Oscar Arias. Illustration by Jorge Ilieff.

Born in Heredia, Costa Rica, in 1941, Oscar Arias studied economics at the University of Costa Rica and later earned a Ph.D. at the University of Essex in England. He served as minister of planning in the government of José Figueres and was elected secretary-general of Partido de Liberación Nacional in 1979. In 1986 he was elected president of Costa Rica, and in 1987 he proposed a regional peace plan to end warfare between leftists guerrillas and the governments of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. In October of the same year Arias was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his efforts.