Óscar Arias Sánchez is a Costa Rican politician, activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was the president of Costa Rica from 1986 to 1990 and from 2006 to 2010.
Arias was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his proposal of a negotiated solution to the Central American crisis. He sought the support of the Contadora group for his plan, which involved the removal of all foreign powers from the region, an end to aid for antigovernment guerrillas in El Salvador and Nicaragua, and the implementation of democratic principles and a compromise peace for social reconstruction.