REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES. DECLASSIFIED Authority Stateletter fuhr by me NARI Date 24 18 in the gathering.
The Costa Rican authorities, knowing of the proposed meeting, sent an officer and four policemen, two of whom were mounted, to the vicinity of the Communist headquarters to maintain order and to prevent a public manifestation of the unemployed on the streets of the capital. It had been stated in the press that the discontented workmen would call on the Minister of the Interior and Municipal authorities in a body; in fact, they are reported to have had an appointment with the Minister for such a visit at about the very hour of the disorders; they had, however, failed to request the required permission to stage a demonstration or parade on the streets.
According to colonel Jorge (Chuso) González Ulloa, Chief of Police of the capital, the authorities expected a small number of police to be sufficient to maintain order without difficulty whereas a large number of authorities might incite the gathering.
The disorders which resulted in the serious wounding of five policemen and four known rioters, are said to have been begun by one Fallas, a Communist leader from Alajuela, who urged the gathering to pay no attention to the police and to march to the office of the Minister of the Interior. The unemployed had been furnished with picks and shovels by communist leaders and were able to put the handfull of policemen out of commission before another contingent of police arrived on the scene. One of the injured policemen died