Fuel for a Coup; The Perils of Latin
America's Oversized Militaries
By Oscar Arias
Latin America is enveloped in a climate of
uncertainty and turmoil that I had hoped our
region would never experience again. The
recent coup d'état in Honduras, which has
embroiled that country in a constitutional
crisis, has provided a sad reminder that
despite the progress our region has made,
the errors of our past are still all too
close. I have been asked by the leaders of
our region to serve as the mediator in this
crisis. Once again, we must trust that
dialogue -- so often scorned as too slow or
too simple -- is the only path to peace and
the light that can guide us through these
dark hours.
This Story
The resolution of the Honduran conflict will
be known in time. Yet we need not see into
the future to know that this incident should
serve as a wake-up call for the hemisphere.
We should recognize that such events are not
random acts. They are the result of
systematic errors and missteps that many of
us have been warning about for decades. They
are the price we pay for one of our region's
greatest follies: its reckless military
spending.
This coup d'état demonstrates, once more,
that the combination of powerful militaries
and fragile democracies creates a terrible
risk. It demonstrates, once more, that until
we improve this balance, we will always
leave open the door to those who would
obtain power through force -- whether a
little or a great deal, approved by the
majority or only by a few. Furthermore, it
shows what happens when our governments
divert to their militaries resources that
could be used to strengthen their democratic
institutions, to build a culture of respect
for human rights and to increase their
levels of human development. Such foolish
choices ensure that a nation's democracy is
little more than an empty shell, or a
meaningless speech.
This year alone, the governments of Latin
America will spend nearly $50 billion on
their armies. That's nearly double the
amount spent five years ago, and it is a
ridiculous sum in a region where 200 million
people live on fewer than $2 a day and where
only Colombia is engaged in an armed
conflict. More combat planes, missiles and
soldiers won't provide additional bread for
our families, desks for our schools or
medicine for our clinics. All they can do is
destabilize a region that continues to view
armed forces as the final arbiter of social
conflicts.
None of this is news. These are skewed
priorities that many of us have spent years
struggling to change. These are skewed
priorities that prompted the government of
my country to propose the Costa Rica
Consensus, which would create mechanisms to
forgive debts and provide international aid
to developing countries that spend more on
education, health care, housing and
environmental conservation, and less on
weapons and war. This initiative would do
more to defend human rights and protect
regional democracies than any agreement or
declaration ever could.
At one time in the history of the Americas,
weapons and armies were associated with
liberty and independence, and with new
opportunities for our peoples. At one time
in the history of the Americas, there were
liberating armies. But today, we have seen
far too many stories of tyranny, violations
of human rights and political instability --
stories traced in the dust by the boots of
our militaries. The liberating army we need
in the Americas today is one of leaders who
come together in peace, in the spirit of
cooperation. We need an army of doctors and
teachers, of engineers and scientists. We
need a force that recognizes that only
through development and liberty, through
education and health care, through better
priorities and wiser investments, can we
achieve the stability we seek.
Two decades ago, when I introduced a peace
plan designed to end the violence that was
sweeping our region, I dreamed of a Central
America that would embrace these principles.
I hoped for a Central America that would
become the world's first demilitarized
region. Despite the tremendous gains and
improvements we have made since that time,
the recent events in Honduras have confirmed
that this dream of peace is as urgent and as
challenging as ever. Those of us who seek to
protect democracies in this hemisphere have
no time to waste. I urge all leaders in the
Americas to see the Honduran crisis for what
it is: an urgent call for the profound
social and institutional changes our region
has delayed for far too long.
Oscar Arias won the Nobel Peace Price in
1987, is serving his second term as
president of Costa Rica.
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