“Oscar Arias: Without a Shot Fired” is the name of the documentary based on the story of Nobel Peace award winner and former two-time president of Costa Rica Oscar Arias Sánchez.

The documentary directed by Dawn Gifford Engle will be released in the Monte-Carlo Television Festival that is taking place in Monaco June 16-20. The synopsis included in the “Festival de Télévision de Monte-Carlo” reads:

“This is the story of a tiny country that made a decision to do something that no other country had ever done — it decided to abolish its army and declare peace to the world.
And this is the story of a young boy who grew up in that country, and how he ended up challenging — and sometimes even convincing — the greatest powers in the world to follow Costa Rica’s example”.

Oscar Arias Sánchez was born in Costa Rica in 1940, he studied law in the University of Costa Rica and then obtained his Ph.D in Political Sciences from the Essex University in England. He became the president of Costa Rica and was in office from 1986-1990. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring peace to the Central America region that at the time was going through devastating civil wars in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, he created the Arias Peace Plan that was presented to the five Central American countries and which was signed in Guatemala in August of 1987. Arias aspired for the presidency again in 2005, winning and running the country from 2006-2010.

This is not the first documentary done about the life and achievements of Arias Sánchez, this documentary however includes information and achievements of his second government including his intervention to get the approval of the Arms Trade Treaty which regulates the international trade in conventional weapons.

Oscar Arias will travel to Montecarlo to be present at the release and he will be received by Albert II, Prince of Monaco, who extended him an invitation.

“Mine is an unarmed people, whose children have never seen a fighter or a tank or a warship. Our experience shows that security does not lie in weapons or fences or armies. More combat planes, missiles and soldiers won’t provide additional bread for our families, desks for our schools, or medicine for our clinics.” -Oscar Arias