Ideological Context
Costa Rican politics has traditionally been guided by personal allegiances far more than by ideological consistency, and the Civil War of 1948 provides a striking example of this. Calderón had been elected president in 1940 as the candidate of the right, closely allied with the Roman Catholic Church and with the business elite, but his enthusiastic support for the Allies during World War II and especially his punitive measures against the rich and influential German community in Costa Rica, caused that elite to withdraw its support for him. Calderón then created a different political base by allying himself with the Costa Rican communists (the Popular Vanguard Party), led by Manuel Mora, and with the socially-progressive Catholic Archbishop of San José, Monsignor Víctor Manuel Sanabria, in order to pass legislation guaranteeing labor rights and creating a welfare state. Mora's communist militias provided important armed support for the government, both during the tense years of Picado's administration (1944–48) and during the Civil War itself.
The rebel forces led by Figueres were a disparate mix of anti-communist right-wingers, economically conservative elements weary of the welfare state (represented by the winner of the 1948 election himself, Otilio Ulate), and a social democrat intelligentsia which sought to strengthen the welfare state while ensuring democratic transparency. After their victory this alliance quickly fell apart. The right-wing faction, led by the junta's Minister of Public Safety, Édgar Cardona, attempted to overthrow Figueres and was excluded from the government thereafter. Figueres himself became closely identified with the social democrat faction, which later dominated his own National Liberation Party (PLN). The economically conservative groups under Ulate ended up allying themselves in the 1950s with Calderón's supporters to form a broad anti-PLN coalition.
This lack of ideological consistency is further underscored by the fact that during the Civil War the government forces, despite being allied to the Costa Rican communists, enjoyed the support of right-wing Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza, while Figueres's rebels, who as anti-communists were tacitly supported by the United States, received significant aid from leftist Guatemalan president Juan José Arévalo.
Read more about this topic: Costa Rican Civil War
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