Abolishing the army
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 4 April 2019
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After a brief civil war in March-April 1948, the new president of Costa Rica, Jose Figueres, took the audacious step of dissolving the Armed Forces. Since then Costa Rica has been the only Latin American nation without a standing army. Mike Lanchin has been hearing from 94-year-old Enrique Obregon, who served in the military before its dissolution.
Photo: Costa Rican soldiers in San Jose after the end of the civil war, April 1948 (Credit:Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:34.4 | My name's Linda Davies and I commission podcast for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:38.3 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely |
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| 1:07.0 | Hello and welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Mike Lanchin. |
| 1:17.0 | You've probably heard of Costa Rica or even gone there on holiday. |
| 1:21.0 | It's well known for its echotourism, its rainforests and volcanoes, |
| 1:26.8 | and for being a haven of peace and stability |
| 1:29.8 | in a turbulent and violent Central American region. A lot of that is perhaps down to the fact |
| 1:35.6 | that 70 years ago, after a very short civil war, Costa Rica abolished its army, the only country in Latin America ever to do so. |
| 1:47.0 | It was in December of 1948 at a ceremony in the capital San Jose that President Jose Figueres, |
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