Is it true?

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(CR) Zadkiel (yo)

That's right. No army. Or... our army is the Education, and the soldiers are the teachers.
There's no pressure from US to buy arms and weapons. And yes, it helped a lot 'cause government can invests in more and better education and social security for costaricans and perople from other countries.
Regards
Zadkiel

Judy

I agree with Jacob. Costa Rica invested in education. It has one of the highest literacy rates in Latin America: 96%

Tony Camonte

Yep, no army, although there are special police units with automatic weapons. Basically, the US and other countries would help it if it were invaded, and since its a stable democracy, it has no need to use the army to repress revolts, which is what armies have most usually been used for in Latin America. Instead, they have invested in education and even universal free health care, and in spite of having a per capita income similar to Mexico, their very high literacy and life expectancy and low infant mortality are closer to first world levels.

Part of the reason for abolishing the army was so they don't have to worry about military coups, which have been a big problem in other countries. Even the police in CR are kept pretty weak...

yellowstone

Costa Rica abolished its army after the revolution of 1948. During the cold war we supported Costa Rica as a "true" democracy and it was located between two countries controlled by the U.S. until the 80s (Nicaragua & Panama). Not having an army freed money to pay for public works and education.

divine_1848

Yep, CR has no army. The county pools its money into valuable resources such as education and health care instead. The country has a pretty strong relationship with the US (partly due to past involvement in the US involvement in the Sandinista-Contra conflict years ago, but that's a whole separate story), so most CR citizens feel confident that they would receive protection from the US if the country was ever attacked.

Mike

Yeah, you are correct, there is no army.

BUT the police walk around with machine guns strapped to their shoulders.

The US does not pressure the sale of arms and weapons.

Costa Rica is a very poor country, many live below the poverty line... the GNP is very low... but although the people are poor, most still live a descent life.

But Costa Rica knows that they dont need an army... the US would come to their rescue should either of their neighbors invade them, so why would they want to invest all that money?

Also, their Coast Guard is well armed....

Jay R

Everything stated above is pretty much true, Costa is called the Switzerland of Central America. It is safe and the people are wonderful. Except they will steal your flip flops if you leave them on the beach unattended while surfing.

Purple i

it is true. they put most of that money into the education system. there are alot of schools over there.

The Preacher's Husband

o really?!? wait till george bush hears about this

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