Nobel-winner Arias eyes Costa Rica presidency again
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SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) -- Former Costa Rican president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias has announced he will run for president in 2006 after the country threw out a ban on leaders being reelected.
"I cannot say no to the people, if they believe that I can help them more than others," Arias told a local radio station late Thursday.
Arias, who governed Costa Rica from 1986 to 1990, was awarded the Nobel prize for peace in 1987 for his work on a regional peace plan.
Costa Rica has long been the most stable country in Central America. It was a beacon of stability in the 1980s as much of the rest of the region was hit by civil wars.
After enjoying a healthy economy in the 1990s, it is now grappling with a high fiscal deficit and was hit last year by strikes over conditions the United States is demanding in exchange for a free trade deal.
Costa Rica last year abolished a 1969 law banning presidents from standing for re-election and a court ruled that the country's leaders may stand again, providing they leave a gap of eight years after standing down.
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Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
