Sidebar #21 - Juan Santamaria

Although some Ticos may name their favorite player from Costa Rica’s 2014 World Cup team as their national hero, the general consensus is that Costa Rica’s national hero is a man named Juan Santamaría. Unlike the United States, Costa Rica didn’t have a long, violent fight for independence. Nevertheless, there were some smaller skirmishes that assured Costa Rican sovereignty. About 30 years after its official independence, an American filibuster named William Walker assumed a power vacuum in nearby Nicaragua and was motivated to spread slavery throughout countries in Central America. In order to combat Walker’s threat to Costa Rica, and following a public cry from their President for Costa Ricans to take up arms, troops marched north to Rivas, Nicaragua in 1856. There, a military general suggested that a soldier set Walker’s stronghold in Rivas ablaze. Juan Santamaría, a drummer in the Costa Rican Army, volunteered and sacrificed his life in doing so. In the decades following, he became an unlikely hero and a symbol of Costa Rican independence and nationalism. Today, Juan Santamaría Day, celebrated on April 11, is a national holiday. Schools are closed and employees have the day off. There’s a famous statue of Santamaría in the city of Alajuela and he is also the namesake for Costa Rica’s primary international airport. In my escuela, as you can see in the attached photo, we did a little puppet demonstration to reenact the Battle of Rivas and Juan Santamaría’s heroic act.