Acceso usuarios
David Díaz Arias
This essay explores the means through which President Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia of Costa Rica (1940-1944) was transformed into a populist caudillo, and the political interests that catalyzed that process. First, it describes the political forces dominant in Costa Rica during the 1930s. Secondly, it identifies how Calderón Guardia became the leader of a Catholic group whose goal was to eliminate communism, and also, to undermine his potential political opponents. Then, it shows how several biographies and political propaganda contributed to the idea that Calderón Guardia represented a change for Costa Rica. By doing so, the essay explores the construction of a populist discourse about and around Calderón Guardia. Third, the essay looks for the origin of this impetus for social reform, and the answer as to why heterogeneous political forces compromised to circulate this interpretation as the official significance of that reform. My objective is to determine the complex process that drove a good part of Costa Ricans to believe in Calderón Guardia as a leader whose charisma and personality seemed to offer a solution to every social problem. By understanding the creation of Calderón Guardia as a caudillo, I will be able to delve further into a study of the social representations of both him as a figure, and his relationship to this social reform.
