Ex-Rebel and Former President Jose Figueres : At 78, Father of Modern Costa Rica Democracy, Is Still in Fighting Trim

The mountaintop chalet of Jose Figueres is a suitably Olympian setting for the one-time rebel who fathered modern Costa Rica’s democracy.

From the front step, Figueres can look for miles across the land he helped pacify 40 years ago, and, like a pint-sized Zeus in a gray wool suit, thunder at the folly of the mortals below.

When a recent American visitor suggested that perhaps Costa Rica should arm itself in the face of a militarized Nicaragua, or cut back on its extensive welfare state as a concession to Reaganomics, the 78-year-old Figueres answered in simple English: “Bull.”

The curt response was neither surprising nor offensive, for Jose Figueres’ entire career has been one of straightforward notions that have formed the basis of Latin America’s most stable democracy.

Some of his ideas have had remarkable staying power, most notably the abolition of Costa Rica’s armed forces. Others seem to be as out of style as Figueres’ baggy coat, even within his own political party, the National Liberation Party.

Still Fighting Old Battles

But Don Pepe, as everyone calls him, is still fighting old battles, while new-style politicians seek to put him to pasture.

“I am somewhat more radical than some in my party,” he commented. “And they say they are the new generation!”

Costa Rica has just gone through a presidential election. Beyond the customarily peaceful change of adminstration, the vote marked a passing of a generation from positions of leadership.

Veteran power brokers, Figueres included, lost influence. The candidates wooed an electorate the majority of which had not even been born when Figueres triumphed in a brief and bloody civil war in 1948.

Meanwhile, outside forces have been wearing down old ways that have long been practiced here in domestic and foreign affairs.

A Cautious Politician

Costa Rica’s president-elect is Oscar Arias, 44, a lawyer trained in economics, a ministerial veteran of two previous administrations and a cautious politician who wrested the National Liberation Party’s nomination from candidates supported by old-timers like Figueres.

Arias promoted himself as a leader styled on the pattern of John F. Kennedy, with rhetoric about torch-passing and new ideas. In his victory speech last Sunday, Arias quoted from Robert Frost, a favorite poet of Kennedy’s.

To some, his New Frontier seems rather old hat. He proposes to limit government spending, to shift state resources around, to create jobs, to eliminate Central America’s tensions through negotiations, with the help of other Latin governments.

Arias sympathizers contend that circumstances will permit little else. Economic problems, low productivity and a burdensome foreign debt demand tighter government budgets. Massive U.S. aid keeps the country afloat.

As many observers see it, the Costa Rican public’s contradictory attitude toward Nicaragua--hostility coupled with a demand that peace be maintained--mandates a middle-of-the-road foreign policy.

Costa Rica’s Debt

But Figueres is far less cautious. He thinks interest on Costa Rica’s debt should be set permanently low, at, say, 2%. The welfare state should be maintained, and care must be taken not to let “big business and land owners” take over the reins of government.

Figueres seems almost bemused by the foibles of the Sandinista government. They indicate, he says, that “Nicaraguans come originally from Andalusia (a region in Spain) and therefore are good at poetry and song but not at government.”

“Why should we be afraid of Nicaragua?” Figueres asked. “All my life I have seen Costa Rica surrounded by military dictatorships. I see no special danger now.”

Figueres’ foreign policy activities in the outgoing administration became a minor campaign issue. As a roving ambassador, he visited Managua frequently for chats with Sandinista comandantes.

Arias has anounced that Figueres will be relieved of his ambassadorship and will be listened to “only like any other citizen.”

Figueres is unbowed. “I will battle until my last day on earth,” he said.

Exiled in the 1940s

In the 1940s, Jose Figueres was a coffee grower and political activist who was seized and sent into exile for broadcasting attacks on the government. He returned and joined a coalition of landowners, reformers and student agitators challenging a former president’s effort to be reelected.

Charges of fraud brought armed violence. Figueres’ forces won, and he headed a junta that during its 18 months in power transformed Costa Rica. The military was abolished, public education was guaranteed to every child, and a civil service was established to eliminate the spoils system in government employment.

Women and illiterates were given the vote. The children of black immigrants received citizenship for the first time. Figueres shocked and delighted his people by kissing black babies and dancing to the West Indian rhythms of the mostly black Caribbean coast.

The junta also established an independent electoral tribunal that has made Costa Rican elections the cleanest in Latin America. And then, perhaps most astonishing, Figueres stepped down from the junta and gave way to an elected president, something rarely seen after a revolution in Latin America.

Later, he was twice elected president.

“This is an exemplary little country,” Figueres said proudly. “We are the example for Latin America.”

And he added, with his characteristic Olympian view: “Other countries are coming around to the way we are. In the next century, maybe everyone will be like us.”