Public Forces of Costa Rica education and culture. Costa Rica maintains Police Guard forces. The museum "Museo Nacional de Costa Rica" was placed in the "Cuartel Bellavista" as a symbol of commitment to culture. In 1986, President Oscar Arias Sánchez declared December 1 as the "Día de la Abolición del Ejército" (Military abolition day) with Law #8115. Unlike its neighbors, Costa Rica has not endured a civil war since 1948. Costa Rica maintains small forces capable of law enforcement, but has no permanent standing army. In 1996, the Ministry of Public Security established the "Fuerza Pública" or Public Force, a gendarmarie which reorganized and eliminated
Costa Rica a country that is geographically and culturally much nearer to Costa Rica?" Arias announced that both countries would exchange ambassadors. Costa Rica has a long-term disagreement with Nicaragua over the San Juan River, which defines the border between the two countries, and Costa Rica's rights of navigation on the river. In 2010, there was also a dispute around Isla Calero, and the impact of Nicaraguan dredging of the river in that area. On 14 July 2009, the International Court of Justice in the Hague upheld Costa Rica's navigation rights for commercial purposes to subsistence fishing on their side of the