José María Castro Madriz (1 September 1818 – 4 April 1892) was a Costa Rican

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, academic,

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, and

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. He served twice as

President of Costa Rica The president of the Republic of Costa Rica is the head of state and head of government of Costa Rica. The president is currently elected in direct elections for a period of four years, which is not immediately renewable. Two Vice President of ...

, from 1848 to 1849, and from 1866 to 1868.El Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones: Presidentes de la República de Costa Rica
/ref> On both occasions he was prevented from completing his term of office by military coups. During his first administration, on 31 August 1848, he formally declared Costa Rica an independent republic, definitively severing Costa Rica's ties to the moribund

Federal Republic of Central America The Federal Republic of Central America (), initially known as the United Provinces of Central America (), was a sovereign state in Central America that existed between 1823 and 1839/1841. The republic was composed of five states (Costa Rica ...

Life

Castro was born in San José. He was the son of Ramón Castro y Ramírez and Lorenza Madriz Cervantes. He was educated at the

University of León The University of León (ULE) is a public university based in the city of León (Spain), León (Spain), with an additional campus in Ponferrada. The origins of the university can be traced back to 1843, with the creation of the Normal School of Te ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

, where he graduated as bachelor of philosophy and doctor of law. He occupied many public offices throughout his life, both before and after serving as President. He was the rector of the national

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(which he had helped to create) for sixteen years, and served several administrations as cabinet minister and ambassador. He also presided over the judiciary (as

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of the Supreme Court of Justice from 1860 to 1866 and from 1870 to 1873) and the

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(as president of the Congress of Deputies in 1844-1845 and of the fourth Constitutional Convention in 1859), making him the only other Costa Rican besides Ricardo Jiménez to have headed all three branches of the government. An active

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, Castro was consistently critical of the political influence of the

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. He was also a strong defender of

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at a time when many Costa Rican governments practiced widespread

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. His constitutional reform of 1848, however, established the most restricted

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that ever existed in independent Costa Rica. As president his lack of a committed political base made him an easy target for overthrow by the military. As the minister of foreign affairs, education, justice, public aid, and religious affairs, Castro was the most influential figure in the government of his brother-in-law, President Próspero Fernández (1882–1885), and he was largely responsible for the

anti-clerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historically, anti-clericalism in Christian traditions has been opposed to the influence of Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, ...

legislation adopted by that government. He was married to Pacífica Fernández, who designed the 1848 version of the Costa Rican flag. His daughter Cristina Fernández Castro married

Minor C. Keith Minor Cooper Keith (19 January 1848 – 14 June 1929) was an American businessman whose railroad, commercial agriculture, and cargo liner enterprises had a major impact on the national economies of the Central American countries, as well as on th ...

in 1883. Their grandson,

Rafael Yglesias Rafael Yglesias is an American novelist and screenwriter best known for his novels ''Hide Fox, And All After'' and ''A Happy Marriage'', as well as the 1993 movie '' Fearless'', which he adapted from his own novel of the same name. He is the fath ...

, served as President of Costa Rica from 1894 to 1902. Inaugurated at age 29, he was the youngest person to ever serve as President of Costa Rica.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castro Madriz, Jose Maria 1818 births 1892 deaths Politicians from San José, Costa Rica Costa Rican people of Galician descent Costa Rican people of Spanish descent Presidents of Costa Rica Vice presidents of Costa Rica Ministers of foreign affairs of Costa Rica Costa Rican Freemasons 19th-century Costa Rican people 19th-century Costa Rican lawyers Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica judges Costa Rican liberals