COUNTRY PROFILE

Anticipating vast mineral wealth, Spanish settlers in the early 1500s named this country: "rich coast." But Costa Rica's riches are found above ground in its fertile landscape, lush with rain forests and dotted with volcanoes. Diseases that came in with the Spanish colonists virtually wiped out the indigenous people, who had no immunity to the European ills. Today Costa Rica's heavily European culture is unique in Central America. After civil war in the 1940s, Costa Rica adopted a new constitution that prohibits an armed force. This Central American country lies between Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south. Its area slightly exceeds that of Vermont and New Hampshire combined. It has a narrow pacific coastal region. Cocos Island (10 sq. mi.; 26 sq. km), about 300 miles (483 km) off the Pacific Coast, is under Costa Rican sovereignty. Roman Catholicism is the official religion, but there is freedom for other faiths. However, other religions are not yet equal before the law, and Evangelicals can be subject to discriminatory legislation and actions by the authorities.

OVERVIEW

Costa Rica was inhabited by 25,000 Indians when Columbus explored it in 1502. Few of the Indians survived the Spanish conquest, which began in 1563. The region grew slowly and was administered as a Spanish province. Costa Rica achieved independence in 1821 but was absorbed for two years by Agustˇn de Iturbide in his Mexican empire. It became a republic in 1848. Except for the military dictatorship of Tom s Guardia from 1870 to 1882, Costa Rica has enjoyed one of the most democratic governments in Latin America. Rodrigo Carazo Odio became president in 1978. His tenure was marked by a disastrous decline in the economy. Oscar Arias Sanchez, who became president in 1986, prevented the neighboring Nicaraguan Contra rebels from using Costa Rican territory as a safe haven, and played a central role in negotiating settlements in both the Nicaraguan and the Salvadoran civil wars. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. Jos‚ Maria Figueres Olsen of the National Liberation Party became president in 1994. He favored greater government intervention in the economy and other measures that the International Monetary Fund disagreed with. As a result, the World Bank withheld $100 million of financing. A border dispute with Nicaragua has threatened Costa Rica's tourism industry in the ecologically rich San Juan River area. Talks between the two nations regarding the border issue began in mid-1999. In April 2000 a court ruled against a plan to partially privatize the state-owned telecommunications and electricity industries. Rodriguez said the proposal was necessary to modernize the economy. But unions bitterly opposed it, staging violent protests and a general strike that paralyzed much of the country for several days.


FACTS

Population: 3.6 million
Capital: San Jos‚
Major language: Spanish
Major religion: Roman Catholicism
Form of government: democratic republic
Monetary unit: 1 Costa Rica col˘n = 100 c‚ntimos
Main exports: bananas, coffee, fish and shrimp and tropical fruit 
Head of government and state: President 

LEADERS


President:
Miguel Angel Rodriguez

In 1998, Miguel Angel Rodrˇguez of the Social Christian Unity Party became president. Rodrˇguez was born in January 1940, and his family (his parents and 5 brothers and sisters) is related to Costa Rica's first President, Jos‚ Marˇa Castro Madriz. Rodrˇguez holds a law degree from the University of Costa Rica, and a masters and a doctorate in economics from the University of California at Berkeley. He is married to Lorena Clare, and they have two adult children. 

OBSTACLES TO MINISTRY

• Conflicts over a border issue with Nicaragua.

• High levels of immorality, alcoholism and spiritism among Roman Catholics.

SPIRITUAL POWER POINTS

• Youth have proved less responsive to the gospel with drug addiction a serious problem.

• Muslim immigrants are small but increasing.

Special thanks to Patrick Johnstone's, "Operation World" publisher, ISBN# 0-310-40031-7; 
and country profiles by eCountries.com and the CIA world fact book