Luis Alberto Monge
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Luis Alberto Monge Álvarez was the President of Costa Rica from 1982 to 1986.
Before becoming President in 1982, he served as ambassador to Israel, was one of the founding members of PLN(Partido Liberacion Nacional)-"National Liberation Party" in 1951. He was also named a deputy in the Legislative Assembly, at age 24, making him one of the youngest to reach such rank.
Monge inherited an empoverished and distraught nation. The biggest issues his presidency dealt with were: the unmanageable economic crisis, the mounting foreign debt and the Sandinista-Contra crisis involving Nicaragua, the U.S. and Costa Rica's northern border region. In dealing with the country's economic situation, he began austere programs on public spending, eliminated many government subsidies to various activities and promoted exports and receptive tourism.He eliminated export and production taxes. Monge also reformed monetary law, and forced all foreign currencies to go through the national bank system. A lot of his efforts payed off, reducing inflation and unemployment. During Monge's term, Costa Rica procclaims an alignment with all "occidental democracies" and begins to work closely to the governments of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala,while its relationship with Nicaragua continued to deteriorate. By then, the United States was involving itself in suppressing further socialist revolts in the region and sees Costa Rica as a stable ally to base their operations against Nicaragua's Sandinista government. The U.S. imposes an commercial embargo against Nicaragua, facilitating the deepening of the rift between Costa Rica and its northern neighbor. Unwillingly, Costa Rica becomes too involved in the United States' struggle to topple the Sandinistas and in an attempt to pull away, proclaims Costa Rica as as an active, neutral nation. With Costa Rica still in the midst of an terrible economic recession, Monge opts to exchange sovereignty for economic stability by giving in to American pressure and accepting financial assistance from the U.S. government in exchange for allowing the CIA to set up small "unofficial" strategic outposts along the northern border.
Shortly after becoming President, Monge travels to Israel, where without knowing about the UN Security Council Resolution 0478, he raised the national flag on Costa Rica's embassy building. He defined his actions as "excersising sovereignty".
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