Costa Rican Civil War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
National Liberation Army |
Government of Costa Rica Calderon forces People's Vanguard Party Nicaraguan National Guard |
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
José Figueres Ferrer Frank Marshall Jiménez Otilio Ulate Blanco |
Teodoro Picado Michalski Rafael Calderón Manuel Mora Anastasio Somoza |
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
approx. 2,000 killed |
National Liberation Army
Forces of Otilio Ulate
Supported by:
The Costa Rican Civil War was the bloodiest event in 20th-century Costa Rican history. It lasted for 44 days (from 12 March to 24 April 1948), during which approximately 2,000 people are believed to have died. The conflict was precipitated by the vote of the Costa Rican Legislature, dominated by pro-government representatives, to annul the results of the presidential elections held in February, alleging that the triumph of opposition candidate Otilio Ulate had been achieved by fraud.
This caused a rebel army under commander José Figueres to rise up against the government of President Teodoro Picado; the government was quickly defeated. After the war, Figueres ruled for a year and a half as head of a provisional government junta which abolished the military and oversaw the election of a Constitutional Assembly in December, which subsequently produced the new 1949 constitution. The junta then stepped down and handed power to Ulate. Costa Rica has not experienced any significant political violence since.