Costa Rican war stories are not very common. It’s even more unique to hear about national heroes who had a role to play in a civil war that determined the Costa Rican identity. After all, one of the great things about Costa Rica, is that they abolished their army in 1948. However, before that happened, tiny Costa Rica was forced to fight to preserve its independence.
In 1855, a North American by the name of William Walker threatened to annex all of Central America for the Southern Confederacy. As one of history’s filibusters, Walker had managed to control the Nicaraguan government by 1855 and proclaimed himself “President.” His next conquest was going to be Costa Rica.
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While William Walker had the ambition to usurp the whole of Latin America, Juan Santamaria and a civil army of local farmers had other ideas. Walker accomplished setting up dominion in Nicaragua and was moving to Costa Rica. Then stopped by Juan Santamaria in this epic event.
Juan Santamaria The Hero
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The President of Costa Rica at the time, Juan Rafael Mora, brought together a makeshift army of peasants to fight the much more heavily armed enemy. Walker and his army invaded the Guanacaste province. The Costa Rican army the expelled and followed them into Rivas, Nicaragua.
It is here that the enemy made their big mistake; Walker and his army took protection in a wooden fort. It was the young Juan Santamaria who bravely volunteered to burn down the fort.
This forced Walter and his army out of hiding, resulting in his death and maintaining the independence of Costa Rica. Now, April 11th is a Costa Rican National Holiday in memory of Walker’s defeat in Rivas.
In 1891 Costa Rica solemnly inaugurated a statue in his honor. The bronze statue was made by French sculptor Arisride Croisy
Remembering Juan Santamaria
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The International Airport, in which many arrive in Costa Rica, is aptly named “Juan Santamaria International Airport.” Although you may think the airport is the capital city of San Jose, it is technically in the town of Alajuela.
The Alajuelenses (name of people from Alajuela) are very proud of that fact that Santamaria was born in Alajuela. There’s an excellent museum in the center of the town dedicated to this national hero with a nearby statue showing young Santamaria leading his comrades with a torch in hand.
The Santamaria International Airport now accommodates cheap flights to Costa Rican destinations as well catch flights with international airlines.
Source: https://t-tees.com
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