UN General Assembly
1958

100. I should like to make a brief reference to Costa Rica in support of the position taken by our delegation on the question of disarmament. Since it gained its independence, Costa Rica has always maintained a markedly civilian tradition. It has preferred teachers and schools to soldiers and barracks. We can truly say that we have never had an army. We have always lived in a state of disarmament. The limited quantities of weapons acquired recently, breaking with this tradition, are now being exchanged for agricultural implements. The machete for clearing paths and the plough for opening furrows in the soil have, throughout our history, been the expression of our pacifistic creed and of the civilian bias to which I have referred. Nevertheless, the Costa Ricans have known how to handle a rifle or a cannon in their defence.