COSTA RICA COUNTRY READER TABLE of CONTENTS Robert A
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COSTA RICA COUNTRY READER TABLE OF CONTENTS Robert A. Stevenson 1947-1950 Economic / Consular Officer San Jos" Robert F. Woodward 1954-1958 Ambassador Costa Rica Dere) S. Singer 1958-1960 ,raining Officer ICA .SIA San Jos" /eorge A. 0cFarland Jr. 1960-1961 Rotation Officer San Jos" 2awrence E. 3arrison 1964-1965 Program Officer .SAID San Jose 1969-1971 0ission Director .SAID San Jos" Clarence S. 5oonstra 1967-1969 Ambassador Costa Rica John A. 5ushnell 1967-1969 Economic Officer San Jos" Ronald F. 7ene8ia 1969-1971 Assistant Program Officer .SAID San Jos" 1990-1994 0ission Director .SAID San Jos" Samuel F. 3art 1969-1971 Economic / Commercial Officer San Jos" Edward 3. Wil)inson 1969-1971 7ice Consul / /eneral Services Officer San Jos" James F. 0ac) 1971-1971 Political/2abor Officer San Jos" 1973-1975 Political/2abor Officer San Jos" 5arbara Shelby 0erello 1973-1975 Cultural Attach" .SIA San Jos" Joseph /. Sullivan 1973-1975 Costa Rica Des) Officer Washington DC ,erence A. ,odman 1974-1977 Ambassador Costa Rica Jac) R. 5inns 1979-1980 Deputy Chief of 0ission San Jos" Ronald D. /odard 1981-1985 Chief Political Officer San Jos" /eorge F. Jones 1981-1985 Deputy Chief of 0ission San Jos" Curtin Winsor Jr. 1983-1985 Ambassador Costa Rica James 2. ,ull 1985-1987 Deputy Chief of 0ission San Jos" Richard 3. 0elton 1985-1987 Director Office of Central American Affairs Washington DC John ,odd Stewart 1987-1990 Deputy Chief of 0ission San Jos" ,heresa A. 2oar 1991-1993 Costa Rica Des) Officer Washington DC ,homas J. Dodd 1997-1001 Ambassador Costa Rica ROBERT A. STEVENSON Economic / Consular Officer San osé (1947-1950) Ambassador Robert A. Stevenson joined the Foreign Service in 1947. His career included posts in Costa Rica Ecuador Germany Chile Colombia and an ambassadorship to Malawi. Ambassador Stevenson was interviewed by Charles Stuart Kennedy in 1989. S,EP3ENSON: After the usual introductory training here at Washington I was assigned to Embassy San Jos" Costa Rica my first post. I will say that the Foreign Service in those years was sort of the "O. 3enry Foreign Service" as he portrayed it in his story "Cabbage and ,hings." A couple of cler)s loo)ed after you in the Foreign Service Institute in terms of your travel and plans and you pretty much had to ma)e your own arrangements to travel by ship. I went down to San Jos" Costa Rica to the port of /olfito on a .nited Fruit Co. banana boat from New Orleans with my wife and two small girls and a coc)er spaniel. ,he experience in San Jos" was indeed very interesting because I got a variety of wor). I started out in the economic section and did the economic reporting and then did labor reporting and was the first person to ma)e contact with 2uis Alberto 0onge [Alvare8A who at about age 11 was the director of the Catholic 2abor .nion and later of course President of Costa Rica in recent times. ,hen I was assigned to the Consular office and had experience doing consular wor) there. ,he area was full of flotsam and jetsam left over from World War II interesting characters I must say. Of course while I was there in 1948 Pepe [Jos"A Figueres started his revolution successful and threw out a government that was about to be ta)en over by the communists. ,hereCs not much doubt about this point in my mind having personally heard the communist deputy chortling over the loud spea)er system about how the Congress had annulled the elections and the Colderon /uardia elements were about to ta)e over. 5ut Figueres started his revolution and it was successful. I heard more shooting then than I ever did in World War II. D: (hat was the situation there) (as the embassy a bystander involved in this) (hat were we doing) S,E7ENSON: ,he embassy Ein my innocence as a brand-new 3rd secretary and vice consulF I thought was not involved but 2,C Jimmy 3ughes who was our Army attach" disappeared for four or five days and we learned later that heCd been giving military advice to Figueres. So in that sense there was certainly some informal involvement. Our ambassador was Nathaniel P. Davis a very sharp pro who had been a prisoner of war in the Philippines under the Japanese. I remember how my friend /iven Parsons and I shoo) our heads and had our eyes opened when we were told not to worry about Jimmy 3ughes. EChuc)lesF And we didnCt. FigueresC victory was very popular no doubt about it. 3e had the overwhelming support of the people of the country. When the government fled there were three days of anarchy in the city with small groups of what we called mariachis young country boys from /uanacaste who had been armed by the Picado government with .44-caliber Remingtons single-shot Remington rifles with a soft-lead bullet as big as your thumb and they marched around the town after the government had left and fired these guns from time to time. Our embassy then was on the third floor of the 3otel Costa Rica. I remember such a threesome coming down the street Bust at noontime as I was leaving to drive home for lunch. I thought better of it finally and turned bac) and went into the office and up the stairs to the third floor. As I went in I heard a shot. ,hey told me later that the bullet hit the window just below the ambassadorCs office and chipped bits of concrete onto the people who were loo)ing out. I thought it was a good thing I went bac) because when I came from lunch there were blood stains all over the sidewal) across the street where some of these fellows had shot a poor guy through the stomach. Figueres won and then later contrary to most 2atin American victors in revolutions he turned the government over to Otilio .late who had been elected in the election in Feb 1948. D: It's really stuc, since then hasn't it) S,E7ENSON: Ges. Democracy has stuc) there. Ges. D: Did you have any contact or any feel about the communist group that was trying to ta,e over at the time) S,E7ENSON: I wasnCt doing political wor) then. Of course I was brand new. 5ut 0anuel 0ora was the communist leader down there and was a very powerful communist leader and a member of the Congress. I can still remember him spea)ing to the Congress because they carried in on loudspea)ers. I heard his speech as I say when he was chortling about how the Congress had annulled the election and they werenCt going to let the reactionaries ta)e over the country. ,he Communists were supporting former President Dr. Rafael AHgel Colderon /uardia whose son incidentally is the current President. Of course Figures who too) over was not a reactionary. 3e was very much a 2atin American New Dealer type and was determined to give the country a new structure more interest in the little man and so forth. ,hatCs the line that his party has ta)en ever since. 5ut the communists fled. When the government fled the communists fled. Our house then was right across from the airport and my wife heard a commotion over at the airport. She went out to the front gate and this DC-3 was down there with its engines revving. A Beep rushed out on the field and a man got out and began firing at the DC-3 which thereupon went to full throttle and too) off. ,hat was the plane in which Carmen 2ira a communist schoolteacher who had been 0oraCs teacher and 0anuel 0ora left on and got away. I believe in later years 0ora was allowed to come bac) and live Iuietly and never caused any more problem. Carmen 2ira died abroad. As I say in San Jos" there were then many "Characters." One of the most unforgettable characters I met was Alex Asser Cohen who had been there for 10 15 years and all through World War II as a member of the Embassy staff. We always thought of him as a real diamond in the rough. 3e was born in Amsterdam 3olland about 1900 and ran away to sea at age 13. 3e was the political officer when I got down there. 3e had been a cler) for the military attach" for many years and had gotten acIuainted with all of the /ermans in Central America so they had assigned him to the State Department office that was watching /ermans in Central America. I learned a lot from Alex. 3eCd been around there a long time and was an expert in many things. Ambassador 5ob Woodward wrote a little memorial about him that came out in the DACOR 5ulletin about a year or two ago. ,hey finally got him transferred out of San Jos" and he was on his way through Washington to 0anila I believe and was sitting in on an ARA staff meeting. ICve forgotten who was Assistant Secretary then. Duestions came up about the situation in Costa Rica and everyone turned to Alex who had all the answers. ,he Assistant Secretary said "Who is that manJ" ,hey said "Well thatCs Alex Cohen. 3eCs been in San Jos" a long time." 3e said "WhatCs happening to him nowJ" ,hey said "3eCs going to 0anila." 3e said "No send him bac) to San Jos"." So he was sent bac) to San Jos" and finished his career down there which was as he wished.