University Daily Kansan, November 9, 1983
Page 5
CAMPUS AND AREA
TODAY
THE EMILY Tailor Women's resource Center will feature Nan Harper, lecturer in journalism, speaking on "Women in Journalism" in a luncheon career series at noon in Cork II of the Kansas Union
THE COLLEGE HONORS Program will sponsor a brown-bag lunch with John Musgrave, who will speak on the topic of *The Narrative* at 11:30 a.m., in Amy P. O'Donnell's Union
STUDENT SENATE will present episodes of the "Frontline" series produced by PBS on opinions on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington. The first showing will be shown at 7 p.m. in 3 Lippincott Hall.
DUNGEONS and Dragons wil meet at 7 p.m. in the Trail Room of the Lair.
PUBLIC RELATIONS Student Societ
e of America meet at 6 p.m. in the Pine
Bee Center.
CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries Center will include reading from Merton on "Union and Division." at 7:45 a.m.
UNIVERSITY FORUM will feature J. Hartman, associate professor of English, speaking on "The American Language: E Pluribus Unum," at 11:45 a.m. at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries Center, 1204 Oread Ave.
TOMORROW
STUDENT LITERARY Magazine
we meet p.m. in the Governor's
room at the University
of Utah
AN AWARD-winning documentary on national security issues, "How Much is Enough," will be shown at 8 p.m. in the B1 Room of the Union
AMATEUR RADIO Club will meet at the Conference Room of 7 in the
AMERICAN ISRAELI Friendship Organization will sponsor Belt Cafe at 7:30 p.m. at the Lawrence Jewish Community Center, 917 Highland Dr.
GLSOK WILL meet at 7:30 p.m. in the Walnut Room of the Union.
GERMAN CLUB will meet at 3:30 p.m. in the lobby of Spencer Art Museum to tour the Nuremberg display.
STUDENT SENATE will show the film "Marines 65," a Vietnam-era Marine Corp recruiting film, at 7 p.m. in the Council Room of the Union.
STUDENT SENATE will show episodes from "Frontline" at 10 a.m. in the CBS studio.
CHESS, BACKGAMM and GO will meet at 7 p.m. in the Trail Room of the
Costa Rica
continued from p. 1
danger, deteriorating social conditions could eventually create a fertile soil for revolution.
"THE NUMBER OF BEGGARS is increasing, he said. "The neighborhood are getting better."
The threat from the revolutions in neighboring countries and the economic crisis appear to be widely discussed by citizens of the country and KU students from Costa Rica.
Carlos Salas, San Ramon, Costa Rica, graduate student, said that the government was increasingly self-conscious of the dangers of discontent.
"There is no doubt that, in looking back six years, poverty has increased. A democracy with poverty and with a lot of dissatisfied people cannot be maintained." he said.
COSTA RICA GAINED its independence from the Spanish empire on Sept. 15, 1821. Since then the country's only serious external problems have been boundary disputes with its neighbors, Panama on the south and Nicaragua on the north.
Augello said that Costa Rica's tradition of democracy stemmed partly from the country's former abundance of land, but that the period of emigration in the 1950s enabled a traditionally balanced system of landholding.
With a democratic system and solid educational and welfare systems, he said, Costa Rica has traditionally been regarded by the United States as a model of stability in Latin America.
"We have had and has such close ties with Costa Rica that it is of special concern to us," he said. From KU's ties with Costa Rica through the Study Abroad Program, at least one generation of Costa Rican-Americans has sprung.
"WE SHOULD CARE for the same reason that some people claim to care for Israel," Augell said of U.S. interests in the country "H is the best place to do business, left in the Caribbean-Central American region."
“And if we stop caring and if we do not help, there is more than a modium of danger that this so-called 'Switzerland of Central America' may take on us,” he said. “In which in turn could lead to political instability.”
Costa Rica has a literacy rate above 90 percent, a free primary and secondary school system and a working welfare system. If the country is to maintain such systems and democracy, Augelli said, then Costa Rica needs U.S. economic help.
"THE STABILITY MAY not last indefinitely unless certain conditions are met," he said. There is a growing anxiety if the situation does not without significant help, instability will crop up.
Costa Rica, which disbanded its army in 1948, has other worries besides its economic crisis. Because the country lacks an army, it is having difficulties patrolling its borders along the coast and preventing gangs from Nicaragua are crossing the border into Costa Rica, adding to the economic burden.
"We have 15,000 refugees from Nicaragua whom we have to feed, clothe and give medical care," said Salas, who moved to the U.S. in January to earn a graduate degree in Science Education. Indirectly, revolutions in neighboring countries also have hurt Costa Rica's tourism industry, traditionally a source of income as well as national pride.
"Because Central American countries are so small, people tend to bunch them together. People have decided not to go to Costa Rica for fear of revolution," Salas said. "If there is anything we are proud of, it is of being a democratic country."
But Tomasek said some observers and some citizens feared that Nicaragua could be so zealous in its revolutionary fervor that it would try to spread its revolution into Costa Rica.
Costa Rica's Office of Judicial Investigation, the country's "miniature FBI," recently reported uncovering such a Nicaraguan-inspired plot, he said.
"They feel that they have uncovered a big plot inspired by Nicaragua and Cuba to set up an underground in Costa Rica to take advantage of the economic crisis," he said. "According to the investigation, 1,000 Costa Ricans have been hit by the earthquake and still struggle ensue, these underground cells will try to make sure that the strikes continue and that things get out of hand."
RUT TOMASEK SAID he was skeptical about
"I always thought Costa Ricans were so loyal, they would never get 1,000 people in an underground movement," he said. "Costa Ricans are very conscious, they have a strong sense of nationhood."
the findings of the OJI, because he thought Costa Ricans had a strong sense of loyalty to their government.
An attempt by Nicaragua to infiltrate Costa Rica would betray an abysmal lack of knowledge of the Costa Rican character. Tomasek said many of their leaders have lived in Costa Rica.
"For the theory that Nicaragua is interfering, you would have to argue that they are so zealous in their revolution that they misperceive the Costa Rican situation," he said. "Costa Rica is not full of big landholding problems and things of that sort."
BUT IF COSTA RICA has not yet fallen prey to the big, landholding problems, or "latitudine," that are endemic to many Latin american countries, it is not free of the danger of contagion.
Augello said that Costa Rica suffered from a shortage of land available for new settlements. The shortage of land might create the kind of conflict that has been partly responsible for the revolution.
He said Costa Rica was out of its "frontier" days, when land was available to anyone who
wanted a small plot to produce enough to feed a family.
"LAND HUNGER HAS existed for a while in other countries," he said. "In Costa Rica it is new. Abundance of land had given Costa Rica stability. For the first time in 400 years, the 'Costa Rican' 'campesino' does not have access to land. The campesino is unhappy."
Peasants in Spanish-speaking Latin America are known as "campesinos."
The country's popular image overseas has brought investors who have aggravated the land prices there.
THE WORD "LATIFUNDISTA" in Spanish, describes the owner of extensive amounts of land. Agricultural reform in many Latin American countries has been aimed at doing away with the "latifundista" and achieving a more even distribution of land.
"At least some of the 'lattifundistas' are American," Augelli said. "People with surplus capital have come in. If this continues, more than half the land may be owned by foreigners
In the long run, the pressures brought to bear upon the peasant or campesino, coupled with the pressures of an economy in recession, might lead to more crises onions on which revolution thrives. Aguillí said.
"What the hell do you do if you reach a level of desperation?" he said. "You'll try anything. You'll go to the devil himself to change things. Nicaragua reached a level of desperation."
BUT COSTA RICANS have turned to the United States rather than letting economic conditions deteriorate to the point of threatening stability.
Stamister he said thought that economic aid from the United States was essential to the coalition.
Costa Rica, he said, does not produce the kind of goods that are competitive in the international market.
"Latin America does not have the kinds of resources that are that much in demand in world markets and its resources are those that are not very competitive in the world market, like bananas and coffee. Stanser said "The prices are rising." He added that "in the foreseeable future not going to be good."
THE UNITED STATES' interests in the region range from strategic to political and economic. According to State Department statistics, the economic and military aid into the region this year
State Department statistics also show that at least 55,000 Americans now live in the five Central American republics and in Panama. They have at least $4 billion in investments in the region.
In the case of Costa Rica, there is a particular need to care." Augelli said. "Because if we really support democracy, this is the last democracy left in the area that is a functional democracy and if it is allowed to fall, then we are going to be losing."
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