Five Central American Presidents met today at the National Auditorium inside the National Children's Museum in San José to commemorate the 20 th anniversary of a regional peace accord orchestrated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias to end years of military conflict in Central America. All the original signers still alive except Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega attended the event, organized by the Costa Rican government and the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress.
The 1987 peace plan, signed in Guatemala City Aug. 7 by all Central American countries except Panama and Belize, called for national reconciliation, cessation of hostilities, amnesty decrees, free elections, democratization and assistance for refugees, among other things (TT, Aug. 14, 1987). Arias won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in drafting the plan.
“What could we do, in the end, five little nations in the 80s? We were only ants in a land of elephants, just pawns in the great chess game of the Earth,” Arias said at the summit. “The response, which for so many years seemed impossible, today is unquestionable: We could sit down at a table, look one another in the eyes, and talk among ourselves.”
The summit's other speakers included Presidents Manuel Zelaya, of Honduras; Óscar Berger, of Guatemala; Elías Antonio Saca, of El Salvador; and Martín Torrijos, of Panama. They celebrated past successes and identified present and future challenges for the region, such as drug trafficking, poverty and organized crime.
The Arias Foundation distributed a bulletin at the summit with recommendations to strengthen security, democracy and social and economic development in the region. The bulletin was a product of meetings organized by the foundation with government officials and leaders from Spain, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Honduras and Guatemala from April to July this year.
Arias Foundation director Luis Alberto Cordero suggested the Central American Presidents meet again within four months to discuss the bulletin's recommendations.
“We wouldn't want our children and nephews to meet here in 20 or 40 years to commemorate what we did then (in 1987) and lament what we weren't able to do since,” Cordero said at the summit |
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