Background
Próspero Fernández Oreamuno was born in San José on 18 July 1834.
Próspero Fernández Oreamuno was born in San José on 18 July 1834.
He came to power following the 12-year dictatorship of Tomás Guardia Gatiérrez and ushered in a decade of change that set Costa Rica’s course for the next 50 years. The Guardia dictatorship, a period of material progress, had ended the domination of the landed elites and provided the opportunity for the emerging commercial and professional classes of San José to seize political power. Fernández, a general, chose to represent these new groups when he assumed the presidency upon the dictator’s death.
Fernández began a series of liberal reforms. He expelled the Jesuits and activist Bishop Bernardo Augusto Thiel. He proclaimed civil marriage and divorce, secularization of cemeteries, the right to work on holy days, and restrictions on religious processions. Many of the young men, such as Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno and Cleto González Viquez, who took part in drafting these reforms, governed Costa Rica through the first third of the twentieth century.
