without armed conflict. After independence, it was found that Costa Rica’s natural environment was suitable for coffee cultivation, which had been introduced in 1779, and coffee began to be produced in large quantities for export to Europe. Around 1899, the U.S. company United Fruit Company began to enter and started banana production as well. Workers on large banana plantations were exploited with low wages, and dissatisfaction grew.

Coffee beans harvested in Costa Rica (Photo: DirkvdM / WikimediaCommons [CC BY 1.0])

In the early 20th century, World War I caused a global slump in trade. In Costa Rica, exports of coffee, on which the economy depended, decreased significantly, and tax revenues declined accordingly. President Alfredo González Flores proposed tax reforms that increased taxation on capitalists, but capitalists and coffee producers in Costa Rica who opposed these policies formed an anti-government organization. Its leader was the then Minister of Defense, Federico Tinoco Granados. The opposition led by Granados launched a military coup in 1917 and established a military regime for about 2 years. The public rebelled, and demonstrations broke out in various cities. Tinoco Granados tried to suppress them by dispatching the military, but the armed uprisings intensified. In 1919, to ensure his safety, Tinoco Granados resigned the presidency and went into exile. With the democratic appointment of a new president, the dictatorship ended.

Armed conflict and the abolition of the army

After the political turmoil subsided, Costa Rica began in earnest to engage in a border dispute with Panama. While there had been friction over the location of the border, in 1914 the U.S. Attorney General arbitrated and issued a ruling demarcating the border, but Panama did not withdraw from the Coto region, which had been decided as Costa Rican territory. In 1919, citing Panama’s failure to withdraw, Costa Rica invaded the Coto region. Panama responded, and a conflict broke out between the two countries. Although Costa Rica once occupied the Coto region during the conflict, Panama ultimately took it. However, the United States intervened for the benefit of the United Fruit Company, which wanted to expand land for plantations, and Panama, yielding to U.S. pressure, ceded the Coto region to Costa Rica. Benefitting from U.S. intervention to resolve this dispute, the role of the national army against external threats declined in Costa Rica, leading to the weakening of the army.

When the Great Depression struck in 1929, Costa Rica’s economic situation deteriorated like that of other countries. This period saw large-scale strikes, and social dissatisfaction with the government grew. In response, President Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia, elected in 1940, expanded social security to gain workers’ support while also imposing authoritarian rule that did not tolerate political criticism. This violent regime generated discontent among workers, and merchants and landowners who enriched themselves by exploiting workers on coffee plantations began to resent Calderón Guardia’s welfare policies. Despite this background, in the 1944 election Teodoro Picado Michalski, who advocated the same policies as Calderón Guardia’s successor, was elected president. This election was later suspected of fraud. As a result, hardline opposition groups that had been active since the Calderón Guardia administration warned that they would resort to armed conflict unless a fair election was held, intensifying confrontation between the government and some citizens.

Soldiers of the National Liberation Army (Photo: Arturo Sotillo / Flickr [CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0])

In this context, in the February 1948 presidential election, the opposition won 54% of the vote. Dissatisfied, the Picado Michalski camp petitioned the legislature for a re-election and sought to nullify the result. As the legislature then had a majority from the Picado Michalski camp, the petition was accepted and the election was declared void. In response, José Figueres Ferrer, a political activist who had been exiled due to political persecution, led an anti-government force into armed conflict. With support from revolutionaries in Central America and the Caribbean seeking an end to dictatorship, Figueres Ferrer formed the National Liberation Army and fought the government forces. The conflict lasted 40 days and resulted in 2,000 deaths, making it one of the largest armed conflicts in Costa Rican history. The government army had weakened since the aforementioned conflict with Panama, and the National Liberation Army, which had combat advantages, including experience fighting dictatorships outside Costa Rica, prevailed. In April 1948, Picado Michalski resigned the presidency and concluded a peace agreement with Figueres Ferrer. The agreement stipulated that Figueres Ferrer would continue to govern as a provisional governing junta for 18 months.

During that period, Figueres Ferrer implemented various reforms. Politically, he expelled thousands of citizens who supported the previous president, Picado, and outlawed the Communist Party, which had been a support base for both Calderón Guardia and Picado Michalski. Socially, he raised wages for workers on plantations such as coffee, and granted suffrage to descendants of those who had been enslaved and lacked legal status, as well as to women. The most significant transformation in Costa Rica was the declaration abolishing the permanent national army. This abolition was declared on December 1, 1948, and was written into the constitution that was enacted on November 8, 1949. Why abolish the army? Several factors can be cited. One was that the existing army’s leadership included figures opposed to Figueres Ferrer’s policies, which was expected to hinder policy implementation. In addition, the government army still intended to continue a dictatorship and could not reach an agreement with Figueres Ferrer’s National Liberation Army. Moreover, since U.S. intervention in the incident with Panama, the traditional army had been weakened and had little meaning for national defense internally or externally, creating conditions that made the abolition of the army more feasible.

Security system after abolition

So how did Costa Rica ensure its security after abolishing the army? In 1949, Figueres Ferrer reorganized the organization that had functioned as the army into a Civil Guard composed of 1,000 police officers and 700 coast guard personnel. Until then, Costa Rica had no formally trained police organization, and all public security had been the work of the military. Thus, the Costa Rican police were established for the first time at this point. Officers of the Civil Guard were newly appointed from various administrative bodies, and all previous military ranks were changed. To prevent power struggles within the guard, no rank above colonel was created, and changes were made to avoid producing overly powerful officers, thereby eliminating the force of a military. However, since Costa Rica had no experience establishing a formal police force, it should be noted that, aside from the changes described here, the initial structure resembled the former army.

Subsequently, the police organization continued to be strengthened, and the number of civil police, which was 1,200 in 1949, had risen to 4,500 by 1978, an increase. In addition, between 1949 and 1964, more than 1,600 Costa Rican police officers participated in U.S. military training projects. Furthermore, in 1964 an official police academy was established in Costa Rica, and officers were trained as a police organization focused on maintaining internal security rather than as a military. In the 1970s, a local police force was established alongside the Civil Guard, and as of 1978 it consisted of 3,500 officers.

It is also worth noting the equipment of Costa Rica’s police. The police in Costa Rica only possess small arms such as rifles and machine guns, and do not have tanks or armored vehicles, fighter jets, or artillery like the militaries of many countries. They do have light helicopters and observation Cessna aircraft, but there is a shortage of helicopters, creating problems such as difficulty accessing certain areas of the country.

Costa Rican police (Photo: Matthew Warner / Flickr [CC-BY-NC 2.0])

Later, more sophisticated police units began to be established in Costa Rica. In 1982, the Special Intervention Unit (UEI), a special forces unit, was created. About 70 officers selected from police units receive advanced training, and the government states it is not a military. However, in 2014 it was dispatched for U.S. military training, carrying out full-fledged military exercises. Some lawmakers criticized this deployment, and it has been controversial in Costa Rica as well.

Challenges for Costa Rica

Although Costa Rica has abolished its army, this does not mean military threats at home and abroad have disappeared. One such issue involves various disputes with neighboring Nicaragua. Just 11 days after the abolition of the army was declared on December 1, 1948, an organization supporting former President Calderón Guardia invaded Costa Rica from Nicaragua. However, there was no domestic support within Costa Rica, and the incursion was contained by a force composed of volunteers assembled domestically under a state of emergency. Although a military crisis was averted, the rift between Nicaragua and Costa Rica deepened decisively at this point. In 1954, Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle accused Costa Rica of aiding revolutionaries who had attempted to assassinate him, heightening tensions between the two countries. Moreover, anti-government forces from Costa Rica, including former President Calderón Guardia, had taken refuge in Nicaragua, and the Nicaraguan government supported them militarily.

In 1955, Costa Rican anti-government groups entered the country from the Nicaraguan side and occupied the Costa Rican town of Villa Quesada. Costa Rica denounced Nicaragua and requested military support and an investigation from the Organization of American States (OAS). When the OAS investigation announced that supplies for the anti-government groups were being provided from Nicaragua, Nicaragua stopped its support. In the meantime, the United States sold fighter aircraft to Costa Rica and provided other military assistance, and later the town was retaken by a force composed of volunteer corps and the Civil Guard. The OAS actively intervened, pursuing Nicaragua’s responsibility and placing observers along the border. U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon mediated, and the conflict was resolved. However, the rift between Costa Rica and Nicaragua did not heal thereafter.

Furthermore, tensions with Nicaragua have extended to border disputes. Even after both countries agreed on a border arrangement in 1858, disputes over the border have continued between them. In recent years, a border dispute that erupted in 2010 became a major issue. Nicaragua and Costa Rica draw their border along the San Juan River, with Costa Rican territory beginning from the south bank of the river. However, in recent years, as the river has dried up and the riverbanks have expanded, Nicaragua began to claim that the border had shifted north—i.e., that Costa Rica’s territory had extended into Nicaraguan territory. Citing the need to restore the river’s flow, Nicaragua carried out dredging operations. Dredging refers to civil works that remove sediment from the riverbed. The Nicaraguan military in charge of this work crossed the border and occupied part of Isla Calero along the San Juan River. Regarding this, the Nicaraguan commander, Edén Anastasio Pastora Gómez, claimed that a look at Google Maps showed part of Isla Calero belonged to Nicaragua and asserted the occupation was legitimate. Indeed, at the time, Google had mistakenly displayed 2.7 km of Costa Rican territory as belonging to Nicaragua. Immediately after this statement, the map was corrected, but the Nicaraguan military continued the occupation without withdrawing. Costa Rica issued an arrest warrant for Pastora Gómez and took legal measures such as suing Nicaragua at the International Court of Justice, while also showing moves such as deploying the aforementioned UEI special unit unit. In the end, there was no armed clash, and Nicaragua paid Costa Rica the compensation amount ordered by the ICJ.

Beyond issues with Nicaragua, there are also security challenges involving organizations from other countries. Since the 1980s, Costa Rica has begun to be used as a transit point for drug smuggling from Colombia to the United States. In the background was the involvement of the Colombian rebel group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which carried out organized crime such as bringing drugs into the country in collaboration with domestic operators in Costa Rica. FARC also moved assets into Costa Rica to hide them from the Colombian government, operating across borders. In response, Costa Rica cracked down and has even arrested FARC affiliates. In coastal areas that can serve as drug-smuggling routes, Costa Rica also conducts operations against suspicious vessels together with the U.S. Coast Guard. As of 2020, 15 tons of cocaine had been seized, indicating the scale of the drug problem. In addition to cooperation between coast guards, the United States provides support to Costa Rica for counter-narcotics measures, such as donating new interceptor boats and funding police training.

U.S. and Costa Rican coast guards seizing narcotics (Photo: Coast Guard News / Flickr [CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0])

Toward a peaceful nation

Despite the various challenges described above, there are no signs that Costa Rica will restore its army. The country has also promoted its own peace branding in other ways. One example is the establishment of the UN University for Peace in Costa Rica. The University for Peace is a higher education institution specializing in peace studies, and thanks to proactive efforts by the Costa Rican government in the 1970s, its establishment was approved by the UN General Assembly in 1980. Its operation is not conducted directly by the UN but is entrusted to the university itself as a UN institution. There, students mainly study fields such as peace and conflict studies.

Costa Rica has also taken an active stance in diplomatic measures for peace. In the 1980s, many Central American countries were embroiled in struggles between communism and capitalism against the backdrop of the Cold War. These ideological conflicts often escalated into armed confrontations between governments supporting one ideology and anti-government forces supporting the other, with the United States and the Soviet Union providing support and military intervention to their respective sides. In Nicaragua, for example, the conflict intensified, and the United States supported the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN), composed of people expelled by the Sandinista regime, in an attempt to overthrow the socialist Sandinista government. The United States also sought cooperation from Costa Rica, Nicaragua’s neighbor, to allow the presence and activities of the anti-government forces it supported. In response, Luis Alberto Monge, who became president of Costa Rica in 1983, declared Costa Rica’s neutrality and showed no intention to intervene. In 1986, the United States again sought Costa Rica’s cooperation, but the then president, Óscar Arias Sánchez, also refused. Instead, he proposed a regional peace plan for Central America, calling for ceasefires in ongoing conflicts, the holding of free and democratic elections, and amnesty for political prisoners. Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua signed these plans together with Costa Rica. Although the agreement was not implemented due in part to U.S. opposition, Arias Sánchez was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. This demonstrated that Costa Rica was committed not only to its own peace but also to promoting peace in Central America.

Óscar Arias Sánchez giving a speech (Photo: OEA-OAS / Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])

Thanks to the abolition of the army, which enabled greater investment in education, healthcare, and infrastructure, Costa Rica has the second-lowest infant mortality rate in Latin America, and as of September 2021 its school enrollment rate isthe highestin Latin America.In addition, Costa Rica offers a relatively comprehensive universal health insurance system, and the World Health Organization (WHO) considers Costa Rica to have the best health system in Central America,stating so.Perhaps as a result of such improvements in welfare, whereas Costa Rica’s GDP grew at an average annual rate of 1.3% from 1920 to 1949, between 1951 and 2010 Costa Rica’s GDP growth rateincreasedby 2.3%. This is the second-highestfigurein Latin America. The country is also focusing on environmental conservation, specifically a national decarbonization plan in 2019 launched to eliminate dependence on fossil fuels by 2050.

Although Costa Rica puts peace at the forefront in this way, it still faces many challenges domestically. As noted at the beginning, the peace level uses various indices, and peace is deeply connected not only to the military aspect but also to internal conditions such as public safety. For example, the expansion of criminal groups within the country is a source of concern for Costa Rica. These criminal groups are actively engaged in illegal gold mining, oil theft, and drug trafficking as described above. The homicide rate has been on the rise in recent years, and in 2017 it reached the highest level to date, raising concerns about public security.

What it means to be a country without an army

As described above, while Costa Rica has no national army, abolishing it and playing the role of a peaceful nation is by no means easy. While facing threats such as confrontation with neighboring Nicaragua and the expansion of drug organizations, Costa Rica seeks to address these issues by means other than maintaining an army. This philosophy of Costa Rica is sometimes appreciated by other countries. For example, there is the view that “the United States cannot afford to undervalue Costa Rica, which adheres to not having a national army, more than countries it calls allies and protects militarily.” In 1994, Panama also abolished its army. Panama borders Colombia, with which it had long been in a state of conflict. To prevent the Colombian rebel group FARC from entering the country, the National Border Service was in charge of guarding the border, and there were security challenges; however, like Costa Rica, it did not choose to restore its army.

Thus, abolishing the army does not mean doing nothing to address surrounding threats. Opinions will likely remain divided on abolishing the army as a response to such threats, but Costa Rica may be worth watching as one guidepost for the future.

Note 1: The Global Peace Index published by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) defines peace as the absence of violence and objectively measures the relative peacefulness of 162 countries.

Writer: Maika Ito

Graphics: Hikaru Kato

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