The Article 12 of the

Constitution of Costa Rica The Constitution of Costa Rica is the supreme law of Costa Rica. At the end of the 1948 Costa Rican Civil War, José Figueres Ferrer oversaw the Constituent Assembly of Costa Rica, Costa Rican Constitutional Assembly, which drafted the document. ...

abolishes

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

's army as a permanent institution, making Costa Rica one of the first countries in the world to do so as the current Constitution was enacted in 1949. Costa Rica is one of the few countries without armed forces and, alongside

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

, one of the few that is not a

microstate A microstate or ministate is a sovereign state having a very small population or very small land area, usually both. However, the meanings of "state" and "very small" are not well-defined in international law.Warrington, E. (1994). "Lilliputs ...

. However, like Panama, Costa Rica does have limited military capacities with its Public Forces which have both police and defense functions and had taken part in military operations since 1949. Contrary to popular belief, the article does not really completely abolish the army, it only establishes that the army cannot be a permanent standing organization The article does establish that Costa Rica may create an army for national defense or for international cooperation, but also clarifies that it will always be submitted to civilian authority. The date of the abolition of the army is celebrated in Costa Rica as a national holiday.

Text of the article

English translation according to the site CostaRicanLaw.com:

Historical background

Costa Rica's army was abolished soon after the end of the 1948 civil war by decision of the Constituent Assembly and the enactment of the Constitution on 31 October 1949. Costa Rica's Army headquarters, the Cuartel Bellavista in the capital San José, is transferred to the

University of Costa Rica The University of Costa Rica (Spanish: ''Universidad de Costa Rica,'' abbreviated UCR) is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro Mo ...

and is where currently ''

Museo Nacional de Costa Rica The Museo Nacional de Costa Rica is the national museum of Costa Rica, located in the capital of San José. It is located at Calle 17, between Central and Second Avenue, Cuesta de Moras. It moved to its current location in 1950.caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; osp, cabdillo, from Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise definition of ''caudillo'', which is often used interchangeably with " ...

of the war

José Figueres Ferrer José María Hipólito Figueres Ferrer (25 September 1906 – 8 June 1990) served as President of Costa Rica on three occasions: 1948–1949, 1953–1958 and 1970–1974. During his first term in office he abolished the country's army, nationa ...

is credited for its abolishing. Whilst some critics point his motivations more as an effort to avoid an impending coup (and indeed Costa Rica hasn't had a coup since 1949, something unusual for the region) others reasons have been signaled including the fact that the army at the time was made mostly of foreign mercenary of the

Caribbean Legion The Caribbean Legion ( es, Legión del Caribe) was a group of progressive Latin American leaders, exiles, and revolutionaries in the 1940s, with the aim of overthrowing dictatorships across Central America and replacing them with democratic govern ...

or that it was obsolete and an unnecessary expend of resources that were redirected on

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

and

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

. Despite this, Costa Ricans in general show pride for this event and the country has a very rooted

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

and

anti-militarist Antimilitarism (also spelt anti-militarism) is a doctrine that opposes war, relying heavily on a critical theory of imperialism and was an explicit goal of the First International, First and Second International. Whereas pacifism is the doctrine t ...

culture.

Criticism

Criticism about the issue are split generally under two camps. On one side critics mostly on the left of the spectrum who question the effectiveness of the measure and consider that Costa Rica's abolishing of the army was in name only, and that for all effects Costa Rica still has a pseudo-military on the Public Forces, which are not only used for internal repression like any other army, but also get involved in both domestic and international US-lead military operations. The opposite criticism come mostly from

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

circles who question the decision of not having an army and advocate for its re-installment.

References

{{Constitutions of Costa Rica Military history of Costa Rica Constitutions of Costa Rica Pacifism