Haiti, Costa Rica and Militarization 1/25

Institute for Public Accuracy
980 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

ROBERTO ZAMORA,  http://www.peaceasahumanright.org
     In Washington, D.C. and New York City until Jan. 27, Zamora is a
Costa Rican attorney who successfully fought for the adoption of peace
as a human right in the Costa Rican constitution. He said today: "The
persistence of militarization stands in the way of much of what needs to
happen. We see this now in Haiti, where local groups are saying that the
military deployment is hindering relief efforts."

     While in Washington, Zamora will be meeting with members of the
Human Rights Commission of the Organization of American States regarding
his petition challenging the constitutionality of the "free trade"
agreement, CAFTA. He said today: "Now, there's the danger of Costa Rica
becoming a technological sweatshop for the development of weapons
because of their inclusion of war machinery items in the trade agreement
with the U.S. (CAFTA). In 2008 I successfully stopped President Arias'
first attempt to allow the production of weapons in Costa Rica, but as
of 2009 the Central America Free Trade Agreement allows the production
and exportation of weapons in Costa Rica to the United States. How could
two Nobel Peace Prize Laureates [Arias and Obama] promote a trade
agreement that includes war machinery?"

     He added: "Costa Rica was the only country that signed CAFTA that
added war machinery as acceptable items to be exported to the United
States. This violates the constitution of Costa Rica and the newly
recognized right to peace that many of us worked hard to achieve."

     Zamora's legal work in Costa Rica has also been credited with
obliging Costa Rica to withdraw from the "coalition of the willing" that
supported the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. Then in 2008 he won a legal
challenge that made Costa Rica the first nation to write into law "peace
as a human right" and nullified sections of the "Arms Decree" of
President Arias because the importation and manufacture of weapons
violate the right to peace and a healthy environment. In September 2009,
Zamora was the keynote speaker at the UN DPI/NGO Conference on Disarmament.

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167