This article is about the civil war of 1948. For the civil war of 1823, see Ochomogo War. For that of 1835, see League War.
Costa Rican Civil War
Part of the Cold War
Monument in memory of those who died in the Civil War of 1948, located in Ernesto Zumbado park in Santa María de Dota.
Date
12 March – 24 April 1948 (1 month, 1 week and 5 days)
Location
Costa Rica
Result
Rebel victory
Teodoro Picado toppled
Installation of a provisional government led by José Figueres Ferrer
Costa Rican military abolished
Constitutional assembly is elected
A new Constitution is created and enacted
Provisional government transfers power to Otilio Ulate
Belligerents
National Liberation Army Ulatista Forces
Caribbean Legion Supported by:
Guatemala United States
Costa Rican government Calderon forces People's Vanguard Party Nicaraguan National Guard
Commanders and leaders
José Figueres Ferrer Frank Marshall Jiménez Otilio Ulate Blanco
Teodoro Picado Michalski Rafael Calderón Manuel Mora Anastasio Somoza
Casualties and losses
approx. 2,000 killed
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History of Costa Rica
Pre-Columbian History
Spanish Conquest
New Spain
Independence
Mexican Control
Federal Republic of Central America
Free State of Costa Rica
League War
First Costa Rican Republic (1848–1948)
1870 coup d'état
1917 coup d'état
Dictatorship of the Tinoco Brothers
The Liberal State
1948 Costa Rican Civil War
Founding Junta of the Second Republic
1949 Constitution
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The Costa Rican Civil War took place from 12 March to 24 April 1948 (44 days). The conflict began after the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, dominated by pro-government representatives, voted on 1 March 1948 to annul the results of the presidential elections of 8 February, alleging that the triumph of opposition candidate Otilio Ulate over the ruling party's Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia had been achieved by fraud. This triggered an armed uprising led by José Figueres Ferrer, a businessman who had not participated in the elections, against the government of President Teodoro Picado.
The Costa Rican army was small and ill-equipped, and the uprising was most heavily resisted by the militias of the Communist People's Vanguard Party, which was part of the governing coalition in the Legislative Assembly and had voted to annul the presidential elections. Figueres' rebels rapidly defeated the government forces and their Communist allies, forcing President Picado to step down and leave the country along with former president Calderón Guardia.
After the war, Figueres toppled the army and ruled the country for 18 months as head of a provisional government junta, which oversaw the election of a Constitutional Assembly in December. That Assembly adopted the new 1949 constitution, after which the junta was dissolved and power was handed to Ulate as the new constitutional president. During the war, about 2,000 people are believed to have died, making it the bloodiest event in 20th-century Costa Rican history. Since the end of the conflict in 1949, Costa Rica has experienced some riots, but no political violence even remotely approaching the civil war in severity.[citation needed]
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People's Vanguard Party
Nicaraguan National Guard
José Figueres Ferrer
Otilio Ulate Blanco
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