Figueres and The Caribbean Legion
José Figueres, a Costa Rican businessman, had been forced into exile in Mexico on July 11, 1942 as a consequence of a radio broadcast in which he strongly criticized the Calderón regime. Figueres had returned to Costa Rica after the election of Picado. Before the elections of 1948, Figueres had already been planning for a war. Unlike Ulate, former president León Cortés, and the other members of the Costa Rican opposition, Figueres felt that Calderón would never allow a fair election to take place. Figueres began training the Caribbean Legion, an irregular force of 700. Hoping to use Costa Rica as a base, the Legion planned to move against other authoritarian governments in Middle America. Washington, D.C. officials followed the Legion’s activities with concern, especially after Figueres 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, 6, 8, 9
Read more about this topic: Costa Rican Civil War
Famous quotes containing the words caribbean and/or legion:
“It is a curious thing to be a woman in the Caribbean after you have been a woman in these United States.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“I am sometimes told that “Women aint fit to vote. Why, don’t you know that a woman had seven devils in her: and do you suppose a woman is fit to rule the nation?” Seven devils aint no account; a man had a legion in him.”
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