About Me

Hello! My name is Kenneth Jimenez and I am from Houston, Texas. I have Salvadorian and Costa Rican roots, which I am very proud to say and embrace it. I am currently attending Washington & Jefferson College and I plan to graduate with the class if 2021. I am pursuing a History major with a minor in Latin American studies and Special Education.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

In order to make the most of your college career, I firmly believe being involve in campus will give you great experience. I am a brother of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, part of W&J Men's Varsity soccer team, a member of Latino Culture and Student Christian Association, I am a current SWAG mentor for a fellow Houstonian, and I am going to be a Resident Assistant for the 2018-2019 school year.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Before attending Washington & Jefferson College, I never thought or seen myself studying abroad. I only been to El Salvador a few times to visit family, and I thought I would not visit other countries unless I had the money. That all change when I first came to W&J. The idea and opportunity to study abroad is heavily emphasized on campus, so I decided to take the opportunity and to take part of the Magellan project. I was also given the opportunity to travel to Germany and Poland during spring break as part of a German film class, and the travel was beyond amazing. Not only I was able to travel to a continent I never set foot in, but I was also doing research and field study while abroad. This not only help me learn more of foreign culture, but it has helped me learn how to navigate on a foreign setting and sharpen my research skills that will be necessary for my upcoming Magellan project.           

Washington & Jefferson College The Magellan Project

The Magellan Project is a program exclusively offered at Washington & Jefferson College. During the summer months, students are able to conduct a study, study abroad, and particiapate in internships. The Magellan project also offers the Franklin Internship award, which helps students intern in both domestic and international programs. This is a great opportunity to not only travel abroad, but to also take the opportunity to immerse themselves into a completely different and rich culture. Washington & Jefferson College will also help students with support and funding necessary for their projects. 

There are two parts for the Magellan Project. The first part of the application is where the applicant answers several questions about their proposed project. If a student submits a location but wants to change their location, they are welcomed to do so.

The second part of the application is the formal application. It is more detailed than the first part of the application. It asks for specific details such as why you chose the location of your project, what is your project, and what are the actions you are planning to take while doing your project. This part also ask for you to provide several personal statements, such as how does this project connects to your personal life (and intended major), your aspirations and goals coming from this project, and ultimately what will they bring back to W&J. Last but not least, your budget. This includes transportation, lodging, food, research costs, personal contribution, etc.

My Magellan project initially was to investigate how a country participating in the world cup can help economically and personally in a country. My country of choice was Costa Rica. How ever, I decided to change my proposal and project overall. Costa Rica is one of the few countries in the world who does not have a operating military. Costa Rica is one if not the safest country in Latin America. This is big shock for me, since El Salvador and Honduras (one of the most dangerous countries in the world) are only one country away from Costa Rica. Central America was also a major hot spot for conflicts during the cold war, in which Costa Rica was able to stay away from. I also personally visited in El Salvador, and I seen both armed police and soldiers around. Going to a country where neither the police is heavily armed or the military is not present will definitely be a culture shock, but also a interesting experience.

I will be conducting interviews and surveys at Costa Rica National University (UNA). More specificly, I will be working with the History department. I want to know more of Costa Rican history and know what has led and effected the decision they took to abolish the military. I also want to know how the students feel about the nation not having a military. I intend to have a survey where it ask "Do you feel Costa Rica should restart and fund for a military?" with three answers: Yes, Neutral, and No. This will also come with a section where they will explain why they chose the answer. These surveys will be anonymous and chosen randomly throughout the history classes at UNA.

Background information before conducting the interview/surveys

Before starting the project, I had the opportunity to speak with the director of UNA's history department, Douglas Calderon. As we see throughout the history of various Latin American countries, it is plague with conflict and violence. Costa Rica had a military since the colonial times, and the military the country had in the 19th century was very powerful compared to its neighborhood countries.

Just like any other Latin American countries, Costa Rica faced many internal conflicts. One of the early conflicts Costa Rica faced was the invasion of Nicaragua, led by American William Walker. How ever, Costa Rica was not only able to push Walkers forces out of Costa Rica, but push them far back into Nicaragua.

In 1948, Costa Rica suffered from its  bloodiest civil war the nation ever faced. The 44 day conflict, starting in March 12th to April 24th, was fought between the National Liberation Army (Led by  and the Costa Rican government. This was the result due to accusations of fraud after the presidential elections were held earlier that year in February. Otilo Ulate won the election, but with the false accusations made by not only the government but also the people, the holding president Picado demanded a recount. The next day, half of the ballots were burned, which resulted into the elections to be annulled, and the unpopular president Picado remained in power.

Jose Figueres, a old time rival of Ex President Calderon (support President Picado and his rise to power) returned to Costa Rica after being in exile for nearly six years. While tension grew in the government, he took the opportunity to capture the airport in San Isidro, which was used to airlift foreign arms and the Liberation Army was assembled. President Picado declared a siege of the state, and used Costa Ricas army, borrowed troops from the Nicaraguan army, and utilize banana workers from the communist unions in order to fight Figueres Liberation Army. Figueres was supported by the US and Guatemala. The conflict saw a loss of 2,000 lives, the most of any Costa Rican conflict. The war ended with a peace treaty and president Picado stepped down from presidency. Figueres served as a interim president for 18 months, and during that time he helped draft the new constitution.

Great change came when Figueres was in power. The communist party was abolished (this was done in order to get economic aid from the US), voter rights for women and blacks, various social reforms just to name a few. How ever, the action that not only shocked Latin America but the world was Figueres decision to abolish the military. This was done during the start of the Cold War, which in that time was necessary to maintain an army due to global conflicts.
There are many factors leading towards the abolishment of the army. For starters, as history showed repeatedly throughout Latin America, militaries would constantly take control of the government. This would be done through military coups and dictators ensuring their control by utilizing the militaries. Figueres did not want another dictator to rise once again in Costa Rica nor want lives being taken away due to a ruthless leader. Other benefits from abolishing the military is the economic benefits of not having a military budget. For an example, the US currently have a military budget that the senate approve of a $716 Billion. In the eyes of the Costa Ricans, having their budget focus solely on the military is not only unnecessary, but a waste. According to Figueres, the money can be spend on other important areas such as education and healthcare.
From the military abolishment, the standard of living in Costa Rica shot up dramatically. In the 1950's and 60's, various hospitals and schools were built thanks to the increase budget the nation. Life in the rural areas of the country improved greatly, and those living in poor communities now have access to almost equal healthcare and education opportunities to those who are wealthy. Young men are not required to do military service as seen in other countries, so their lives would be disturbed or paused in case of a national threath. Costa Rica also managed to have peaceful relationships with neighborhood countries, and was able to avoid armed conflicts since they did not posses an army to sen troops to. Despite being defenseless, Costa Rica have military protection from nations such as the United States. The abolishment of the military proved to be highly beneficial and is an exemplar of a peaceful nation.

Interesting Results

As mentioned before, I created a survey for the students at UNA and the results truly shocked me. I turned in the surveys to director Douglas, and he spread the surveys throughout the history classes he teaches. In total, 27 surveys were filled out anonymously. Before asking the question, I gave a little brief of the purpose of the survey and asked the question: "Is it necessary for Costa Rica to create and maintain a military?." It gives three options, Yes, No, and Neutral. I honestly believed that many students and youth will now feel that Costa Rica should have a form of a military branch. Their police force is well and seen around the country, but in case of emergency, the police force might not be able to handle the situation properly as a military would. A form of military, such as a national guard, could be started in Costa Rica and managed well. How ever, the results from the surveys beg to differ. Out of the 27 surveys, 25 of the students strongly believed that Costa Rica should not start up or invest in a military. A common comment throughout the surveys mentioned that investing in a military would effect other areas such as healthcare and education, something Costa Rica invest heavily.                                                                                                              "Due to the cost it would generate, I do not see this viable in a country like Costa Rica, where it currently has other problems. How ever, I think it is necessary to improve and strengthen the police force to combat crime in the country at an internal level and out of the budget" For the neutral comment, I could see in a perspective why this student chose neutral. Costa Rica currently has a major drug problem. Costa Rica is a popular route for drug cartels, and the police are struggling to keep the situation under control. Unlike the US where it has a specific group to fight the war on drugs (FBI DEA,) Costa Rica only has a national police with no specific units to combat different situations. This has made their fight against drugs difficult, since police are not specifically trained in search missions or how to deal with captures involving drug transportation. This student believes a specific unit should be created, but it should not be invested with the current budget the county has. As stated before, many Costa Ricans  believes in not investing a single dime in armed forces or special units, as it should be strictly used for education and health care. "Armies and their expenses are a huge expense for the nations that have them, in general they had a conflicting history and they are not politically stable. It seems to me that it is a method of control and repression and its expense can be used in education or art. Costa Rica does not have a military-oriented culture either, I really doubt that anyone wants to die in battle for their homeland." Latin America itself has history with politically unstable governments or ruthless dictators abusing their military power. We see this with Chilean dictator Pinochet (1973-1990,) the 1976 "Dirty War" in Argentina where Rafael Videla used the military to overthrow the Argentine president, the Salvadorian military government repressing us protest, just to name a few. Many lives has been lost due to the abuse and battles to bring change in their nation. Costa Ricas military was not known to be as abusive as its neighboring countries, but it has been utilized during times when the nation was political unstable. Just as Figueres mentioned and believed in, the military can control of the government take over as the wish and lives will be lost. Since the abolishment of the military, Costa Rica has not seen an individual use force to get into power, nor be repressed by a military force. Not only investment in public interest has been well, but also the safety and culture overall from the Costa Rican society has been at peace. Countries that invest heavily into their arm forces are doing so at a high cost. For example, in the US, their military budget is an estimated 679 Billion USD (59% of total US cost.) US spending on healthcare and education is significantly lower, with healthcare having a budget of 53 billion (5% of US budget) and education with 61 billion USD (nearly 5% of US budget.) No other country comes close to the US in terms of military spending, and we can see how major military spending affects other crucial budgets in any nation, especially in the US. Lastly, it structs to me of the final sentence of this students comment. He stated, “I doubt anyone wants to die in battle for their homeland.” This stood out to me because it is common to hear young adults in various part of the world to be willing to die for their homeland. However, due to Costa Ricas having a very peaceful society, it is seemed that war is not even thought about. While I met people at the local park while joining pick up soccer games, I took the opportunity to ask a few of them what they think of my research project question. One of the young adults mentioned he never had the thought of picking up a weapon and use it, since owning a firearm is almost blasphemous in the Costa Rican society. Another young adult also said he does not feel another country would invade Costa Rica, since they have been able to have peaceful relationships with neighboring countries. Possibility of war, internal or external, has a very low chance of occurring in Costa Rica. "For the reason that Costa Rica has carried its political life for many years in a good way, betting on the dialogue to solve their conflicts. Likewise, the money that an army requires is invested (or at least that is how it should be), in public sectors that are most needed, such as health or education." Costa Rica greatly looks up to Oscar Ariaz Sanchez, former president from 1986-1990 and again in 2006-2010. A Nobel Peace recipient (1987) set Costa Rica tone and peace morals on the national level. During the 80’s, Central America was plagued with civil wars and brutal dictatorships. It all started with an leftist revolution in Nicaragua led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) that became successful. This motivated guerillas from the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) in El Salvador to start an arm conflict. Guatemala was already in an ongoing armed conflict from the 60’s that only escalated in the 80’s. Honduras had several years where pockets of guerillas were confronting the military and terrorist attacks were becoming frequent. Costa Rican President Oscar Ariaz Sanchez decided that enough was enough, and took the initiative to start peaceful negotiations within Central America to deescalate the ongoing violence. Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Costa Rica joined together for an emergency meeting in 1986 to discuss possible peace solutions for their respective nation. President Sanchez did not allow the US to partake in this meeting. It was started to be known that the US were providing aid to the oppressive Salvadorian military government and utilizing Hondurian ground to conduct military missions against the Sandinista government. President Sanchez also denied the US to establishes bases in Costa Rica in order to help the Contras fight the Sandinistas. This was strictly only Central American countries. The proposed a regional peace plan for the Central American countries that would set a date for cease-fires between government and guerilla forces, ensure amnesty for political prisoners, and schedule free and democratic elections in those countries. Arias and the leaders of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua signed this plan in August 198. Unfortunately, the plan was never fully implemented, mainly because of opposition from the United States. Despite the outcome, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to president Sanchez on his efforts and surprising methods to bring peace in war torn Central America. Ever since this event, the Costa Rican government and society firmly believes conflicts can be resolved without the slightest use of violence. Many violent events that has happened historically could have been avoided if peace talks were first taken instead of violent attacks. Former President Oscar Ariaz Sanchez (86-90/06-10) "Because the income that is used to sustain an army, currently in Costa Rica is used to cover expenses in education, health or protection of national parks. On the other hand the Costa Rican culture is does not focus to be part of an army-culture, so that the formation of an armed force would be little internalized and monitored by the people." "It is not necessary for Costa Rica to create nor maintain  a military, especially when its society has been consolidated under parameters in which an army would be obsolete. It is true that insecurity and crime exist, but I dont believe that it is problematic to the point that the crime would be solved with an military force. Armed forces can fight conflict, but they can never eradicate them, only education, training in art, culture, sports, etc. can generate a safer, more inclusive and less criminal society. The army would require millions and would be useless." Using armed forces to combat crime may seem as an solution to ending the crime, but in reality it can worsen the situation. This trend is very commonly seen in Latin America, where various countries have deployed military units to combat crime head on. For example, in the northern triangle (Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras,) violence has increased when the governments deployed military units to provide “security” from the vicious gangs. Although they do provide security to a certain extent, shoot outs has increased between the units and gangs, and it has contributed to the increasing death toll. Police/Military abused has also risen since the deployment of military forces. Masked soldiers in a neighborhood entrance in El Salvador In El Salvador alone in 2014-2015, 92% of the human rights complaints were against security forces. This statistical fact and others factor alone supports this student comment in the aspect where military could not eradicate the problem. It is true that crime exist in Costa Rica, but it is not as problematic as the crime rate in the northern triangle. The investment needed to maintain a military cost millions, and would greatly affect the great healthcare and education budget Costa Rica currently possesses. Crime can be decreased when alternative programs for youth such as soccer clubs are offered, since it can influence the youth to be on a positive path away from crime.

Final Thoughts

Visiting Costa Rica was truly an amazing learning experience. I took this opportunity to compare my visits to El Salvador and Costa Rica.

In Costa Rica, I was able to take public transportation at ease. I was not concerned that someone might have walked in on the bus to steal from me, and I was able to walk freely in Heredia. This is very different for me, since in El Salvador that is not the case. Gangs constantly raid public transportation for extorsion, often having everyone currently on the bus pay the extorsion fee. Also, I was not able to walk freely in El Salvador as I did in Costa Rica. Neighborhoods and markets are separated by gangs "marking" their territories. If I decide to visit a friend who is in a different neighborhood controlled by a different gang, my life would be at risk.

Although police are heavily seen in both Costa Rica and El Salvador, there are major differences. Salvadorian police are often armed with an assault rifle and face mask to protect themselves from being recognize (this happened after gangs started to retaliate against the police.) In Costa Rica, how ever, they are not heavily armed nor have face masks. Also, the Salvadorian police would usually travel in groups of three up to five, while Costa Rican police traveled by two. What also saddens me is that not only there are armed police patrolling in schools, but also soldiers standing guard while students leave their school. This shows how extreme the violence have become in El Salvador, and the risk people from all ages take. In Costa Rica, on the other hand, students were able to leave school without worrying if they will be in harms way. I also saw young students walking home in groups and sometimes even alone, which took me by surprise.

Salvadorian police at a crime scene

Costa Rican police at a sporting event.

People in Costa Rica are generally happy. After all, Costa Rica has been named happiest country on earth on several occasions. While traveling in San Jose (nations capital,) I did not run to anyone rude or someone who was in a bad mood. When ever I asked strangers for directions, they happily gave me directions and even recommended me spots to visit. Also, the term "Pura Vida" (Pure Life) is heard all around. It is said as greetings, saying good bye, or simply when you see a friend at the park. You can sense the peacefulness and overall happiness in the nation, something I pray for Central America to finally achieve after the plague of violence it has experience. Costa Rica is a perfect model for any country to follow, especially the US. I'm not saying the US should abolish the military like Costa Rica did, but to simply cut down the military spending and invest in other crucial areas of our budget. We can see a similar change if not maybe a better model than Costa Rica.