Costa Rican Civil 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	Government of Costa Rica 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

Part of a series on the
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 The Reform State COVID-19 pandemic in Costa Rica
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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]}