Jose Figueres Ferrer

José María Hipólito Figueres Ferrer, known as Don Pepe (San Ramón, September 25, 1906 - San José, June 8, 1990), was a farmer Costa Rican businessman and politician. He served as president of the Republic of Costa Rica in three terms: one as president of the de facto government of the Founding Board of the Second Republic between 1948-1949, and two constitutional terms being the 32nd and the 36th President of Costa Rica during the terms of 1953-1958 and 1970-1974 respectively, and as Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Costa Rica from April to May 1948.

He is the victorious leader of the Costa Rican Civil War, founder of the Second Republic. One of his main achievements was the abolition of the Costa Rican army, a fact by which Costa Rica became one of the first countries to abolish its Armed Forces.

Biography

Figueres Ferrer was born in San Ramón on September 25, 1906, the son of Spanish immigrants Mariano Figueres Forges and Francesca Ferrer Minguella. Catalan was his mother tongue. He married Henrietta Boggs Long in his first marriage, with whom he had two children, José Martí and Shannon Figueres Boggs, and in his second marriage to Karen Olsen Beck, procreating four children; José María, Christiana, Mariano and Kirsten Figueres Olsen.

He completed his studies at the Boys' Elementary School in San Ramón and as a boarding student at the Colegio Seminario and the Liceo de Costa Rica.

In 1924 he left for Boston, United States, on a work and study trip. There he studies hydroelectric engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.He returns four years later and acquires the farm La Lucha sin Fin , in San Cristóbal de Desamparados. He produces hemp sacks and twine. Years later he would dedicate himself to the elaboration of wooden articles. For twelve years he is dedicated to agriculture and some industrial projects. During this time, he publishes in the press some writings on agricultural issues that are distributed at the "Café Popular" in San José. He joined the group Pro República Española in solidarity with democracy, then threatened by fascism. Starting in 1940, he met often with his lawyer, Alberto Martén Chavarría, and his partner Francisco Orlich Bolmarcich, who is already a deputy, to analyze the situation in the country.

Political life

Not yet a political figure, in a radio speech given on July 8, 1942, he denounced irregular acts and corruption on the part of the government at that time, governed by Rafael Calderón Guardia. Before being able to conclude his address, the authorities take over the radio station and arrest and imprison Figueres. Four days later he is told to go into exile, which he does, first choosing El Salvador, then going to Guatemala and ending up in Mexico.

He returned to Costa Rica in 1944 when Teodoro Picado Michalski governed. He joins forces opposing the government. In 1948, foreshadowing an electoral fraud, he took up arms after Congress ignored the election of opposition candidate Otilio Ulate Blanco. The civil war that this provoked would end with the victory of the National Liberation Army that Figueres led. This was followed by the Figueres-Ulate pact, which gave the Army eighteen months to reform the State and begin the transformation of Costa Rican society.

From April to May 1948, he was Secretary of Foreign Affairs and related departments in the cabinet of the Third Appointed in office, Santos León Herrera. During his management, diplomatic relations were broken with the Dominican Republic, then governed by the dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo.

On May 8, 1948, under his presidency, the Founding Board of the Second Republic was installed.

1948 Election

The elections were held on February 8, 1948 with the following results: Otilio Ulate Blanco 54,931 votes, Rafael Calderón Guardia 44,438 votes. The Court was to declare President of the Republic on February 28 at the latest. delay. The party of former president Rafael Calderón Guardia requested the declaration of nullity of the elections to the Electoral Tribunal due to the disappearance of the ballots for president in a fire of still unknown origin. This did not accept it, so the National Republican Party, which was nominating former President Calderón Guardia, asked Congress to declare the election void. The Congress of the Republic was summoned to extraordinary sessions on March 1. At the end of the session the elections were declared void.

Civil War

Panel exhibited at the National Museum of Costa Rica showing the symbolic act of the abolition of the army at the Bellavista Headquarters on December 1, 1948.

On March 12, Figueres took up arms at his farm «La Lucha». That same day, the businessman Francisco Orlich Bolmarcich opened a second front in the north of the country. In a short time the forces of Figueres take the cities of Cartago and San Isidro de El General. The city of Puerto Limón is taken by assault by a group allied to the insurgent forces called: "Legión del Caribe". President Teodoro Picado Michalski summons the diplomatic corps to talk with Figueres. Delegates travel to the city of Cartago and find Figueres at his headquarters, in the San Luis Gonzaga College building. Figueres calls for the unconditional surrender and the handing over of power to three appointees: José Figueres, Alberto Martén and Fernando Valverde Vega. President Teodoro Picado Michalski rejects the proposal and proposes a third designee: the engineer Santos León Herrera. The diplomatic corps meets at the Mexican embassy and the pact of the same name is signed.

Ochomogo Pact

Ulate-Figueres Pact

After Figueres entered the city of San José, he made an agreement with the winner of the elections, Otilio Ulate Blanco. The country would be governed by a junta for 18 months, from May 8, 1948, to November 8, 1949. Date on which Otilio Ulate Blanco would enter to govern

Founding Board of the Second Republic (1948-1949)

Temporary residence of Figueres and headquarters of the Founding Board of the Second Republic.

The Founding Board of the Second Republic issued hundreds of legal decrees tending to reorganize the country and in November 1949 the Political Constitution was issued. The decrees of the Board, in the midst of a great national debate, gave rise to the transformation of Costa Rican society, strengthening democracy and obtaining achievements at a social level, such as Social Guarantees (promoted by his political adversary, Calderón Guardia) and a ambitious economic reform.

On December 1, 1948, José Figueres declared the abolition of the Army in a symbolic act in which he demolished the battlements on the west side of the central patio of the Bellavista Barracks, the site where the National Museum of Costa Rica now operates.

Later Life

On October 12, 1951, he founded the National Liberation Party, which led him to the constitutional presidency of Costa Rica on two occasions (1953-1958 and 1970-1974).

He is considered one of the great reformers of the country; Indeed, hundreds of works were built under his mandate, but also destroying many old buildings such as the National Palace; and the vast majority of ministries and autonomous institutions were created.

In 1969, during the government of José Joaquín Trejos, there was a reform to the Political Constitution that prohibited presidential re-election, but it would be declared unconstitutional in 2003 by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice.

After his political life as President ended in 1974, he would continue to be very active in various fields. He lectures at various universities around the world, receiving honoris causa doctorates in some. He acts as President of the National Executive Committee of the National Liberation Party, visits Cuba and Nicaragua on a personal mission managing peace in Central America; he is named Roving Ambassador; he is invited as an observer to the presidential elections in El Salvador. In Spain he is distinguished as "Favorite Son" of Barcelona. In 1975 he wrote a letter to the Legislative Assembly donating all his assets to the country.

Death

He passed away in San José on June 8, 1990 at the age of 83. After a massive funeral, he was buried in the San Cristóbal Sur cemetery, in Desamparados. He was declared Benemérito de la Patria by agreement No. 2736 of November 12, 1990.

Disputes

Vesco Case

A recording between former United States President Richard Nixon and John Ehrlichman, one of his closest advisors in the White House, revealed in 1999 that the questioned businessman Robert Vesco was protected by the government of José Figueres Ferrer.

This revelation was contained in the conversation Nixon had with Ehrlichiman. The Nixon Foundation released the full transcript of that conversation in 1999. The conversation took place between former President Nixon and Ehrlichman, between 3 p.m. m. and 5 p.m. m. on March 16, 1973. According to the recording, Ehrlichman explains to Nixon that Vesco would take refuge in Costa Rica, since "he had bought the President." The former US president later asked if he was referring to then-President Figueres, to which his advisor confirmed it.

Robert Vesco arrived in Costa Rica in 1972 as an investor planning to create a financial district. On June 10, 1972, the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) granted him resident status. And five months later, the first formal accusation against him emerged in the United States. The alleged fraud was $224 million to the detriment of the company Investors Overseas Services (IOS). Vesco applied for Costa Rican nationality, but the Supreme Electoral Tribunal denied it. On June 7, 1973, the United States Embassy requested the extradition of the fugitive, but he was never extradited during the governments of Figueres Ferrer (1970-1974) or Daniel Oduber Quirós. (1974-1978)

Case of the "confites"

In 1973, while he was serving his third presidential term, José Figueres Ferrer bought three farms and put them under the name of an association. The farms would pass into the hands of the Youth Symphony Orchestra, once the association transferred them. The history of these farms began with a donation deposited in 1973 in a personal account of then President José Figueres Ferrer during his third administration. In statements to the Costa Rican newspaper La Nación, Figueres declared that it was to create the patrimony of the national orchestra and that the donors were two “very musical” gentlemen from the Bank of the Bahamas, where the fugitive Robert Vesco had investments. In 1974, the same newspaper asked him about the money and he replied: "Say that I spent the $60,000 on candies." He put the three farms in the name of an association that would hand them over to the Orchestra when it expired. But the association was extinguished in 1986 and the farms were transferred to a second association chaired by him. When it was extinguished, they were transferred to another association, chaired in 2008 by his daughter Kirsten Figueres.

Posts

Don Pepe Figueres was a distinguished essayist and writer. He wrote several works, the following books being the most important:

1. Letters to a citizen (1956).
2. The poverty of nations (1973).
3. Thus are the words and stories born (1976).
4. Light strips: arboculture in parallel 10 (1979).
5. The spirit of 48 (1987).
6. Cute Cubans in April (2002).
7. José Figueres. Writings and Speeches 1942 - 1962, San José, Editorial Costa Rica, 1986.

Main achievements

Monument to José Figueres Ferrer in Commemoration to the Abolition of the Costa Rican Army in 1948, Plaza de la Democracia, San José

Founding Board of the Second Republic (1948-1949)

• Nationalization of Banking
• Creation of the Coffee Office
• Abolition of the army
• Creation of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE).
• Derogation from the provision of 1934 that discriminated against Black citizens (4 November 1949)
• Adoption of the feminine suffrage.

Presidency of the Republic (1953-1958)

• Creation of the National Housing and Urbanism Institute (INVU)
• Creation of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT)
• Organic Law of the National Production Council (CNP)
• Creation of the Tobacco Defence Board
• Extension of health programmes

Presidency of the Republic (1970-1974)

• Establishment of the Rural Assistance Guard (GAR)
• Creation of the Joint Social Aid Institute (IMAS)
• Establishment of the Directorate-General for Social Adaptation
• Universalization of Costa Rica ' s International Relations
• Reform of article 90 of the Constitution (I change the minimum age for voting from 21 to 18 years).
• Creation of the Technological Institute of Costa Rica (ITCR) (University)
• Creation of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports
• Creation of the Castella Conservatory (All Arts) (Founded by Arnoldo Herrera González)
• Creation of the National Banking Association (ASBANA)
• Creation of the National Theatre Company
• Nationalization of the Atlantic Railway (Northern Railway Company)
• Creation of the National Symphony Orchestra
• Aviculture Promotion Act
• Creation of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICIT)
• Creation of the Costa Rican Development Corporation S.A. (CODESA)
• Creation of the National University of Costa Rica (UNA) (1973)
• Establishment of the Cooperative Development Institute (INFOCOOP)
• Creation of the National Meteorological Institute (NIM)
• Establishment of the National Commission on Indigenous Affairs (CONAI)
• Creation of the National Irrigation and Invention Service (SENARA)
• The Family Code was decreed
• Nationalization of the Costa Rican Oil Refiner (RECOPE)
• Creation of the National Institute on Alcoholism (I.N.S.A.) (now called the Institute for Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (I.A.F.A.)
• Universalization of Social Security
• Transfer of Hospitals to the Costa Rican Social Insurance Fund

Tributes

In San Cristóbal, San Cristóbal de Desamparados, is located the Technical College that bears his name.

As of 2011, José Figueres Ferrer appears portrayed on the ₡10,000 bills, with the theme of the Abolition of the Army.

Predecessor: Santos León Herrera	Chairman ("de facto") of the Funding Board of the Second Republic 8 May 1948 - 8 November 1949	Successor: Otilio Ulate Blanco
Predecessor: Otilio Ulate Blanco	32.o. President of Costa Rica 8 November 1953 - 8 May 1958	Successor: Mario Echandi Jiménez
Predecessor: José Joaquín Trejos	36. President of Costa Rica 8 May 1970 - 8 May 1974	Successor: Daniel Oduber Quirós