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Nobel Laureate to Martelly: Restoring Haiti army a bad idea
Martelly later conceded that Haiti had other priorities, namely improvements to the country’s health care and education sectors, but that he stills sees a need for the armed force. Martelly last month announced that he would form a commission to define the agenda of the military but that has yet to materialize.
In his letter, Arias turns to history to show why he believes Haiti doesn’t need an army. He notes how Costa Rica was once bordered by two countries with dictatorships but its absence of an army, he wrote, allowed the nation to be viewed as an ally.
And since 1995, when Costa Rica’s neighbor, Panama, disbanded its army, the two nations have shared “the most peaceful border in the world,” wrote Arias, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his peacemaking efforts in Central America.
“It is not by chance that these two countries also have the most successful economies in Central America, because the money we once spent on our armies is (now) invested in the education of our children and the health of our citizens,” Arias wrote.
He added: “To reinstall the army would be an error, and that is why I cannot keep silent.”
Martelly spokesman Lucien Jura couldn’t be reached for comment Monday night.
Copyright 2011. The Associated Press.
