REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES P: DECLASSIFIED Althority Stateletter Ihr Sy mL NARS Date 24 18. 11 apparent distaste for the political arena, he might be able to make a good showing. He draws most of his support from liberal, nationalistic groups. He has long advocated sweeping changes in Costa Rica tax system, the burden of which falls on the consumer, and had the first income tax law passed, in 1915.
Another phase of the situation deserves attention at this point. The Communist party, implanted in Costa Rica about 1930, has steadily won converts and increased its political strength during the past four years. Its principal leader is Manuel Mora Valverde, a man still in his late twenties, who is rated even by his political foes as unusually intelligent and well prepared. He, and a fellow Communist, Efraín Jiménez Guerrero, won seats in the Congress in the last elections.
The Communist organization in Costa Rica is still small, numbering perhaps 4, 000 members in all, but it is compact and well disciplined. It has given proof of its power in the present banana strike, and unless the Communist movement is stamped out violently or its raison etre removed by improving the lot of the laboring classes, it bids fair to continue to increase in strength in the years to come.
The Party has already announced its intention of participating in the next presidential elections.
What chance it has will be determined by the outcome 8! 8, QUE