Students on the ACM Costa Rica program will have the opportunity to meet and talk with Rodrigo Carazo Odio, former President of Costa Rica, when he presents a lecture entitled “Why Costa Rica?” at the program’s offices on Thursday, October 29.
Former President of Costa Rica Rodrigo Carazo Odio (right) with Eduardo Estevanovich.
Carazo, who served as the nation’s president from 1978-1982, is a respected activist in global peace initiatives, human rights concerns, and environmental issues. During his term as president he reactivated the Treaty of San Jose, which set up an Inter-American Human Rights Court in the Costa Rican capital. His also President Emeritus and founder of the University for Peace, a United Nations institution headquartered in Costa Rica.
The lecture is part of the program’s Introduction to Costa Rica course, which examines the country’s history, society, economics, politics, environment, and culture. Program Director Chris Vaughan, who invited Carazo to speak to the students, said that he expects the lecture will explore how Costa Ricans can have a high quality of life while maintaining a small ecological “footprint.”
Eduardo Estevanovich, the Spanish Language and Academic Coordinator of the ACM Costa Rica programs, who has met Carazo, described him as a president who “upheld his dignity, even when that meant sacrificing his own political image. He is a man of peace, a man of dialogue, and an educator.”
Update:
Read about Carazo’s lecture and discussion in the feature story “A President Come to Visit.”
