American Embassy San José, Costa Rica Enclosure to Despatch No. 1613 dated February 19, 1946 CONFIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION opened the conversation by asking Mora his opinion of the recent elections, and he stated that the results had been highly satisfactory to him and to his party. He brought out the fact that his party was not interested in obtaining seats in Congress alone but was more preoccupied with keeping the Government in power and accomplishing the consolidation and furthering of social legislation. He said that his party now held the balance of power in Congress and intended to exercise the power thus conferred upon it judiciously. He insinuated that he would be willing to side with the opposition on any question wherein he thought the opposition position was more progressive than that of the Government. He called attention to the fact that the elections had been almost completely free, and said that the results were about what he had expected.
In response to another question he stated his conviction that Dr. Calderón Guardia would shortly return to Costa Rica, that he would be a candidate for the presidency in 1948, and that it was a certainty that he would be elected. asked him whom he thought the Doctor would have to run against, and he said actually it would make no difference since the Doctor following was so strong that he could be elected no matter who his opponent should be. He advanced his opinion that both León Cortés and Otilio Ulate were liquidated in a political sense, and said that Dr. Peña Chavarría had no appreciable support in the country at large either.
Mora talked for some while concerning his relations with American capitalistic enterprises in Costa Rica. He reaffirmed his determination to collaborate with all native and foreign companies just so long as those companies would meet him half way. He said that his relations with the United Fruit Company continued excellent, and he is convinced that Mr. Hamer, local manager of the company, is dealing with him fairly and honestly He said that the same thing was true to a lesser degree of the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz, and that he hoped his policy of collaboration would work out well, thus establishing a precedent for many years to come. He made it evident, however, that he would not carry his policy to such an extent that he would be a traitor to the laboring class. In speaking of the United Fruit Company he remarked, in passing, that the experi, ment in cooperative farming on the territory donated by the company at Parrita had been a failure this year. He attributed this failure to the Banco Nacional de Costa Rica, which had delayed furnishing the necessary credit until such time as a large portion of the harvest was already lost. He said that.
his group intended to pay back the money advanced it by the Fruit Company, and that the experiment would be tried again in the coming year (his opinions in this respect coincide almost completely with what was told last week by Mr. Hamer. Mora