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Costa Rica Bans Arms and
Munitions Manufacturing
Costa Rica's President Oscar
Arias on Wednesday signed into
law a ban on manufacturing arms,
munitions and military equipment
components, including the
nation's duty-free industrial
zones.
The law limits the number of
weapons any individual can
legally own and bans the sale of
guns to minors. It also creates
a cross-department committee to
oversee the improvement of arms
control in the nation.
The new law came in response to
criticisms by opposition parties
and non-governmental
organizations that Costa Rica's
duty-free areas could become a
center for arms manufacturing,
once the legislature ratified a
free trade agreement with the
United States,
Arias dismissed these criticisms
as "unjust".
"No rational mind could permit
the idea that a government led
by a Nobel Prize winner would be
interested in boosting arms
production," Arias declared.
Arias won the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1987 for his contribution to
ending Central American civil
wars.
In 1997, he launched a campaign
to seek worldwide disarmament.
Last September, he told the
United Nations General Assembly
that destroying weapons is "the
best way to bring poverty to an
end", proposing an arms control
treaty for all countries in the
world.
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