ABSTRACT
José Figueres Ferrer (1906-1990), President of Costa Rica 1948-49, 1953-58, 1970-74, was a key figure in the democratization of Latin America. In 1948 he led an uprising against the Government of Rafael Angel Calderón. As President of the provisional government he abolished the army and gave women the vote. In 1953, as a democratic socialist, he was elected President by a large majority, but unlike Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala was careful not to alienate a strongly anti-communist US government.
