Costa Rica, 1948 — rebel coup
Event Summary
On May 8, 1948, Jose Figueres Ferrer formally assumed power in Costa Rica at the head of the Founding Junta of the Second Republic, consolidating the victory his National Liberation Army had won in the civil war that ended in late April. Following the Pact of the Mexican Embassy that eased out President Teodoro Picado, a brief interim under Santos Leon Herrera preceded the handover to Figueres's junta. The junta governed by decree for eighteen months.
During that period Figueres enacted sweeping changes, most famously abolishing Costa Rica's military, granting women and Afro-Costa Ricans the vote, and nationalizing the banks, before ceding power in November 1949 to Otilio Ulate, whose annulled 1948 election had triggered the conflict.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
09405081948
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Founding Junta of the Second Republic under Jose Figueres Ferrer (assumption of power; Santos Leon Herrera was the outgoing interim head of state).
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; exiled. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
Wikipedia
New York Times
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →