Background
Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez was born in Bagaces on 16 December 1831.
Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez was born in Bagaces on 16 December 1831.
Costa Rica had been dominated by a conservative, landowning oligarchy, whose feuds tended increasingly to involve the military in politics. Growing impatient over his role as a mercenary of the ruling class, Guardia seized power in April 1870 and was either president or backstage manipulator for the next 12 years.
Guardia’s rule was a transition period from the “patriarchal” republic to the “liberal” republic. He shared the Positivist philosophy of many of his Latin American contemporaries and launched an ambitious program of public works, although his effort to have a railroad built from San José to Puerto Limón failed, and the project was only completed several decades later. Guardia’s policies provided the opportunity for a new class of coffee planters, businessmen, and professionals to assume power after his death.
