Dominican, Costa Rica Leaders to Head Talks for Middle East Peace
First reported February 10, 2011 · Updated October 28, 2026
SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica, February 10, 2011. Costa Rica’s former president and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Óscar Arias and Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernández are set to lead an international forum in San José on the prospects for peace in the Middle East. Organizers scheduled the gathering for March 10 through 12 and said it would bring Latin American civil-society organizations into a debate often dominated by governments outside the region.
The event was announced as the Latin American Alliance for Peace in the Middle East: The Role of Latin American Civil Societies. It was organized by the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress and the Dominican Republic’s Global Foundation for Democracy and Development, known as FUNGLODE, together with participating institutions and specialists.
The organizers described a meeting open to a broad range of perspectives: scholars, representatives of Arab and Jewish communities, diplomats, public officials and civil-society leaders from Latin America and abroad. The Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, or FLACSO, was among the institutions involved.
Why convene peace talks in Costa Rica?
Costa Rica had a distinctive role to play in regional discussions about peace. The country has no standing army and has used diplomacy and international institutions as major instruments of foreign policy. Arias received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his work advancing a negotiated settlement to conflicts in Central America.
The organizers argued that the Middle East conflict was not an issue for the region’s governments alone. Latin America has communities with family and cultural connections to both Israeli and Palestinian societies. Its academic institutions, diplomats and civic groups could also offer perspectives drawn from their own experiences with political change and negotiated peace.
The proposed agenda included the condition of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, obstacles to negotiations and the possible role of civic organizations in building support for a settlement. Organizers expected participants from the Middle East, the United States and Latin America to take part in the discussions.
The political context of February 2011
The announcement came during an extraordinary period of unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. Demonstrations had already spread through Tunisia and Egypt, challenging established political systems and raising questions about the region’s future. The organizers saw both uncertainty and a potential opening for discussions about democracy, civil society and lasting peace.
A February 9 Diario Libre account and a contemporaneous Noticias SIN report independently document the planned dates, partners and subject matter. At this point the gathering was an announced forum, not a completed diplomatic negotiation. The organizers’ public statements did not establish that the meeting would produce a binding agreement between the parties to the Middle East conflict.
The forum’s proposed concluding declaration was intended to reflect ideas discussed in San José. Such a document could express the participants’ views and aspirations, but it would not substitute for negotiations between governments and the parties to the conflict.
What happened next
The San José forum did take place. Arias’s own website preserves the speech he delivered at its opening on March 10, 2011. The speech focused on democracy, popular demands for political freedom and the importance of continued work toward peace. This confirms that the event progressed beyond the planning stage. The reviewed sources do not establish that the forum directly produced a negotiated Middle East peace agreement.
Questions and answers
Who organized the forum? The Arias Foundation and FUNGLODE, with other participating institutions.
When and where was it planned? March 10 to 12, 2011, in San José, Costa Rica.
Did the event take place? Yes. Arias delivered a documented address at the forum on March 10.