By Amanda Roberson , Tico Times Staff

Urging other countries to join Costa Rica in denouncing weapons proliferation and promoting education and human rights, President Oscar Arias addressed the U.N. General Assembly in New York yesterday.

Arias’ speech, which was broadcast and translated into English on the United Nations’ Web site, touched on his often-mentioned principles of literacy, development, nonviolence and free-trade, drawing on quotes from the author William Faulkner and former U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy.

“I am convinced that humanity has reasons to be optimistic and that, as Faulkner said, ‘I believe that man will not merely endure — he will prevail,’” Arias said.

Arias also urged fellow U.N. member countries to ratify a proposed Arms-Trade Treaty, which would prohibit the sale of weapons to countries that violate human rights and those that could use them to attack other countries. It also would limit totalitarian nations’ ability to acquire arms, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

Lauding Costa Rica as a country where “children have always marched to school with books under their arms and never with rifles on their shoulders,” Arias said all countries should follow Costa Rica’s example of condemning weapons.

He proposed the creation of a Costa Rica Consensus, which would “create mechanisms to forgive debt and give international financial support to developing nations that invest more and more in education, health and housing, and less and less in soldiers and weapons.”

Alliances of countries such as the G8 use developing countries’ incomes to determine debt forgiveness, the statement said. The Costa Rica Consensus seeks to reward these countries for investing in health, education and infrastructure.

Arias yesterday met with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and the King of Jordan, Abdullah Al Hussein. Today, he plans to join the United Kingdom in presenting a draft of the Arms-Trade Treaty resolution. 

Co-directors of the Costa Rican film “El Rey del Cha Cha Chá” (The King of Cha Cha Chá), featuring Mexican actor Damián Alcázar, announced yesterday that shooting of the movie is complete.

Co-directors Isabel Martínez, from Costa Rica, and Vicente Ferraz, from Brazil, said they are “very excited” about the project, which was completed on a very tight budget, but with “a lot of passion.”

The movie tells the story of Paco Jarquín, the 10 th commander of the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua from 1970-80. Jarquín is hailed as a hero by some Nicaraguans and a traitor by others.

During the 1980s, Jarquín disappeared after an armed conflict with opposition forces along the Costa Rican border, but 20 years later, his wife found out he was living in the country and began searching for him.

The film shows how Jarquín gave up the revolution for his true passion, dancing the cha, cha, chá and teaching dance classes in San José, the co-directors explained.

Alcázar said he traveled to Nicaragua to interview former Sandinista commanders and army officials to research the historical context of the film.

The entire production crew of the film is Costa Rican, with the exception of Alcázar and film students from the Veritas University in the southern San José suburb of Zapote.

The project will now enter the phase of post-production, which will take place in Brazil and Mexico. Co-directors hope to screen it next June in San José.

The movie was filmed in Costa Rica and Nicaragua over a two-month period and cost $670,000 to produce. 

-ACAN-EFE