Dr. Oscar Arias Sanchez, winner of the 1987 Nobel Peace prize and former president of Costa Rica, will deliver the last of his three Karl Taylor Compton Lectures at MIT on April 14 at 4pm.
The lecture, entitled "How Much Poverty Can Democracy Endure?" is free and open to the public. It will be in Rm 10-250, followed by a reception.
The first lecture in the series, "Demilitarization: A Major Factor for Development," was delivered on January 13. The second lecture, "Latin America Facing New Challenges," took place on February 24.
In the February talk, Dr. Arias called on the United States to assume a greater role in the future of Latin America. "The United States, as we are all aware, is the healthiest and wealthiest nation in the world," he said.
Dr. Arias, 56, studied law and economics at the University of Costa Rica and earned a doctorate in political science from the University of Essex in England. After serving as professor of political science at the University of Costa Rica, he was appointed Costa Rican minister of planning and economic policy. He won a seat in Congress in 1978 and was elected secretary-general of the National Liberation Party in 1981. In 1986, Oscar Arias was elected president of Costa Rica.
The lectures were sponsored by the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, the School of Architecture and Planning and the Provost's Office. Rm 10-250 is wheelchair accessible. For more information, call x3-2024.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on April 9, 1997.
