| Oscar Arias Sanchez is the current president of the | | | | By the time Arias became the president of Costa |
| country of Costa Rica. He first assumed office on | | | | Rica, the Central American countries were engaged in |
| May 8, 2006 and is currently serving his second term. | | | | violent and long-running civil wars. In May 1986, |
| He had first been elected president on May 8, 1986 | | | | President Arias was one of the five Central American |
| and served until May 8, 1990. | | | | presidents that attended the first Esquipulas Summit |
| President Arias is best known as one of the driving | | | | in Esquipulas, Guatemala. |
| figures behind the end of the Central American civil | | | | The summit resulted into a Peace Plan which was |
| wars during the 1980s. For his efforts, Oscar Arias | | | | submitted on February 15, 1987. From this peace plan, |
| Sanchez received the Nobel Peace Price in 1987. | | | | the Esquipulas Peace Process was drafted. The |
| Aside from that, President Arias was also awarded | | | | Process was a framework for resolving conflict and |
| the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism. The | | | | for economic cooperation between the beleaguered |
| Economists for Peace and Security also accepted him | | | | Central American states. |
| as a trustee. President Arias is a member of the | | | | Another summit was then held by the five Central |
| Board of Directors of International Criminal Court's | | | | American presidents including Arias, which resulted to |
| Trust Fund for Victims. | | | | the "Esquipulas II" accord that was signed on August |
| Personal History | | | | 7, 1987 in Guatemala City. |
| President Arias was born on September 13, 1940 in | | | | Despite rejection by the United States due to its |
| Heredia, Costa Rica. He was born to an upper class | | | | recognition of the Nicaraguan Sandinista regime, the |
| family, a status which made it possible for him to | | | | accoes was successful as it paved the way for the |
| undergo secondary schooling at the Colegio Saint | | | | 1990 reconciliation and ending of the 30-year |
| Francis in San Jose, Costa Rica. | | | | Guatemalan Civil War, and the peace agreement in El |
| After finishing his secondary schooling, Oscar Arias | | | | Salvador. |
| Sanchez flew to the United States in order to study | | | | Arias' efforts led to the awarding of the Nobel Peace |
| medicine in Boston University. However, he changed | | | | Prize, although there are criticisms that he has |
| his mind after a while and returned to Costa Rica. He | | | | plagiarized propositions made by Vinicio Cerezo of |
| finished law and economics instead at the University | | | | Guatemala as his own. |
| of Costa Rica. To continue educating himself, Arias | | | | Second Presidency |
| flew to the United Kingdom in 1967, where he went | | | | The Costa Rican judiciary formerly forbade former |
| to school in the London School of Economics. Eight | | | | presidents from running for a second term. However, |
| years later in 1974, he received a political science | | | | in 2004, the Constitutional Court made a very |
| doctorate degree from the University of Essex. | | | | controversial decision removing that restriction. |
| The Costa Rican president is also the holder of over | | | | Following that, Arias announced his intention to run |
| 50 honorary degrees from different universities. | | | | for a second presidency opposite Otton Solis, Otto |
| The National Liberation Party and his First Presidency | | | | Guevara, Ricardo Toledo and Antonio Alvarez. |
| Arias joined the Partido Liberacion Nacional and ran | | | | Solis and Arias were the foremost among the five |
| under its banner for president in 1986. The PLN is | | | | presidential candidates. Competition was stiff, with |
| known for being the party under which several | | | | only a 0.4% or 3,200-vote difference after the first |
| popular Costa Rican presidents belong to, like its | | | | count. Voters who abstained from voting for the |
| founder Jose Figueres. Under the same banner, Arias | | | | other candidates even voted for Solis at the last |
| achieved victory. | | | | minute, resulting in the thin margin of votes. It was |
| He then went on to shift Costa Rican economy to | | | | seen as an effort to prevent Arias from winning. |
| focus on non-traditional agriculture and tourism, which | | | | One of the first decisions he made on his second |
| some of his own party mates critized as shifting to a | | | | Presidency was to end Costa Rica's recognition of |
| neoliberal economic model. The PLN, after all, focuses | | | | Taiwan as the Republic of China, and instead |
| on social democrat teachings, which they claimed | | | | recognized the mainland People's Republic of China. |
| Arias abandoned during his administration. | | | | Tendinitis |
| President Arias also reinstated the standard academic | | | | Just recently, on May 20, 2008, President Arias was |
| tests that students have to take upon finishing | | | | diagnosed as having a nonmalignant cyst on his vocal |
| primary and secondary schooling. He also pushed for | | | | cords by the Philadelphia Ears, Nose and Throat |
| the creation of the Central American Parliament, | | | | Associates. Doctors then advised him not to talk for |
| although currently he announced Costa Rica's | | | | a month, after which surgery may be performed if |
| non-participation in the Parliament. | | | | his condition did not improve. |
| Esquipulas Accord | | | | |