According to a report by Ernesto Rivera C. and Hulda Miranda of the Semanario Universidad newspaper of the University of Costa Rica with the collaboration of the journalist María Flórez-Estrada Pimentel, a woman denounced former president Óscar Arias for sexual abuse.

According to Semanario Universidad report, this is part of the statement that the woman gave in the complaint:

"I opened the folder, I explained, and when we finished I got up with my back [toward him], so he grabbed me from behind and touched my breasts. I told him no and that he was married, that was my no. The only thing that occurred to me to say was that I had met the wife.

It was the only thing that occurred to me because I am an idiot, but I did not know what to do really and I thought that this was the only line of defense I could have. And when he did not react to that, I did not know what to say, because I had this fear that if he refused, he would not cooperate with us anymore.

I do not remember what he said, but he kept touching me, he put his fingers in my vagina and he touched me all and he kissed me. And then he told me to wait a moment and left the office. I was like I did not know what to do, I felt trapped in that moment."

This is part of the statement given to the UNIVERSIDAD (referring to the newspaper), weeks ago by a doctor and activist for nuclear disarmament, who claims to have suffered a sexual assault by the former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Oscar Arias Sánchez.

According to her narration, the sexual assault occurred on Monday, December 1, 2014, during a visit to the house of the former president in Rohrmoser*.

The doctor was then 30 years old and led the Costa Rican branch of an international NGO dedicated to activism to abolish nuclear weapons. She knew the Nobel Prize winner through his mother, who was deputy for the PLN (National Liberation Party).

Last Friday, February 1, UNIVERSIDAD made various requests for an interview with former President Óscar Arias (1986-1990 / 2006-2010) to learn his version of this complaint. He was called and messages were sent to his cell phone and his email.

Lawyer Rodolfo Brenes Vargas, who represents Arias in the Crucitas case in which the Prosecutor's Office charges Arias with the alleged crime of malfeasance, was also contacted.

Monday night Brenes pointed out to UNIVERSIDAD that Arias had delegated him to get the details and evaluate whether or not an interview would be given. The lawyer was told that it was a sexual assault complaint, the name of the woman, the date and place where it would have occurred.

After consulting with president Arias, the lawyer answered that, at the moment, they would not comment on the subject. "On legal advice, don Óscar Arias will not refer to the subject until he has more information and has read the publication. We will wait," said Brenes Vargas.

On the day of the alleged assault, the morning December 1, 2014, the activist testified that she had a meeting with a Costa Rican diplomat and then went to the ex-president's house to give him a folder with information about the anti-nuclear campaign, as he was giving the campaign his support.

The doctor says that after the attack, the former president left the office for a few moments. "He came back and said: 'Oh no, it's that we cannot here, we have to go to the office', one that is there in Barrio Escalante or Barrio Dent, I do not know. And I thought on the inside: 'what are you talking about?' And I said: 'Aha, yes, it's fine,' because it was like my chance to leave. Then I got into the car and went to my house."

Once at home, the complainant (referring to the woman) reports that she called her boyfriend via Skype, since he lives outside the country. According to her story, while she was telling him what happened, she received a call from Arias who complained that she had not gone to his office.

She says that she asked her boyfriend - who was listening on Skype - to keep quiet while she answered the call and dodged Arias, saying that she had to attend a meeting at the Legislative Assembly.

Consulted by UNIVERSIDAD, the complainant's boyfriend recalled that day she called him and told him about the interview she had with Arias and explained that, at the end, he "touched her sex" and that she "panicked.”

He also said that he heard the moment when the former president called the doctor and heard him mention her name several times. He said he recognized the voice because he had met Arias previously and said that, in his opinion, his girlfriend did not report what happened before because she was very scared.

"It took her a while to realize what really happened to her, that she is not the one who did something wrong, that she was not the culprit, but rather the victim," he said.

The complainant explained to UNIVERSIDAD that, at that moment, she even doubted whether or not she should go to meet Arias, because she feared that he would get angry and the anti-nuclear cause would be affected, but that, when the former president cut the call, her boyfriend made her see that she should not meet with him again.

She indicated that, in reality, the meeting with the legislature was not scheduled for that day, but for the next. To make the excuse given to the former president credible, she contacted a legislative adviser and a libertarian deputy Natalia Díaz Quintana, who were her allies in the anti-nuclear cause.

"I told them please, please, please let me go to the Assembly, because I was so afraid of lying to Óscar Arias, that I would say: 'no, I'm in the Assembly,' and that he had something as well as spies. I look at the level of fear that I had, that I was going to realize that I was not there. That is, in my mind I did not want to anger him because he was all necessary for the movement. Surely I was desperate on the phone and they said yes," she recalled.

Later, the doctor said, she met with Diaz and the parliamentary adviser. They saw that she was overwhelmed and asked her if something had happened to her.

"I did not give them details, too embarrassing. I only told them that he touched me and that I ran away," the complainant said.

UNIVERSIDAD spoke with the former congresswoman (2014-2018) who said she had met the doctor for her work against nuclear weapons. She remembered meeting her and noticing her "non- concentrated" expression (meaning she appeared unfocused) so she asked her if she was okay.

Díaz narrated that, before she asked the question, the activist first explained to them that she had passed "a bad moment with a person of great influence in the country." Moments later, the former legislator said that the doctor specified that he was Oscar Arias and that he had given her a kiss for which she was unprepared.

Díaz added that, upon hearing that story, she recommended that the young woman to talk with her relatives so that they could take "the corresponding actions."

The media also interviewed the legislative adviser identified by the doctor, whose identity is reserved at his request, and he provided what he remembered of that episode.

"She came to the Assembly and it was bad, more out of the ordinary. First she told us that something had happened to her with a person 'very powerful', who was a politician. Then she explained that it was a kiss that Óscar Arias gave her, " said the legislative official.

"I am afraid of him."

The complainant states that, in addition to speaking with her boyfriend and commenting -without further details - to the legislative officials, that same evening she also told her father what happened to her. He died at the end of 2015.

In the following days, she was scheduled to travel to Vienna, Austria to participate in the International Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, which took place on December 8 and 9, 2014.

She said that, for fear of suffering a nervous breakdown during the trip, she told people who were part of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) what happened with Arias and attended the event.

One of them was Martin Hinrichs, who is part of ICAN, Germany and who met the doctor at international coalition meetings.

UNIVERSIDAD contacted Hinrichs who confirmed that, in December 2014, when they met in Vienna, the young woman explained that she suffered a sexual attack by Arias when she met him.

"I noticed that it was a very disturbing experience for her, that she felt surprised and disappointed because he is a Nobel Prize winner and violated her confidence in him," Hinrichs told the media.

In December 2014 and during the months that followed, the doctor also shared what happened with her mother, with friends and with some relatives.