One of Latin America’s most respected figures, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner has been accused of sexual assault by four women in a 48 hour time period. Twice president of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias Sanchez, 78 has, was first accused on Tuesday evening by a woman who then sparked a domino effect through social media. Ms. Eleonora Antillion kept this a secret for 30 years but finally spoke up about her experience, backing up the first accusation. Antillion states the abuse happened in 1986 when Arias was running for president and she was a young talk show host. Arias was called an “imposter politician” by Antillion once two other journalists came out with more evidence against the current president. Mr. Arias is a successful politician who used his Nobel price to start a foundation promoting peace and democracy throughout Latin America. Despite these multiple allegations, the president denies all claims against him and refuses to comment due to the fact that “the claims were not apart of the court case that was opened this week”, his lawyer explains. Unfortunately, the statute of limitations in Costa Rica is 10 years, and has clearly passed, Ms. Antillion will continue to speak up and be brave for other women who experience the same thing.
This was an interesting article due to the fact that the allegations were made against a respected public figure and were kept secret for several decades. The domino effect that is created after one person speaks out is astonishing but also quite baffling once it’s uncovered the amount of women who actually kept quiet. I am interested in following up with this story to see what happens with the president and how the court will carry the claims out. If I could give advice to women that waited to speak out I would definitely encourage them and others to say something right after it happened. Ms. Antillion waited three decades and now it is too late for her due to Costa Rica’s Statute of limitations. If the first woman had spoken out right away, it could have easily prevented him from continuing his path and hurting the other women that came after her. If you can’t speak out for yourself, you should speak out to prevent the attacker from reaching his next victims.