Natalia Sobrevilla Perea, Professor of Latin American history for the Department of Modern Languages, has recently appeared on the BBC’s Writing History programme in an episode entitled ‘Abolishing the army’.

The programme, presented by Mike Lanchin, considers the example of Costa Rica dissolving its Armed Forces after a brief civil war in 1948. After a brief civil war in March-April 1948, the new president of Costa Rica, Jose Figueres, took the audacious step of dissolving the Armed Forces. Since then Costa Rica has been the only Latin American nation without a standing army. Listeners heard from 94-year-old Enrique Obregon, who served in the military before its dissolution.

On the programme, Natalia commented that: ‘The narrative was that the military was not needed, that the more effective way would be through internal policing. That was a very radical move. [Costa Rica] didn’t really have a very big army to begin with, so it was easier than it would have been in other places… and it was couched in this language of inclusion, modernisation and democracy.’