Commander K. National Museum of Costa Rica San Jose Costa Rica |
The central thesis of our 2017 book, America Invaded (www.americainvaded.com), was that multiple waves of invasions have hit American soil since the first arrival of the Europeans right to the present day. English historian Stuart Laycock and I tried to document how this fighting -- from multiple conflicts with indigenous people to the 9/11 terrorist attacks -- has shaped the USA in ways large and small, molding it into the nation it is today.
What is true about the USA is equally true for every other country in the world as well.
Figueres smashing the Army Barracks December 1, 1948 San Jose, Costa Rica |
Pre-Columbian Warrior Pre-Columbian Gold Museum |
The Spanish invasion of Costa Rica would be led by an Italian or, more accurately, a Genoese captain. Our 2015 book Italy Invades: How Italians Conquered the World (www.italyinvades.com) included a short chapter that documents the surprising Italian "Invasions" of and influence on Costa Rica...
Columbus' 3 ships Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria National Museum of Costa Rica |
Francisco Morazán |
One person of Italian descent who played a huge role in the wars and politics of Central America in the early nineteenth century was Francisco Morazán, whose grandfather had been Corsican. Morazán was, from 1830–1839, president of the Federal Republic of Central America. Having fled into exile after defeat in battle in 1840, in 1842 he invaded Costa Rica in an attempt to take over the government there. In April of that year, he landed with about five hundred men and five ships at Caldera in Costa Rica. After negotiating with the military forces opposing him, he entered San José and took power. But Morazán did not have long ahead of him in power in Costa Rica. In September, a rebellion broke out. After bitter fighting, Morazán was eventually captured and put in front of a firing squad. Allegedly, he gave the order to shoot.
Italians were among the nationalities that immigrated to Costa Rica in the nineteenth century. Giovanni Leggero, who had taken part in the Defense of the Roman Republic in 1848, moved to Costa Rica and ended up losing an arm in fighting against William Walker’s forces.
Still, as the Second World War erupted, tensions rose between Italy and Costa Rica. In April 1941, for instance, Italian and German sailors in a Costa Rican harbor learned that the Costa Rican government was about to seize their ships, and the ships were set on fire instead.
And after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Costa Rica declared war on Germany and Italy on December 8—two days before the Unites States.
San Vito de Java Costa Rica |
Spanish boot on the Indigenous people of Costa Rica National Museum of Costa Rica |
Christopher Columbus may have led Europeans into Costa Rica but it was the Spanish who followed. With a vengeance. Diseases brought by the Conquistadors decimated the Indigenous people in what is now Costa Rica. They also brought the Roman Catholic faith to the region.
Costa Rica was invaded by the Catholic Church |
In 1821 Costa Rica, along with Mexico, declared its independence from Spain. Costa Rica was a land of coffee and banana plantations. Juan Mora Fernández became the first Costa Rican head of state in 1825.
Banana Republic? Pre-Columbian Gold Museum San Jose, Costa Rica |
There is a surprising connection to the recent Super Bowl and this astonishing American Invasion of Costa Rica. Super Bowl LIV featured the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. The 49ers' name is derived from the fact that gold was discovered in California's Sacramento Valley in 1849 sparking a massive gold rush. At this time there was no transcontinental railway linking the east and west coast of the Untied States and there was no Panama Canal. Transit overland across the continent was long and hazardous. The fastest and safest way to journey from New York to San Francisco was to purchase a ticket on a paddle wheel steamer to Central America, cross the isthmus of Panama or Nicaragua overland and take another steamer up the west coast to San Francisco.
William Walker was a doctor, lawyer, journalist and adventurer from Nashville Tennessee. Walker made his way to San Francisco but he did not begin panning for gold. Instead he organized an expedition of America Filibusters (armed adventurers) and proceeded to invaded Nicaragua. Walker was an entrepreneur who recognized the enormous value of the transit route from the Caribbean to the Pacific. Anyone who controlled Nicaragua could charge a toll for passage between the oceans and amass a fortune off of the would be gold miners.
"On October 11, 1856, he and his supporters arrived in the paddlewheel steamer La Virgen at Granada, Nicaragua’s capital. The next day, his forces captured the town and soon after established their own republic of Nicaragua. In June of 1856, Walker was elected president of Nicaragua, receiving over 68 percent of the vote in a four-way race. His government was recognized by President Franklin Pierce and received support from US ambassador John Wheeler. His supporters referred to him as the “grey-eyed man of destiny.”" (Source: www.americainvades.com)
But Walker made one fatal mistake. He established his transit monopoly across Nicaragua to facilitate travel from east to west but he refused to do business with Cornelius Vanderbilt. The New York railway tycoon was immensely rich and financed the destruction of Walker. Vanderbilt subsidized the armies from Costa Rica and other countries neighboring Nicaragua to destroy Walker's little empire.
National Monument of Costa Rica San Jose, Costa Rica |
On March 20, 1856 Walker was defeated at the Battle of Santa Rosa inside Costa Rica. The National Monument of Costa Rica in San Jose's National Park depicts the defeat of Walker and his Filibusters by General Juan Rafael Mora (a subsequent President of Costa Rica). Mora would subsequently become President of Costa Rica.
In 1948 a Civil War erupted in Costa Rica claiming thousands of lives. Ultimately, this led to the abolition of the National Army by José Figueres Ferrer.
National Stadium of Costa Rica |
Chinatown San Jose |
Soft Power invasions, much like those hard invasions of past, will continue to shape and mold modern Costa Rica. Xi must be obeyed in Central America and around the world (https://americanconservativeinlondon.blogspot.com/2019/09/xi-who-must-be-obeyed.html)!
You can find signed copies of our books at
these web sites...
Or regular copies on Amazon...
Or on Kindle...
Listen to my interview with Bob Cudmore...http://bobcudmore.com/thehistorians/tracks/ChristopherKelly(August2017)(29)(mp3).mp3
And my interview...www.thebook-club.com/blog/bookshelf-interview-with-christopher-kelly
And my most recent interview...http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/08/17/america-invaded-christopher-kelly
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