How long was oscar arias president

We intend to show that peace is both the prerequisite and the fruit of progress. He said in that his focus on social issues ranked among his top successes.

His administration pointed to a reduction in extreme poverty and the introduction of a school dropout prevention program, Avancemos, as solid accomplishments. However, Arias faces criminal charges for breach of duty stemming from a probe into whether he failed to uphold his presidential responsibilities by allowing a Canadian gold mine to operate in Costa Rica in In , Arias penned a letter to the country in The Tico Times explaining why he was not seeking a third presidential term.

Though Arias did not seek a third term, he has remained active in Costa Rica through his foundation and as a supporter of human rights. That included his backing of a nuclear disarmament plan that was presented at a conference in Austria in , according to The New York Times.

We work hard to keep our reporting independent and groundbreaking, but we can only do it with your help. Support the Tico Times. Tico Times. Sign in. Forgot your password? Get help. They did not reach full agreement, but early in Mr. Arias succeeded in calling a new meeting at which he submitted his own peace plan which served as basis for the accord approved in Guatemala on August 7.

After his first term, President Arias worked hard to promote his new ideas concerning the human safety, the global government and the human development. In , following fierce demands of the Costa Rican people to have him back, he started a new political campaign to run the country. After his optimistic and positive campaign, President Arias was elected on 5 February for the four following years.

In Mr. Arias served as mediator in the Honduran constitutional crisis between Manuel Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti but did not manage to untie the knot between them. His term ended in — the year when Laura Chinchilla was elected the first female President of Costa Rica. He was on the fast-track within the PLN. Teaching political science at the University of Costa Rica, Arias was offered—and accepted—the crucial post of minister of national planning and political economy on the cabinet of Pepe Figueres, again president.

He distinguished himself in his new position and became known for fair-mindedness and for attempting to de-ideologize social tensions in his nation. He held that cabinet post from to , and also rose to a position of major power within the PLN itself, being named its international secretary in , and later, in , its head of party, or general secretary.

From to he served in the national legislature, where he became known for legislation making the government more accessible and responsive to the common people, leaving that position to help lead the successful campaign of PLN standard-bearer Luis A.

Monge, elected president in Two years later Arias relinquished his duties as PLN general secretary to devote all of his energies to his own presidential campaign.

His slogan was "Roofs, jobs, and peace," at a time when the national economy was in stark recession and Central America was badly torn by the insurgencies in Nicaragua and El Salvador.

He gained his party's nomination easily, but the election was a close one, and when he took the oath of office on May 8, , he did so on the strength of As president, Arias did his best to realize goals outlined in his earlier books, most notably in Costa Rica in the Year , in which he foresaw a more equitable distribution of wealth, more justice and better earnings for farmers and urban workers, a more open "accessible" government, and a true rule of law for all.

He acted as he had written, as a non-radical, non-ideological populist. It was in the realm of foreign affairs, however, that President Arias made his greatest impact. He successfully kept Costa Rica neutral in the threatening Central American upheaval.

While he had little sympathy for the undemocratic Marxist Sandinistas in Nicaragua, he successfully resisted pressures from the Costa Rican right wing and Washington to aid and abet the anti-Communist Contra guerrillas. He also refused steadfastly to re-arm his nation, believing that diplomacy was the best answer. To that end he collaborated fruitfully with the governments of the region, met with their leaders, and was a major force in the Contadora Peace Plan first broached in The following year he produced his own ten-point peace plan, a plan that was applauded in a nonbinding resolution in the United States Senate March with but one dissenting vote.

It was agreed to and signed by all five Central American chief executives on August 7, The plan stressed withdrawal of all foreign elements from the insurgencies, total amnesty, cessation of hostilities, and democratization free elections as well as absolute recognition of national sovereignty. Although the plan agreed to and signed did not result in immediate peace, it showed President Arias as a genuine international statesman, and the nobility of its ten points convinced the Nobel Prize Committee to award the Peace Prize to the Costa Rican.

Constitutionally unable to succeed himself, Arias relinquished power in April to opposition candidate Rafael A.