Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, The American Republics, Volume VIII

818.00/1–947

The Ambassador in Costa Rica ( Johnson ) to the Assistant Secretary of State ( Braden )

secret

San José , January 9, 1947.

Dear Mr. Braden: My despatches No. 2764 of January 3rd and 2774 of January 9, 1947,¹ show a highly disturbed political condition in Costa Rica.² A bomb was recently exploded in the San José water works, and 60 or 70 other bombs have been found by the inadequate police.

February 2nd, the day of the Nicaraguan elections, has been mentioned to me by both members of the Government and of the Opposition as the day on which things may well come to a head and further bombings and even attempts at assassination take place.

There are other rumors, as you know, of a Guatemalan effort on that date to further a revolution in Costa Rica in order to use this weak country as a base for operations against Honduras and Nicaragua. I put little faith in these rumors, but fear serious local troubles…

Since I naturally regard Costa Rica as the Central American country by far the most advanced in democracy, I am anxious to do everything possible to prevent possible chaos, with the conceivable result of another dictator. As a purely preventive measure I therefore suggest that a good will trip be made by an American destroyer so that it will be at a Costa Rican port during the last days of January and the first days of February. No ship of ours has been here since a visit of sub-chasers in November of 1945. A small Colombian warship visited Costa Rica a month ago and a British ship in September, 1946. If the destroyer came from the North it might well touch at El Salvador, and if it came from Panama it would probably be best to come straight here. Its presence could be advertised as a good will visit and this idea be followed up by a baseball game in the local port, or other means. I believe that the mere presence of such a ship in Costa Rican waters would give pause to those who are possibly planning to bomb the San José water works and electric plants, to set fires in the city, and in the confusion to take over the Government, perhaps by means of assassination of the President and his friends. Should such an event have partial success, the so-called shock battalions of the Leftist Vanguardia Popular Party would undoubtedly make a counterattack and chaos would result, from which chaos a dictator might emerge, and the best experiment in and advertisement for democracy in Central America would go down in complete failure.

I can foresee no complications to the presence of a destroyer here at that time, and recommend it strongly, since it might have a moral effect deterrent to subversive acts.

I may add that Mr. John Carrigan³ and our Military Attaché, Colonel Hughes, concur in my recommendation.

Very sincerely yours,

Hallett Johnson

1. Neither printed.
2. The campaign was under way for Presidential and Congressional elections to be held in February 1948. Presidential candidates for the office of the incumbent, Teodoro Picado, included Rafael Angel Calderon Guardia, candidate of the National Republican Party (PRN), and Otilio Ulate, candidate of the National Union Party (PUN), popularly known as the Opposition party. For additional information on the situation, see despatch 269, October 9, p. 589.
3. First Secretary of Embassy and Vice Consul.