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
University of Costa Rica reformist administration of President Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia. The UCR remained the country's sole university until the Costa Rica Institute of Technology ("Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica") and the National University of Costa Rica ("Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica") were opened by the government in 1972 and 1973, respectively. Years later, in 1979, another public university opened: the Distance State University ("Universidad Estatal a Distancia"), modeled after the British Open University. Today, Costa Rica has five public universities (the fifth being the newly created National Technical University), and approximately fifty three small private ones, but the UCR remains the largest