The Sparrow And The Hawk: An Analysis

Beginning with the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, the United States has attempted to dominate, and as many Americans believe, “protect” the weaker Latin American states, with the intention of protecting its own interests. Despite its various attempts, the United States has not been able to successfully develop positive relations with many of the Latin American nations. A unique exception to this generality is the case of Costa Rica. As seen in Kyle Longley’s book The Sparrow and the Hawk: Costa Rica & the United States during the Rise of Jose Figueres, the United States and Costa Rica have shared a history of a stable and relatively positive relationship. While Longley’s book focuses on the relations between the two nations during the rise of

Beginning with Costa Rican’s independence, it has been viewed as a unique case, differing from other Latin American nations. Mainly because of Costa Rican’s democratic tendencies, which distinguished itself from its neighbors, the United States and Costa Rica have traditionally have had a good relationship. Longley identifies Costa Rica and Americans to have shared values which is part of what has fostered their relationship. Among these values are democracy, capitalism, and racial homogeneity (10). The shared values between the two have encouraged Americans to positively perceive Costa Rica (Longley 11). As stated by Peter Meyer, the two nations have shared close relations for a long time due to both countries’ shared dedication to “strengthening democracy, improving human rights, and advancing free trade” ( Meyer 2). While all of the above is true, what really strengthened the relationship between the two nations was a series of events during the Figueres’ time in power, where the United States feared the spread of communism more than

was increasing, a civil war in Costa Rica was forming. This was led by Jose Figueres following the election of 1948, in which the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly tried to reinstate Calderon as president after he was defeated by Otolio Ulate (Jose Figueres Ferrer). Before the violent stage began, some U.S. officials attempted to remain, although, as seen in the document mentioned above, their desired solution was one that reduced communist influence (Longley 67). As the fear of communism in the U.S. increased, it became clear that many U.S. officials favored Figueres and his followers, as they were strongly anti-communist. Because Figueres and his followers won, he became the junta for an 18-month period, where he created what was known as the second republic (Watkins). After the U.S. government, recognized Figueres as the junta of Costa Rica, he immediately was recognized on an international level, giving him recognition and U.S. approval. The U.S. also benefited from the end result of this conflict, because the threat of communism in the Costa Rican government was gone. In addition, this event began to reestablish normal relations between the two nations (Longley 83-84). Following the 18 month period with Figueres in power as junta, Ulata became president. In the election of 1953, Figueres came back into