The coup d'état of April 27, 1870 in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

was a coup implemented by the military leadership led by

Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez Tomás Miguel Guardia Gutiérrez (16 December 1831 – 6 July 1882) was a Costa Rican military officer and politician who was the 8th and 11th President of Costa Rica, serving from 1870 to 1876 and again from 1877 until his death in 1882. He rem ...

and it established, to a large extent, the inauguration of the

Liberal State The Liberal State is the historical period in Costa Rica that occurred approximately between 1870 and 1940. It responded to the hegemonic dominion in the political, ideological and economic aspects of liberal philosophy. It is considered a peri ...

. It also enacted the

Costa Rican Constitution of 1871 The Political Constitution of Costa Rica of 1871 has been the longest duration Constitution in the history of the country, as except for brief periods, it was in force between 1871 and 1949. Influenced by the Liberals, the Constitution of 1871 wa ...

, the longest in Costa Rican history as it remained in force until 1948. The coup overthrew the de facto president Jesús Jiménez Zamora and was originally set by former president

José María Montealegre Fernández José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , ...

, who aspired the return to power by force. A group of soldiers led by the Guardia clandestinely entered the Army Headquarters, then see of the army and took control of it. However, Guardia did not hand over power to Montealegre but to

Bruno Carranza José Bruno Carranza Ramírez (October 5, 1822 – January 25, 1891) was briefly President of Costa Rica (albeit with the title ''Temporary Head of the Republic'') in 1870. Bruno Carranza came to power in the coup d'état of 27 April 1870 that ...

who soon afterwards resigns and the Guardia-dominated

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

appoints Guardia directly. Guardia was very popular among the military, especially for his heroic performance in the

Filibuster War The Filibuster War, otherwise referred to as the Walker affair, or The National Campaign of 1856 and 1857 in Costa Rica, was a military conflict between filibustering multinational troops stationed in Nicaragua and a coalition of Central Ame ...

. While Montealegre and Jiménez both belonged to the group of antimoristas who had overthrown and executed the hero of the

Juan Rafael Mora Porras Juan Rafael Mora Porras (8 February 1814, San José, Costa Rica – 30 September 1860) was President of Costa Rica from 1849 to 1859. Life and career Mora first assumed the presidency upon the resignation of his younger brother, Miguel Mor ...

, as well as sought to erase his memory of Costa Rican history, Guardia on the contrary had been Morista himself and after the coup he took enormous efforts to connect his own figure and government with that of Mora. Guard did not belong to the powerful Costa Rican coffee oligarchy, a political elite that had ruled continuously until then. His power was maintained only by the loyal support he had of the troops. Immediately after the coup, Guardia would convene a Constituent Assembly that drafted a new constitution, highly progressive for the time and with strong liberal roots. He abolished the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

, "desoligarquized" the political system and carried out many infrastructure works. The date of the coup was commemorated every year under his regime using music bands that roamed the country, with civic acts in the municipal councils of each provincial capital, military parades, a mass and banquet. Guard would rule as strong man of the country directly or through front men until his death in 1882.

References

{{Armed conflicts involving Costa Rica 1870s coups d'état and coup attempts

1870 Events January * January 1 ** The first edition of ''The Northern Echo'' newspaper is published in Priestgate, Darlington, England. ** Plans for the Brooklyn Bridge are completed. * January 3 – Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge be ...

1870 in Costa Rica