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Dr. Óscar Rafael de Jesús Arias Sánchez (born 13 September 1941, in Heredia) was the President of Costa Rica from 1986 to 1990. He also received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987.
His presidential term focused on promoting a neoliberal economic model, dismantling social democratic institutions, requiring licensing of the press which was condemned by the Inter-American Human Rights Court, shifting exports from Costa Rica's traditional cash-crops (bananas, coffee) to non-traditional ones (e.g. exotic flowers and fruits), placing more emphasis on tourism as an income source, and trying to undermine the elected government of Nicaragua.
Arias attempted to undermine the Nicaraguan government by refusing to recognize the legitimacy of its government, ignoring violations of the Esquipulas Peace Agreement by enemies of Nicaraguan's government and seeking to have the agreement revised so only Nicaragua would have to follow it, and eliminating international supervision of the implementation of the agreement. He also criticized Nicaragua's government as being heavy-handed in its rule, without criticizing other governments in Central America which arguably were even more heavy-handed in their rule, including his own.
He called for a higher level of integration in the Central America region and promoted the creation of the Central American Parliament (Parlamento Centroamericano). To date, the only Central American country that has not yet signed the treaty is Costa Rica. His period in office has been negatively criticized because of these efforts.
Arias also modified the country's educational system. The most notable action in this respect was the reintroduction of compulsory academic tests at the end of primary school and high school. These measures have been the topic of much debate in the country ever since.