Oscar Arias and Margaret Tatcher in their younger years
Former President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, on Monday recalled his first meeting with former British Prime Minister, Margaret Tatcher, where he had to convince her to support peace for Central America and the Acuerdo de Esquipulas (Esquipulas Agreement)in June 1987.
As Arias tells it, the meeting was one of the most tense, Tatcher supporting US President Ronald Reagan’s arms policy.
Tatcher finally decided to support the Central America peace process not to be isolated from other Euorpeann communities, even though her vision was different, recalled Arias.
The two leaders met at various conferences around the world in the years following.
Despite their continuing differences of opinion on the arms issue, Arias said he respected the firm attitdue of Tatcher. Costa Rica’s former president noted that the nickname was the “Iron Lady” described her well.
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (née Roberts, 13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013) was a British Conservative Party politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and the Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990.
She was the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century and is the only woman to have held the office. A Soviet journalist called her the “Iron Lady”, a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. As Prime Minister, she implemented policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism.
The former British PM dies after a stroke aged 87.