QCOSTARICA) Make a note on your calendar, December 1 is now officially a holiday in Costa Rica, the day of the abolition of the army.
The holiday is a “Pago No Obligatorio” or a non-paid legal holiday. That is, if you work the day you get paid, if not, no pay.
The new holiday was approved as an amendment to the Labor Code and replaces October 12 (Cultures Day).
The celebratory act took place in the Museo Nacional (National Museum), the former Bellavista Barracks, where on December 1, 1948, the then president of the Founding Board of the Second Republic, José Figueres Ferrer, affectionately known as “Don Pepe”, declared the Army abolished, knocking down the barracks’ walls.
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Among the attendees at the ceremony were Christiana Figueres, daughter of former President Figueres Ferrer and former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Dyalá Jiménez, Minister of Foreign Trade and Don Pepe’s granddaughter.
Missing was former president of Costa Rica and son of Don Pepe, Jose Maria Figueres Olsen.