Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 9, 1990 TAG: 9005090298
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA LENGTH: Medium
Calderon promised a government of national consensus in which private enterprise will be the motor of what he termed "economic democracy."
He also lamented the large federal budget deficit - 6 percent of the gross national product - and said austerity measures would be needed during his first year to control inflation.
"There are economic world powers and military world powers. We only aspire to consolidate ourselves as a world power of disarmament and human rights," Calderon told a crowd of 50,000 inside the national soccer stadium after receiving the presidential sash from Arias and taking the oath of office.
Barbara Bush headed the U.S. delegation to the ceremony. Seven heads of state - including Calderon's four Central American colleagues - were on hand.
Calderon, a 41-year-old lawyer, hailed Arias' work on behalf of peace in Central America. The outgoing president was awarded the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for his authorship of a plan that has promoted, though not completely achieved, peace in the region.
"Halfway down the road toward peace, it is incumbent upon us the presidents of the region to go on to a new phase of the process in which the great goal will not be to silence the roar of the cannons but to finally lift ourselves toward economic development," Calderon said.
Calderon said his government would promote thousands of "mini-enterprises," many of them linked to Costa Rica's burgeoning tourism industry.
Calderon's Party of Social Christian Unity has accused Arias' National Liberation Party of fostering an oversized, expensive public sector. He vowed to "impose order on public finances."
Even so, the similarly centrist ideology of the two groups has been a major factor in keeping the Central American nation of 3 million stable and democratic during decades of turmoil and totalitarianism in Latin America.
The United States has for years used Coast Rica as a "showcase" to demonstrate what democracy in Latin American can achieve. The country has one of the higher literacy rates and living standards in the hemisphere, although much of the progress was made with borrowed money.
by CNB