DECLASSIFIED REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES Authority Statele her later 8: MENARS Date 24 581 con In his pre election pact with Mora it could be seen.
that Picado was the candidate of the Left. His program called for the consolidation of the various social gains enacted by the Calderón Guardia Administration, and proposed further measures to benefit workers and peasants.
The opposition, led by ex President León CORTES, represented the land holding classes and the monied interests in general. It was these persons who had traditionally selected and elected presidents in Costa Rica, and in a nuation of the political and social theories of the Calderón Guardia Mora Picado group they could see a serious threat to their customary political and economy hegemony. Added, then, to the fact that the manner of conducting the 1944 elections outraged Costa Rica sense of civic decency was the fact that the Administration found itself, from the time of its assumption of power, in the middle of a heated ideological battle. The situation was made even more serious by the Government unfortunate which was due not only to the ills attendant upon the war but also to the disastrous financial situation inherited by Picado from his predecessor in the presidency.
The President apparently realized that he was sitting on a powder keg, and from the moment of his inauguration he set out with characteristic determination to attempt the unification of the country and the concomitant consolidation of his own position. Relying on Costa Rica tra.
ditional aversion to violence, and displaying an almost unbelievable amount of patience and tolerance towards his many outspoken enemies, the President let it be known that he intended to govern for the good of the country rather than for any particular group. He was tireless in making overtures of peace to the Right in an effort to prevent that sector of the country from resorting to armed revolt to overthrow the Communist dominated Government. Despite these efforts, however, Picado first year of office was alive with rumors that the Government would be overthrown either by elements of the extreme Right or by the Calderonista Vanguardia combination, which purportedly was dissatisfied with the President tendency to compromise with the conservatives, With the passage of time it seemed that the President was slowly gaining the confidence of the country, but he was still looked upon by almost all observers as a man of weak character, who was in reality under the domination of Francisco CALDERON Guardia and Manuel Mora. Several imes during 1945, the Administration manifested obvious nervousness lost some small public demonstration should get out of hand and result in a popular uprising against the Government.
One such instance occurred on the occasion of a public mani.
festation of the on July 18, 1945, at which time the