Costa Rican civil war

The Costa Rican civil war was a civil war in Costa Rica from in 1948. The conflict began after the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, dominated by pro-government representatives, voted on to annul the results of the presidential elections, 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 official Costa Rican army was small and ill equipped, and most of the resistance against the insurgents came from the militias of the National Union Party. The rebels commanded by Figueres rapidly defeated the government forces and their Conservative 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 over to Otilio Ulate as the new constitutional president.
Category:Conflicts
Category:Conflicts involving Costa Rica
Category:Conflicts involving Nicaragua
Category:Conflicts involving Guatemala
Category:Conflicts involving the Caribbean Legion