REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES 19871, 4704218 Tights ginstWATANOS!
BUISS7930 Communist party. The newspapers also commented on Costa Rica good luck that Mr. Desportes, the new American Ambassador, arrived in Costa Rica in time to see this popular manifestation of Costa Rican democracy at work.
Ex President Ricardo Jiménez echoed this sentiment in the Diario de Costa Rica edition of May 16. Professor Brenes Mesén, a severe critic of the administration (see Legation despatch no. 925 of October 15, 1942. also mentioned it in an éditorial he wrote welcoming Mr. Desportes to Costa Rica.
One of the reasons why the administration was compelled to withdraw the bill from Congress was the serious rift that would have occurred in the administration ranks if such a bill had become law. It was reliably reported that the Minister of Government (Gobernación) stated that he would refuse to sign such a law, and it was likewise reported that the Minister of Foreign Affairs would resign if it became law. Many deputies announced that they would resign their seats if such a law were passed, but perhaps most important was the public announcement of Mr. Tinoco, who holds both the portfolios of Finance and Commerce and of Public Education in the present cabinet, that the moment the electoral reform bill was signed he considered his resignation accepted. Since Mr. Tinoco is considered by many the most able man in the cabinet, and since he is also considered the most honest, this would have been a blow which the administration could ill afford to take.
In addition, Mr. Tinoco has gained in popularity by able administration of his office as Minister of Public Education, and there is hope in the country that the disordered finances of Costa Rica will be improved if he continues as Minister of Finance and Commerce.
The ardently expressed hope, in many sections of Costa Rican public opinion, including the administration, has been for a long time that Leon Cortés, the candidate of the Democratic party, and Teodoro Picado, the candidate of the National Republican party, will withdraw their candidacies in favor of a compromise candidate. It was such a situation that President Calderón Guardia was elected in 1940. As the situation stands at present, the opinion is held in many circles, including at least a part of the administration, that Mr. Picado is undesirable as a Presidential candidate. As a divorced man in a Catholic country, he is not likely to succeed well with the Church. Likewise, the personality of Leon Cortés is not an engaging one, and so much opposition to him has been engendered by the present campaign that his election to the Presidency would create a considerable body of ill feeling, and possibly be followed by revengeful acts on his part against some members of the present government.
Cortés has announced, however, that he is willing to withdraw his candidacy on three conditions: First, that President Calderón Guardia should give a written statement guaranteeing that his present term would not be prolonged in any manner, and that he would not be reelected at the end of this term: second, that the electoral should be withdrawn from Congress; and third, that Señor Picado