You just described 90% of the countries in the area. However, Costa Rica is the only one that has implemented this. The author's point still stands.
And Mexico, Jamaica, Honduras, Nicargua, Barbados and the Bahamas all come in at only 0.5% or 0.6% of GDP compared to Costa Rica's 0.4%.
With some minor exceptions (Belize needs a deterrent for historical reasons), almost the whole of central America is poorly armed and barely militarized due to the long arms of Uncle Sam. Whether or not these countries have boasted about complete demilitarization or not is just a formality when they spend so little on what they do have.