Pressure grows on two-time Costa Rica president as former Observer journalist speaks out over alleged assault in 1990

Oscar Árias, the Nobel peace laureate and two-time president of Costa Rica, is facing mounting accusations of sexual misconduct after a criminal complaint alleging assault was filed against him.

Four women have now said they were assaulted by Árias. The complaint, filed by an unnamed activist, was followed by public allegations by Eleonora Antillon, a Costa Rican journalist, who said she too had been assaulted by Árias in the mid-80s, when she was working for his campaign.

A similar allegation has now been made by Emma Daly, director of communications for Human Rights Watch in New York and a former Observer journalist. Daly said Árias groped her breasts in a hotel lobby in Nicaragua in 1990 when she was working as a young journalist and had tried to ask him a question.

Árias is a high-profile public figure after winning the Nobel peace prize in 1987 for his work bringing an end to Central America’s conflicts.

Describing her own experience, Daly told the Guardian she had decided to speak out after being contacted by a journalist looking into the allegations against Árias.

“I was 25 years old. I’ve been clear that I don’t remember the exact date, but I am sure it was at a hotel in Managua. What I’m absolutely certain about is what happened.

“I remember we were waiting in the lobby in this crowded place. I knew him and I called out to ask a question. I’d always had good professional relationship with him before.

“But instead of answering, this time he stopped and reached down and put his hand between my breasts and said: ‘You’re not wearing a bra.’ My reaction was to be completely shocked and answer: ‘Yes, I am wearing a bra.’”

Daly described her decision to speak out about Árias’s behaviour as difficult even for a journalist who has spent years reporting human rights.

“It’s strange and pretty uncomfortable seeing yourself quoted in a story like this, but I know what it is like as a reporter asking other people to speak out,” she said.

“I was clear with myself very quickly that I was going to speak, but what I had to think about was if I wanted to be named.

“I’m fortunate in having the support of family, colleagues and friends and not being in a position, like other women, where speaking up is going to threaten my career or my health or safety.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Women’s right protesters demonstrate outside Oscar Árias’ house in San José, the Costa Rican capital. Photograph: Juan Carlos Ulate/Reuters

Echoing the comments of other women who have described their past experiences in the #MeToo era, she added: “At the time I think I had a somewhat internalised notion that I didn’t have the right to complain; that I had somehow done something wrong, or been somehow complicit.”

Antillon, a television personality in Costa Rica, also identified herself as a victim after the publication of the criminal complaint, adding that she had never allowed herself to be alone with Árias, whom she described as someone with “serious problems with arrogance”.

“He sees himself as the master of the world, that everyone has to submit to him,” Antillon said earlier this week. “He sees himself as a conqueror.”

Since then, she added, she felt physically ill whenever she heard about Árias’ Nobel prize.

A fourth accuser, Marta Araya Marroni, has alleged that Árias made multiple unwanted sexual advances in 2012, when they met regarding a book she was writing. “He was always respectful until he wasn’t,” Araya told the local Tico Times.

“What bothered me the most is that he kept trying to make me believe it was normal and that he was worried about me.”

In a brief statement, Árias denied the allegations saying he never violated the will of any woman and fought for gender equality during his career. He said he would not make further public comment because of the pending legal case.

Nobel peace prize winner Oscar Árias accused of sexual assault Read more

Daly, who had previously alluded to her experience in a Facebook post during a discussion about #MeToo, added: “Why #MeToo is so important is that younger women should not have to be at the mercy of men who have power over them, who can’t speak out and who aren’t believed.

“That’s why it is so important to create an environment where powerful men understand they mustn’t abuse their power and, if they do, there are likely to be consequences.”

The criminal complaint, filed on Monday in Costa Rica, claims Árias fondled a woman’s breasts, kissed her and penetrated her with his fingers in December 2014 at his home in the capital, San José.

The woman, a nuclear disarmament activist whose name was not released, had gone there for a meeting.