Why Costa Rica Boycotts Caracas
Why Costa Rica Boycotts Caracas I regret to inform you that the Government of Costa Rica has decided not to participate in the Tenth Inter-American Conference at Caracas. My government understands...
...The people have been asked to be patient in the face of internal oppression, to keep their faith in democracy while outside dangers were averted...
...We are convinced that they will no longer endure the postponement of their immediate problem, which concerns their own freedom, on behalf of a world freedom which is, for them, abstract and remote...
...We are presenting this document in full because we believe it describes succinctly the problems which assail democracy in the Western Hemisphere...
...Police torture extracts "confessions" from prisoners, often causing their death, always damaging the prestige of the way of life that the Americas uphold...
...Costa Rica not only respects those reasons, but adheres in advance to any resolutions that may be taken at the conference tending to strengthen American solidarity and the defense of the West...
...This opinion would be silenced by the unanimous participation of all the American states...
...3. The American republics are exposed to the dangers presented by all forms of totalitarianism and tyranny, not only Communism...
...If a third world war should start, or even if the present cold war should continue...
...The grievous experience of Costa Rica, which culminated in civil war in 1948, proved that the "rightist" tyrannies work hand in hand with the "extreme Left," or international Communism, to fight democracy...
...Until now, Washington has shown itself unaware of the damage done to the democratic cause by our toleration of reactionary dictatorships...
...Meanwhile, Communist agitators infiltrate the unions...
...No undue intervention can be found, therefore, in the disapproval expressed by one member of violations of these rights by another...
...Thus, we shall help make the two struggles—the global and the internal—equally evident...
...For these reasons, my cabinet believes that it is fulfilling its duties of Americanism by not participating in a conference held at Caracas under the conditions now prevailing, though it understands the equally respectable motives of the states that convene there...
...These reasons are, fundamentally, the desire to maintain American unity and the necessity to present a common front to possible aggression against the Hemisphere...
...2. The Charter of the OAS establishes the supra-nationality of human rights...
...For half a century, attention has been paid almost exclusively to the global front...
...Communism and other totalitarian movements have been outlawed in my country since 1948, and we have broken diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union...
...The Republic of Costa Rica is boycotting the Tenth Inter-American Conference, which opened in Caracas, Venezuela on March 1. Following is the full text of the letter stating Costa Rica's reasons...
...There are also cases of violation of the right of asylum, with disrespect for the sovereignty of countries that are part of the American system...
...Among them are valuable exponents of American culture and democratic leaders of the political and labor movements...
...We wish to give expression by our absence to a current of thought existing in the Americas which is opposed to holding the conference at Caracas unless there is a change in prevailing conditions as regards respect for human rights...
...My government understands the reasons that move other American states to be present at this conference...
...Constitutional governments are overthrown by coups d'etat and replaced by military dictatorships...
...It is addressed to the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States and is signed by Costa Rican President Jose Figueres on behalf of his entire cabinet...
...However, because of that adherence to democratic and Pan-American principles, which form a part of our own national tradition, we have deemed it necessary, after due consideration by the Cabinet, that Costa Rica abstain from going to Caracas...
...All this explains the loss of faith that is observed...
...It should be mentioned that my country, in spite of its peaceful tradition, was the first in the Americas to bear arms against Communism—in the War of National Liberation of 1948, when the dangers of Soviet penetration were not recognized so clearly as today...
...Costa Rica finds it beneficial to world democracy that, while other American states attend to the general needs of inter-Americanism and Western defense by their presence at Caracas, some country should express—by its absence under present circumstances—the anguish of the peoples sacrificed in the struggle against the totalitarianisms native to this hemisphere...
...Costa Rica's position will be beyond question: We stand with the West, with democracy, with the American hemisphere, and with the leadership assumed in the present world struggle by the United States...
...How can they lose liberties which they do not now enjoy...
...In making this decision, my cabinet was guided by the following reflections: 1. The American system tends to constitute a new world based on respect for representative government, juridical order and liberty...
...This current of opinion holds that we are waging two simultaneous struggles in the Americas: the global fight against outside aggression and the internal conflict between democracy and dictatorship...
...Thousands of honest citizens languish in jail for years without trial, or roam about in exile...
Vol. 37 • March 1954 • No. 10
