EXILES' PREPARATIONS FOR AN ATTACK AGAINST FIGUERES GOVERNMENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R002100020010-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 21, 1999
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: November 24, 1948
• Content Type: REPORT

CLASSIFICATION Sr. 25X1A2g
Approved For Re k 2-00457P81
INFORMATION R PORT
COUNTRY Costa Rica/Nicaragua
SUBJECT Exiles' Preparations for an Attack Against
25X1A6a Figueres Government
PLACE
ACQUIRE
DATE DISTR. 2:h November 1948
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
DATE OF SUPPLEMENT TO
Q:U:IR' 25X1X6 REPORT NO.
25X1X6
1. Certain indications point to the possibility that the Costa Rican exiles now
in Nicaragua will soon launch an attack against the Figueres regime. On
18 October 1948, Betulio 13lanco, former Secretary to Dr. Rafael Angel Calderon
Guardia, the ex-President of Costa Rica, reported that Calderon Guardia had
advised that a counter- re-crolution would be opened from Nicaragua, ash soon as
the fall rains stop and the weather changes (any time after themi&ddaeodfNBavukber).
25X1X6
2. the leader of the Calderon forces in Costa Rica
is Fernando Castro Cervantes, a wealthy politican who aspires to the Costa
Rican presidency. Orders to the Calderon supporters have been simple: merely to
keep out of jail and to head north into the province of Guanacaste as soon as
the movement gets underway.
3. Evidence that the Costa Rican government is aware of the possibilities of
revolution Is seen in the continued road and border patrols and in the troop
deployment in the north. According to some, the reason that Figueres has been
reluctant to have the Caribbean Legion forces leave Costa Rica is that he wants
them around in case of trouble. This belief is discounted, however, by those
who believe that Somoza will not encourage the revolutionaries to begin the
offensive themselves from Nicaragua, but instead will wait until he himself is
attacked, and then strike against Figueres.
4. The Costa Rican government recently received information from its legation in
Managua to confirm its apprehension concerning counter-revolutionary movements.
The government was advised that a group' of Costa Rican exiles in.Nicaragua
had received three hundred uniforms and three hundred pairs of shoes. The
Legation also requested. control of the departure of launches from Costa Rica,
as many additional exiles were arriving in the Nicaraguan port town of Rivas
25X1X6 without passports.
5. In Managua, Trino Araya Salas, the Costa Rican Minister to Nicaragua, advised
Oscar Bakit, a Costa Rica'i exile, to return home. Araya said that the Figueres
government would not persecute voluntary exiles who returned to their country.
He even offered to furnish air passage to Costa Rica to Bakit and his mother,
who is in Nicaragua with him, and said that he would settle their hotel accounts.
6. Calderon Guardia has completely replaced ex-President Pioado as leader of the
Costa Rican revolutionary movement. The exiles trust his leadership explicity
 Approved For Release 1999/09/08 : CIA-RDP82-00457R002100020010-9
25X1A2g
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
and are so confident of his success against Figueres that they have refrained
from accepting regular employment in Nicaragua which. would hinder their
immediate departure to Costa Rica. Alvaro Gene Sojo, one of the prominent
exiles, has completely abandoned the camp of Teodoro Picado and continues to
make trips to Rivas and to Diriamba to confer with Calderon Guardia.
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