Costa Rica has sometimes been called
“the Switzerland of Central America”
because of its stable government and economy.
In fact, Costa Rica
is the 13th happiest place in the world,
just a few spots behind Sweden and
other European countries famous for their generous welfare states.
[LIPTON]: Costa Rica punches above its weight.
[HOST]: But how did Costa Rica escape the corruption,
instability, and violent political struggles that have plagued
many Latin American countries during and since the Cold War?
And emerged as the region’s “happiest” country?
[LIPTON]: Our statistics about Costa Rica
are remarkably good, much better than her neighbors,
and up there with the Scandinavian countries
in terms of what makes people happy.
[HOST]: That’s Dr. Judith Eve Lipton, a psychiatrist
who has co-authored several books with her husband,
David Barash, on war and its social impact.
Their latest book, “Strength Through Peace,” looks at
how Costa Rica achieved its surprisingly strong happiness score.
So let’s take a look back in time to find some answers.
In 1948, a civil war broke out in Costa Rica.
The civil war was fought between Costa Rica’s Communist Party
and a National Liberation Army lead by José Figueres.
Figueres won the 44-day war and became Costa Rica’s provisional president.
And he began making a few key decisions
that would help Costa Rica avoid the same fate
as its neighbors and set up a stable democracy.
First, the country’s government made the decision
to demilitarize after the war.
Its defense minister had proposed abolishing the military
to free up government funds that could be spent on education and healthcare.
Figueres then introduced the proposal
to Costa Rica’s constitutional assembly.
It was approved and added to the country’s new constitution.
While Figueres’ actions in 1948 were pivotal,
Lipton points out that demilitarization was possible because historically,
Costa Rica didn’t have to worry too much about external conflicts.
[LIPTON]: Costa Rica has a unique history compared to either Nicaragua
or Panama or the country's north of Nicaragua.
In effect, it was left out of historical conflicts that go back about 400 years.
From sixteen hundred till the present
foreign empires, colonialism, and so forth
weren't very interested in Costa Rica.
[HOST]: But this wasn’t Figueres only decision following the civil war
that kept Costa Rica safe and stable.
He banned Costa Rica’s Communist Party,
sending the civil war’s losing side into exile.
By banning communism,
Costa Rica avoided uprisings at home and becoming
a direct target of the United States for the rest of the Cold War.
In fact, the country benefited from U.S. foreign aid in the 1960s and 70s.
In the coming decades, the country’s neighbors
in Central America wouldn’t be so lucky.
Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador
all had political conflicts during the Cold War
that drew in the United States and set the stage
for the instability facing those countries today.
But even though Figueres banned the Communist Party,
he struck a conciliatory deal with the civil war’s losing Communists
called “the handshake at Ochomogo.”
The Communist forces agreed to peacefully surrender the war,
and Figueres said his government would
expand Costa Rica’s social programs.
The expansion of social services was written
into the country’s new constitution,
which also banned the army.
And in the decades following 1948,
living standards rose and Costa Rica became
one of Latin America’s leaders in healthcare and education,
all while avoiding a slide into authoritarian communism
or becoming a Cold War target of the United States.
And today,
Costa Rica is still benefiting from the decisions
the government made during these early years of the Cold War.
In fact, this Latin American country,
whose name means “Rich Coast,”
is the happiest country in the region,
according to a 2018 Gallup World Poll.
And the country has remained proud
of its progressive tradition on issues
like the environment, human rights, and democracy.
But things in Costa Rica might be changing.
In last year’s election, Costa Rica’s current president,
Carlos Alvarado Quesada, managed to triumph over his opponent,
Fabricio Alvarado Munoz, an evangelical senator,
whose platform of opposing gay marriage
and sex education in schools,
gained more support than one would expect
for a conservative campaign in Costa Rica.
Some observers see Munoz’s success as a bad omen
for Costa Rica’s social and political stability down the line.
While the rest of Central America continues to grapple
with violence and poverty sending citizens north,
Costa Rica remains a model to the rest of the region…
For now.