Clear coast for mine-free Costa Rica. (Inter-American System).

On December 10, 2002, Costa Rica declared itself to be the first mine-free country in the hemisphere. Mines and explosive devices had been buried in hills and arroyos and along bridges and roads during the war years of the 1980s and had remained in place for fifteen years.

Supported by the OAS Comprehensive Action Against Anti-Personnel Mines (AICMA), the Costa Rican officers of the antimine unit, or sappers, located and destroyed 338 mines scattered along the Nicaraguan border in the Provinces of Guanacaste and Alajuela, in addition clearing over 155,000 square yards of land. Thanks to that action, previously contaminated areas could again be used for farming.

"We have prevented 338 injuries or 338 deaths, which is a source of great pride and satisfaction for us," said Luis Alonso Rosales, an OAS international supervisor.

Six years earlier, AICMA had begun collaborating with the Costa Rican government on mine clearing, preventive education, and victim rehabilitation. Conclusion of those operations fulfilled the country's final commitment under the Ottawa Convention, which called for the destruction of anti-personnel mines within a period of approximately ten years following entry into force of the convention for a signatory state. Costa Rica signed the convention in 1997 and ratified it in 1999.

Fortunately, fewer mines than expected were found in Costa Rica. When AICMA began its work, about five thousand mines were estimated to be on the border; however, that number was gradually reduced as operations progressed. As is also the case in other countries of the region with the same problem, this was because there were no maps showing the minefields.

"There were no records of the mined areas, and for us it was like looking for a needle in a haystack," said Freddy Santamaria, chief of mine-clearing operations in Costa Rica's Ministry of Public Security.

In order to destroy a mine, the sapper group requires, in addition to international supervision by the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB), an evacuation helicopter, a paramedic, and life insurance. "If any one of those elements is missing, mine-sweeping operations in the area could not continue," said William McDonough, coordinator of AICMA.

Mine clearing and destruction of devices were carried out in accordance with the international standards of the UN. While there were no accidents involving program personnel during those activities, operations were not completely trouble-free. During Hurricane Mitch in 1998, landslides dislocated buried mines and made them hard to pinpoint.

Further setbacks were caused by lack of an air-evacuation unit. And operations were halted in January 2002 because of a decline in donations by the international community due to, among other factors, the events of September 11. In October 2002, the OAS General Secretariat convoked a meeting of donors to invite countries to double their efforts in support of mine removal in Latin America, emphasizing the seriousness of ending a program like Costa Rica's for lack of funds.

A preventive education campaign, conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Security in local schools and communities near the mined areas, distributed educational material such as posters, photos, pencils, and physical education uniforms for students. According to Leda Marin, local coordinator of the OAS Mine Action Program in Costa Rica, the children were enthusiastic about the campaign, not only because of "the antimine slogans printed on the T-shirts, notebooks, and pencils but because the items were distributed free of charge."

At the program's end, the Ministry of Public Security reported ten victims of mines and explosive devices, fewer than the numbers in other countries of the region. Two of the victims received medical treatment and prostheses under the OAS mine rehabilitation program in Nicaragua.

The OAS detaining program was set up in 1991 at the request of the member countries concerned. Four years later, it became part of the organization's Unit for the Promotion of Democracy. In addition to Costa Rica, AICMA programs are operating in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Peru. In collaboration with the IADB, the program includes humanitarian mine sweeping, destruction of mine stockpiles, preventive education, victim rehabilitation, and a data bank.

Thanks to the financial support of nineteen donor countries, the program has cleared more than 1,670,000 square yards of land in Central America and located over twenty-two thousand mines. The total effort represents over $40 million channeled to the countries of the region through AICMA.

Since the beginning of the program, the IADB has furnished basic assistance in mine sweeping training to 260 international supervisors from eleven member countries. International supervision is currently providing technical coordination for more than 900 military sappers in the five countries concerned.

Each of the programs coordinated by AICMA involves a different problem. In Honduras, the mines are located on the border with Nicaragua. To date, 2,269 have been destroyed, and three years ago Honduras became the first Central American country to remove all of the 7,741 mines stockpiled by the army. Unfortunately, Hurricane Mitch caused a series of landslides that delayed operations. Despite environmental difficulties, the remaining zones are expected to be cleared by the end of this year.

As a result of more than thirty years of civil war, explosive devices are dispersed in various parts of Guatemala. They consist basically of homemade bombs, booby traps, and all kinds of grenades, totaling about eight thousand items. Those have been systematically destroyed by three units collaborating with the OAS: the Volunteer Firemen's Corps, former members of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union, and the Guatemalan Army. Operations are expected to be concluded by the end of 2004.

Nicaragua's problem is the most serious because its mines are scattered throughout the country, especially in such strategic areas as bridges and hydroelectric towers. However, since it has the most equipment and personnel infrastructure, it has been able to maintain a steady pace in sweeping contaminated areas. According to official sources, Nicaragua has now cleared more than 63 percent of the anti-personnel mines in its territory. All mines stockpiled by the army have also been destroyed. At the present pace, Nicaragua is expected to be mine free by the end of 2005.

Because of a longstanding territorial dispute between their countries, Ecuador and Peru today must deal with more than 130,000 mines laid along their border. With more mines than the four Central American countries combined, their governments have begun mine-clearing operations, and the OAS has collaborated in technical training, supervision, and destruction of stockpiles. Owing to the scope of the problem, no exact date has been set for concluding operations, but 2007 is the tentative goal.

One of the major concerns of AICMA is preventive education. Campaigns under way in mine-strewn areas of the countries are being coordinated by the OAS with various national components such as the army, schools, community leaders, and local media. Those channels serve to inform the general public about steps to be taken when a mine or explosive device is detected. Also sharing their experiences in such preventive education programs are mine victims, who receive support from the OAS rehabilitation program.

The rehabilitation program has supplied medical treatment and prostheses to more than 450 persons disabled by mines. And since last year AICMA has extended additional aid for job training and placement of mine victims.

In collaboration with the UN, the OAS has installed the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) in Nicaragua. This data bank serves as a registry of mined areas, mine victims in the country, mines destroyed, and areas supported by the OAS preventive education campaign. IMSMA has registered more than five hundred victims, and the system has now been expanded to include Guatemala, Ecuador, and Peru.

As to the future, the OAS is mandated under Resolution 1745 to provide support with mine-clearing operations for any member country that requests it--so that the hemispheric concept of a mine-free zone might become a vital reality for Latin America.

Carl Case and Jaime Perales are specialists with the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy.