Oscar Arias Quotes
When Harvard University opened its doors in 1636, there were already well-established Universities in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru.
Oscar Arias, President of Costa Rica, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Culture Matters, Foreign Affairs, January – February 2011
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Chile under Pinochet was the center for Operation Condor, and in addition it included Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. These countries all were committing wholesale murders and disappearances of, in Scherrer’s words, “leftists, communists and Marxists”. The Condor agents assassinated many abroad who just opposed their methods including a Chilean national in the Untied States and an American friend. Scherrer discovered the identity of some of the Condor terrorist criminals. The US government was very ambivalent as an innocent American had been murdered together with a visiting foreign visitor in Washington DC, by being blown up by a car bomb. At the same time the CIA and others in the government had been aiding the Condor governments but generally did not realize how far these right wing governments were going although some Americans knew, For example, the military through the School of the Americas {588838} taught the South Americans interrogation techniques including torture methods that were illegal in America. The desire to keep the extent of the atrocities secret and the extent of American support of the governments conflicted with the desire to find and punish the terrorists who were killing Americans and others on American soil.
Chile with help from San Martin had ejected the Spanish. O’Higgins, the Chilean leader had joined up with San Martin and served under his command. The sectional rivalry bothered men like Carrera. Instead of seeing all the South Americans fighting the Spanish as allies as O’Higgins did, Carrera and his brothers refused to join a government of unity and they and their troops were just as dictatorial and cruel as the Spanish had been. O’Higgins gave Indians and Blacks equal rights with whites which distressed the aristocratic Carrera’s. Finally the Carrera’s tried to set up their own government, and the new Chilean government disarmed their militia and executed two of the three Carrera brothers who were leading the militia troops who were little more than thieves and brigands.
The newly independent South American nations all had terrible problems and although leaders like O’Higgins were democratic by instinct and desire, they had to use non democratic means to survive and keep the governments even functioning. The factions were more than just different political parties but private armies controlled by warlords. See {584187}.
The Peninsula was the term used to describe Spain. At the time there were various wars and conquests of Spain and Portugal and by referring to the Peninsula everyone knew what was referred to independent of the latest battle or revolution.
The Louisiana Purchase was part of a much larger grand vision for American expansion.
The “New” system had reformed very slowly {41427} and then had been spurred by Congress passing the Morrill Act which established land grant colleges in each state provided they taught practical things as well. President Buchanan twice vetoed the act as Southern states preferred the “old” style. But in 1862 it passed again and in one of the great American reforms in the midst of the Civil War, most of our great State Universities got their starts when Lincoln signed the act.
Óscar Arias Sánchez is a Costa Rican activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He was President of Costa Rica from 1986 to 1990 and from 2006 to 2010. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his efforts to end the Central American crisis. He was also a recipient of the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism and a trustee of Economists for Peace and Security. In 2003, he was elected to the board of directors of the International Criminal Court's Trust Fund for Victims.
