Former Costa Rican President and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Oscar Arias criticized the United States' quick use of military force to negotiate world settlements during a press conference at Rockefeller Center yesterday afternoon.
A renowned champion of peace and demilitarization, Arias blamed the world's military and economic superpower, the United States, for not exercising moral leadership.
"I believe this is a war-loving country," he said of the United States.
Arias criticized the United States for not using diplomatic efforts to resolve world conflicts, saying the United States never really tried diplomatic solutions with Saddam Hussein or Slobodan Milosevic. A lasting settlement could have been worked out without the use of force, he said.
He added that America is also responsible for "indiscriminate selling of arms to anyone that has money." Selling arms to nondemocratic countries that violate human rights is morally wrong, Arias said.
Arias, whose childhood dream of becoming president of Costa Rica came true in 1986, told reporters how his Arias Peace Plan of 1987 achieved a diplomatic end to the bloody conflict in Central America.
When Central American leaders meet today, they talk about economic deals and trade, not about amnesties and cease-fires, Arias said.
"We look at the future with hope," he said.
Arias said, countries can live peacefully and safely without a military. The Arias Foundation got rid of armed forces in Panama in 1994 and also in Haiti, which only has a police force, Arias said.
He also criticized the governments of Pakistan and India for "betraying their people" by spending money on arms buildup instead of education.
When asked if Costa Rica, which has had no armed forces since 1948, felt militarily threatened, Arias said, "Our greatest defense is that we are defenseless."
Arias said the world needs to a rely on justice and compassion for a peaceful 21st century, adding that we cannot survive in the next century with the 20th century values of greed, materialism, hypocrisy and militarism.
Calling his passion for peace "a reasoned passion," Arias said, "This [work for peace] needs to be done, it must be done. ... I am doing it because no one else is."
