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José María Hipólito Figueres Ferrer served as President of Costa Rica on three occasions:
1948–1949, 1953–1958, and 1970–1974.
During his first term in office, he abolished the country's army, nationalized its banking sector, and granted women the right to vote.
Born to Spanish immigrants in 1906, Figueres developed an interest in mathematics and physics. He attended school in Costa Rica and later continued his studies via correspondence with the International School in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In 1924 he travelled to Boston and took some courses in engineering while working in the Tea Company and as a translator. Figueres returned to the country in 1928 and bought a farm in Terrazu. Fourteen years later, without being a figure in the national and political scene, he led a radio broadcast denouncing the Calderon government and its actions. For this reason, President Calderon exiled him on July 11th, 1942. Figueres lived in Mexico until he was finally able to enter the country again in 1944 under the Picado government. On coming back in 1944, he set up the Democratic Party, that a year which later transformed into the Social-Democratic Party. He blamed and criticized Rafael Angel Calderon Guardia for corruption and embezzlement. In 1947 he began training a small number of troops in order to abolish the "undemocratic" government. He took his chance when, after the 1948 elections, a supporter of Calderon Guardia, President Teodoro Picado Michalski, did not want to hand over power to the newly elected President Otilio Ulate Blanco. A civil war broke out that lasted five weeks. Figueres' won the war and for 18 months was a member of "Junta Fundadora"(Founding Council), and also the Interim President. During that time he abolished the army, gave women and blacks their voting rights, and introduced the Electoral Tribunal that would be in charge of overseeing the electoral process. He stepped down after 18 months and handed power over to Otilio Ulate. He continued to have a brilliant political and cultural career. He was elected two more times as president and has been considered to be the most important political figure in Costa Rica's history. During his various terms in office he nationalized the banking system and contributed to the construction of the Panamerican roadway system that goes across Central America. He promoted the private industry sector and stimulated the national industry sector. He succeeded in energizing the country's middle class creating a strong buffer between the upper and lower classes. He was well liked and received in many Latin-American countries for his center-left ideals. He has been called one of the greatest contributors to the Social Democratic ideology. The Republic of China awarded him the "Shinning Star" in 1955. Several right-wing dictatorships were unsympathetic to his cause and ideas. In 1957 an assassination plot by dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo (Dominican Republic) was uncovered. Even the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua supported Calderon's attempts of invading Costa Rica to topple Figueres' government. Figueres even supported Fidel Castro during the Cuban Revolution. At the time Castro had not transformed Cuba into a Communist state. In March, 1959, Figueres was invited to Havana, and during a public speech, he warned Castro about the ideological deviations he had was observing in Cuba, and immediately the microphone was taken from him.
His son, José María Figueres Olsen, also served as president from 1994 to 1998.