A Score for Pepe

Most Costa Ricans regard their country as a model of peacefully prosperous democracy nestled in the midst of Central America's turbulent belt of banana republics. And, mostly, they are right. The government has a reputation for honesty, the coffee-based economy is in relatively good shape, and there are ten times as many schoolteachers as members of the 1,200-man Civil Guard, the republic's only armed force. But Costa Rica has known sieges of political fury. In the past few months, as the country prepared to choose a successor for President Mario Echandi, there were growing fears of another civil war like the one that cost 1,300 lives in 1948.

At that time, Otilio Ulate, a conservative newspaper publisher, was a clear winner in the presidential elections. In second place was Rafael Angel Calderon Guardia. an ex-President (1940-44) who still controlled the lame-duck Congress and got the election overturned as "fraudulent." Not until Ulate's campaign manager, a fiery, reform-minded planter named Jose ("Pepe") Figueres, rose in revolt and won a bloody, five-week civil war was Ulate able to take office. Figueres was elected President in his own right in 1953, went on to become the nation's most prominent political figure as head of the National Liberation Party, the biggest group in Congress. He also became a charter member in the hemisphere club of leaders of the pro-U.S., non-Communist left.

Last week, as a record 375,000 voters went to the polls, it seemed like 1948 all over again. Unable to run himself (by law, two full terms must elapse before a President can succeed himself). Figueres and his National Liberation Party put up Francisco J. Orlich, 54, a well-to-do farmer and former boss of Figueres' public-works program. Main opposition: Old Enemy Calderon Guardia, now 61, and his Republican Party, which Figueres claimed was getting both money and arms from Communist Cuba. "We are armed, too," said Figueres, promising a fight if Calderon Guardia tried any election-day funny business. Citing Calderon Guardia's Communist connections, Figueres' partisans went even further: "No matter what happens, Calderon Guardia will not be the next President."

When the votes were counted, there was nothing to fight about. Winner by a majority big enough to convince everyone: Figueres' man, Orlich, with more than 50% of the total vote, and 30 of the 57 seats in the new Congress. Calderon Guardia's party won only 19 seats; 8 others went to a third party that will probably line up with the winners. It was a smashing defeat for Calderon Guardia, and a powerful boost for ambitious Pepe's chances of being re-elected President himself in four years.

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