With more than 2,000 dead, the 1948 44-day civil war was the bloodiest event in 20th-century Costa Rican history. Cartago is the name of at least two different places: Cartago, Costa Rica Cartago, Colombia This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... San José – or its anglicised form San Jose – is the Spanish for Saint Joseph. ...

Background on Ferrer

José María Hipólito Figueres Ferrer, a successful Costa Rican businessman, spent two years in exile from July 11th,1942 to 1944 in Mexico after he criticized the regime of President Calderon on a radio broadcast in 1942, claiming that the right-wing president was collaborating with Communists. He returned to Costa Rica after Licenciado Teodoro Picado Michalski won the presidency in 1944. José María Hipólito Figueres Ferrer served as President of Costa Rica on three occasions: 1948–1949, 1953–1958, and 1970–1974. ... Rafael Ángel del Socorro Calderón Guardia was the president of Costa Rica from 1940 to 1944. ... Teodoro Picado Michalski (born 10 January 1900) was the President of Costa Rica from 1944 to 1948. ...

Caribbean Legion

Figueres began training the Caribbean Legion, an irregular force of 700. Figueres launched a revolution along with other landowners and student agitators, hoping to overthrow the Costa Rican government. Hoping to use Costa Rica as a base, the Legion planned next to remove the three Central American dictators. Washington officials were not amused. They closely watched the Legion’s activities, especially after Figures carried out a series of terrorist attacks inside Costa Rica during 1945 and 1946 that was supposed to climax in a general strike. But the people did not respond. ^{1, 3, 8, 9}

1948 Elections

The National Republicans whose candidate President Picado was running for a second term, and who had held the majority of Costa Rica's political power for decades. Not willing to give up their monopoly control of the Executive branch, the National Republicans used their strong influence in the Legislative Assembly to annul the February 8 presidential election of rival candidate Otilio Ulate Blanco of the Social Democratic Party. The country was thrown into bitter chaos, as both sides accused the other of vote tampering and electoral fraud. In March-April 1948, the protests over the election results mushroomed into armed conflict, then into revolution. ^{4, 8} Teodoro Picado Michalski (born 10 January 1900) was the President of Costa Rica from 1944 to 1948. ... There are a large number of political parties named the Social Democratic Party. ...

Figueres help from Guatemala President Arévalo

Figueres then made a decision that reverberated in Central America for the next thirty years. He turned for help to President Juan José Arévalo of Guatemala. Arévalo had become the leading liberal figure in Central America, indeed in much of Latin America, after assuming power in 1945. But Arévalo not only had high hopes for a new Guatemala. He wanted nothing less than a new Central America in which Somozas could be destroyed and replace by a democratic regional union. The Guatemalan had the prestige and the arms to start such a campaign, so Figueres convinced him that the first step must be to overthrow President Picado. In late 1947, Figueres and other Central American exiles signed the Pact of the Caribbean in which they pledged to free the region of dictators. The instrument of removal was to the Caribbean Legion, supplied largely by Guatemala. With this one step a long chain reaction began. A war to the death started between Figueres and Somoza, a war that finally ended with the destruction of Somoza's rule in 1979. Juan José Arévalo Bermejo (1904 – 1990) was the first of the reformist presidents of Guatemala after the rule of dictators in 1944. ... Juan José Arévalo Bermejo (1904 – 1990) was the first of the reformist presidents of Guatemala after the rule of dictators in 1944. ... Teodoro Picado Michalski (born 10 January 1900) was the President of Costa Rica from 1944 to 1948. ...

Fall of Cartago

The National Liberation Army, as they called themselves, slowly worked their way up the Pan American Highway, capturing small but important cities and ports with relative ease. National Liberation Army is the name of several groups: Albania One of the organizations that fought to liberate Albania during World War II from Italian and German troops; see National Liberation Army (Albania), History of Albania. ... The Pan-American Highway (Carretera Panamericana in Spanish) is a collective system of roads, approximately 16,000 miles (25,750 km) long, that nearly links the mainland nations of the Americas in a roughly unified stretch of highway. ...

In Cartago, Costa Rica's second-largest city located only twelve miles from the capital, Figueres' forces met some considerable military opposition; however, the limited forces and supplies of the governmental forces quickly ran out, and Cartago fell into the hands of Figueres on April 12. Costa Rican President Picado, realizing that defeat was inevitable, sent notice to Figueres that he was willing to come to a compromise. Cartago is the name of at least two different places: Cartago, Costa Rica Cartago, Colombia This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Cartago is the name of at least two different places: Cartago, Costa Rica Cartago, Colombia This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Teodoro Picado Michalski (born 10 January 1900) was the President of Costa Rica from 1944 to 1948. ...

Picado's long-time political ally, Manuel Mora Valverde of the Communist-affiliated party Vanguardia Popular, had no intention of negotiating with Figueres. Mora's forces had sealed themselves up inside the capital of San José, and were determined not to capitulate as quickly as Picado. As the target of many of Figueres' criticisms about Costa Rica, Mora and his party were worried that a Figueres-led takeover might well lead to their expulsion from politics.

Figueres and United States Policy

Arévalo help provided to be indispensable. As usual, however, the determining force was United States policy. The creators of that policy held little love for Figueres, but they were determined to destroy the ‘’Vanguardia Popular’’. Perhaps the Communist party had only seven thousand members, Ambassador Davies reported home, but it should hold the balance of political power in Congress and also constituted “some 70 percent of the police and army.” Writing within hours after the Communist overthrow of the Czechoslovak government (an event that severely shook Washington and other Western capitals), Davis warned that Costa Rica's condition was “in many respects similar to that prevailing in Eastern Europe.” When the State Department learned on 17 April 1948 that small Communist groups threatened to take over the capital of San Jose, US troops were placed on alert in the Canal Zone. Their mission was to move quickly into Costa Rica and stop the revolution before the Vanguardia Popular consolidated its power. It was a false alarm, but it indicated that regardless of any Good Neighbor policy sentiments, the possibility of unilateral U.S. intervention was no mere abstraction. ² The Good Neighbor policy was the policy of the United States Administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in relation to Latin America in 1933-45, when the active U.S. intervention of previous decades was moderated in pursuit of hemispheric solidarity against external threats. ...

Throughout the conflict, Figueres received a steady supply of arms from Arévalo, while Picado’s forces were unable to exploit Somoza’s desire to help. The United States had ensured Somoza’s political impotence. Desperately wanting Nicaraguan help, Picado pleased with Ambassador Davis to allow what was, after all, the recognized Costa Rican government to obtain help from Nicaragua so it could remain in power. Davis blandly “explained our well known policy of non-intervention” and then referred to the obligations of American nations [to] non-intervene.” Picado bitterly observed that non-intervention was a fiction, Figueres had received “tons” of supplies from Arévalo, and rumors circulated of aid even from the Panamanian government. Davis ignored the charges. Picado then threatened to take the matter to the United Nations. “The United Nations machinery was cumbersome,” the State Department suavely but directly reminded the Costa Rican leader, and “immediate action on the part of the Council [Where the United States had a veto and controlled the majority of the votes] could probably not be expected.”

Surrender of Picado

The day after the fall of Cartago, Picado--low on supplies and without any other source of support--sent a letter to Mora and National Republican leader, and former President Calderon stating that "the attempt to hold San José would be futile and catastrophic." Mora, facing the reality that now the United States was ready to act against him as well, gave in to Picado's plea. On April 19, Picado and Father Benjamín Núñez, an eminent labor leader within Costa Rica, signed The Pact of the Mexican Embassy, ending the armed uprising. On the 24th of April, Figueres' forces entered San José, almost six weeks after beginning their revolt in southern Costa Rica. Cartago is the name of at least two different places: Cartago, Costa Rica Cartago, Colombia This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Rafael Ángel del Socorro Calderón Guardia was the president of Costa Rica from 1940 to 1944. ...

By its mobilization in the Canal Zone, constant pressure on Picado, and cutting off Somoza’s help, the United States determined the outcome of the revolution in April 1948.

With more than 2,000 dead, the 44-day civil war resulting from this uprising was the bloodiest event in 20th-century Costa Rican history.

Civil War repercussions

Despite the fact that this civil war alone was relatively small in scale-its duration was short and about two thousand casualties- its consequences have had lasting results on the country and the region as a whole.

• The private sponsorship of Figueres by the US led United States forces to intervene in other politics and governments of Latin America, such as what was later seen in Guatemala in 1954 and Chile in 1973.

• The strong ties that came about due to US aid helped to lift Costa Rica out of the economic instability that it had been facing in the years before the revolution.

• The new articles of the constitution rewritten by Figueres' regime eliminated the fraudulent aspect of elections that had been an identifiable part of Costa Rica's electoral processes in the past. The new constitution also abolished the army, and gave Blacks and women the right to vote. Costa Rica, once a country full of governmental fraud and corruption, became a respectable democracy of the West and a proud ally of the United States, as well as a model for other Latin American countries in how to properly establish democracy and successfully revitalize the economy.

Resources

Footnotes

• Note 1: Costa Rica's Fierce Pacifist, The New York Times June 17, 1990; Section 4; Page 20, Column 1

• Note 2: La Feber, Walter (1993) Inevitable Revolutions The United States in Central America, Norton Press. ISBN 0393034348, pg 103;

Citing: Memorandum by Mr. William Tapley Bennett, Jr. of the Divisions of Central America and Panama Affairs, based on San Jose ambassador’s dispatch, March 26, 1948, FRUS 1948, page 503-503;

Also citing: Bell, John Patrick (1971) Crisis in Costa Rica: The 1948 Revolution, University of Texas Press. ISBN 0292701470, page 25

• Note 3: Jose Figueres, 82; Former Costa Rican President, Los Angeles Times, June 9, 1990, Part A; Page 34; Column 1

• Note 4: La Feber, Walter (1993) Inevitable Revolutions The United States in Central America, Norton Press. ISBN 0393034348, pg 103

• Note 8: Jose Figueres Ferrer Is Dead at 83; Led Costa Ricans to Democracy, The New York Times, June 9, 1990, Section 1; Page 29, Column 1

• Note 9: Inter-American Relations And Encounters: Recent Directions in the Literature, Latin American Research Review June 22, 2000, Page 155

The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... The Los Angeles Times (also known as the LA Times) is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California and distributed throughout the western United States. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

External Links

• Costa Rica and the 1948 Revolution

Further Reading

• Longley, Kyle (1997) The Sparrow and the Hawk: Costa Rica and the United States During the Rise of Jose Figueres, University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0817308318
• Bell, John Patrick (1971) Crisis in Costa Rica: The 1948 Revolution, University of Texas Press. ISBN 0292701470 "Figueres best biographer" according to Mr. La Feber³