Why Costa Rica Has No Military
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
- Costa Rica is the largest country in the world without an army.
But why did they abolish their military, and how does the country protect itself without one?
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Hey! Costa Rican here! Nice video, pretty accurate and well documented.
We're far from being a developed industrialized nation, but certainly have higher life quality and political standards than our neighbors.
Thanks for sharing part of our history with the world!
I shall add to your comment that power in Mexico + Central and South America seems to have corrupted so many of the leaders that end up punishing their people. Its heart breaking to see so many brothers and sisters from the rest of Latin America seek asylum in our country, 9% of our population is immigrant and the last crisis in Venezuela has shown us some scenarios that should have never happened. We should dedicate a holiday to celebrate the contributions of the refugees and immigrants while making the process more secure.
Blessed is the Costa Rican mother who knows that her son at birth will never be a soldier," Ryōichi Sasakawa
Because other nstion's sons will defend them 😂
@dedeferreira98 probably yes... so far, no one, and for many years, nobody needs to defend CR from anything.
@@johnnylopez5123 because costa rica is protected by the USA.. if CR had no America defending it would be invaded for sure
@@dedeferreira98 as they have no army, they arent a threat to anyone. why would anyone attack costa rica.
@@S1eepers to ocupy because of polítical disagreements? Because of trade? Because they might see it as their rightfull território? Because they might see the leader as a ideological threat? Just because they can? A lot of reasons.. no country just have no army thats just no sense..the ONLY reason why Costa Rica is safe is because América litterally protects the whole country bro.
Investing the army money on education was the key to be one of the happiest countries in the world and the better on the region
As an American I can say our wars have been exhausting and pointless over the past 20 years. Nothing is more dangerous than a politician with a large standing army, they always seem to want to use it.
A strictly regulated defense force such as a National Guard and Coast Guard is good but I would caution a standing army.
In my opinion, the difference between Figueres and many other revolutionary leaders who gained power after a civil war, is that he was a true ideologue. A social democrat, who actually believed in his cause and didn't care much for power for power's sake, didn't believe in authoritarians or dictatorships, and who took power only because he believed it was the only way to save his country, and in the long run he was right. I believe he truly is one of the great leaders of the 20th century, and he is woefully overlooked.
It is a case of a sucessful revolution that changed the culture of a country and gave it an important part of its identity. Grandpas now were born after the civil war in 1948, so dads and grandsons nowadays grew up with the military being something that other countries have. There is controversy about the motivations to abolish the military at the time, but that decision has been benefitial in the long run.
The oddity is that when the winning side of the civil war defeated the government, they did keep their word of leaving power and having democratic elections. And they even kept the social policies of the defeated government (worker's rights and social security)
Of course, there is a minority that would like to have a military back, but usually the big majority want to keep it military free. The 80's were pretty strange, knowing that pretty much all of our neighbours were going through really bloody conficts. That's also a reason why there are so many immigrants from Latin America here in CRC. And that's why we have thousands of Canadians, Americans and Europeans living here as retirees.
It's not a fairy tale here though, we do have poverty, corruption and violent crimes, as it is everywhere, but... it goes slowly but steadily up. Instead of coups now we have the neverending bickering of a modern democracy, pretty much without the fear of descending into caos. Annoying as hell, but works better than the authoritarian ways.
This is not a "poor poor" country, but so far it's been a "middle income" country for quite a few decades. "Third world" no longer fully fits. But what we lack in income, we do make up with freedom of speech and freedom of the press, which is something we do take for granted. I can publish my opinions about our politicians without any nasty consequence. And in my own opinion, we are not afraid of our government. They are more afraid of 'we the people'.
Amazing history! Did not know about this.
Brilliantly put
Thank you 💗
Thanks for the video, info and insight, very well done and presented for teacher and students. My recommendation would be a simple one, try to use the correct (Original) pronunciation of the names. That´s all! Thank you!
Commenting 4 algorithm
Bom vídeo.
yes I did also nice beard
The country has been an example of how it's possible to thrive without an army. And while it's true that not all countries can survive without one, CR isn't in some idyllic peaceful oasis without external conflicts:
Nicaragua, whose dictatorship has been turning the country into a totalitarian state close to Cuba or N Korea, invaded CR in 2010, when troops took a little strip of deserted land and established some military tents.
Luckily it didn't go beyond that, and the costarican answer to it was going to the International Court of Justice, and after some years of the process, Nicaragua was sentenced to retrieve and fix the environmental damage they did.
Not to forget that CR is located in Central America, one of the most violent and dangerous regions of the world not currently in war. While crime and unsafety in the country don't do anything but rise every year, it's been much safer than the rest of the countries in the region. Also, it's been the one country that catches more drug trafficking and responds the best to natural disasters in the region, all that without an army.
Most armies in the world are useless and all they do is delay the progress of their countries☮🕊
Exactly. Latin America has historically shown its inability to control its Armed Forces. It is Costa Rica who did not only realize that but it proved that point to the entire world.
The U after the G is silent in Spanish so its actually pronounced "Figeres".
Beard Wednesday!
Not so chaotic
Nica short fuse
It's the biggest thing we have ever achieved. It's a Solution only for countries without or with very few enemies. Many countries wouldn't be able to do this or it wouldn't be smart
Well i dont know if it was that smart knowing that costa rica has a neighbor dictator state claiming territory.
@@scothf1273 they already invaded us and we won without a kill xD
@@joules_sw That was no invasion lol.
Sooo what would happen if. Nicaragua military invades.. ?
They have not had the resources or interest. Nicaraguans argue that our police system, including frontier police, are a military and that they have more resources than their army, and they might be correct regarding founding, even if we are a neutral country. Our police system is limited, we are not a rich nation, but it is not an army and it seems to be effective as a civil police force. There was an small problem in the frontier at what is called ¨Isla Calero¨ and they were not able to keep it. International courts did meddle in the affair but no outside military needed to intervene. Also, if it was the case, we would be at the mercy of biggger countries (Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, the USA).
Cool! greetings from Costa Rica. Still there are people that hate Figueres and his party as much as people that love it, but a great majority of us are happy without a banana republic´s army.
Also, as it has been mentiond below, we have currently an increasing security problem that the latest governments have been unable to respond to.
Costa Rica has no external threat. So military isn’t needed.
Wrong.
@@scothf1273 ok which countries are a threat to Costa Rica?
@@flip1sba Nicaragua and biggest threat are cartels ruining the country because security in costa rica is a joke.
Thats not reason to not have an army. Things might change tomorrow lol
@@flip1sba Cartels are a big threat.
Also Figueres kinda scamed FIdel castro
Costa Rica 🇨🇷 is in Central America, and Bolivia is in South America my friend 😉, 👍❤️. Pura Vida
And with no gun laws to protect the good citizen... Our lives are in the hands of criminals.. nowadays more than before (10 years ago was totally different its growing fast in a Negative way) ... All that drug smuggling has gotten worse.. Im my case despite those laws I rather choose prison than cemetery... Unfortunetly
Ok how does Costa Rica protect itself from foreign invasions?
We ask other countries for help to bring their soldiers to die for us most of our people are proud of that(Sadly) cero patrotism in this country.
@@scothf1273Thats the only reason Costa Rica has no army.. if no one wanted to protect them they would have one for sure
Lol this is not a good idea 😂