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As Ticos celebrate the ultimate sacrifice of Costa Rica’s favorite son and National Hero, Juan “El Erizo” Santamaria, it is important to look beyond the nice summer day off from work, the lack of vehicular restriction in downtown San Jose, and the fact that Juan Santamaria volunteered for the most noble of all patriotic endeavors.
Juan Santamaria did not just stop filibuster William Walker and his band of mercenaries from advancing further south than Rivas, he stopped a dangerous doctrine that was spreading at the time Walker’s troops were holed up in the farmhouse that Juan Santamaria set fire to.
On the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Rivas, scholars from the University of Costa Rica (UCR) gathered in Liberia to study the modern works of researchers from Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States into our National Campaign against filibusters and Juan Santamaria’s legacy. For all the efforts in labeling William Walker as a crazy power-hungry American in search of riches in our isthmus, the history until a few decades ago ignored the fact that Walker was part of a greater expansionist scheme.
The paragraphs below are excerpts from the work of David Diaz-Arias, UCR. Mr. Diaz-Arias wrote: Rethinking the Filibusters in the Americas -a look into what Juan Santamaria really achieved on April 11th, 1856.
Manifest Destiny
In the years prior to the bloody American Civil War, political figures in the United States thought that the country would one day run out of resources and economic prosperity. Expansion beyond the country’s borders for the purpose of widening the economic horizons of the U.S. was supported by the Democratic administration of President Polk, but faced opposition from politicians such as Abraham Lincoln, who thought it was better to develop the internal economy rather than resorting to adventurism.
Manifest Destiny was a doctrine that encouraged Americans like William Walker to look for opportunity beyond the U.S., with the intention of bringing riches back and annex new territory, without support from the government. In the minds of Manifest Destiny followers, it was the patriotic thing to do.
William Walker’s Influence in Nicaragua
Walker’s descent on Central America was organized and well-financed. Historical accounts of him traveling with a ragtag band of soldiers of fortune miss the mark. Walker had figures like Major Chatham Roberdeau Wheat, a brilliant infantry tactician, by his side. Walker had charisma, moxie and influence. He knew what it would take to become President of Nicaragua: gain the trust of the elites and the clergy. The filibuster had greater plans to annex Costa Rica and the rest of Central America, although he face opposition in every single nation.
American Support for Walker
William Walker was not the only filibuster following the doctrine of Manifest Destiny. At the time Walker’s troops were fighting in Central America, financiers and would-be adventurers in the United States were planning annexations and expeditions to Cuba and other nations. Powerful businessmen were awaiting positive news from Walker.
President Juan Rafael Mora became well-versed in all matters related to Manifest Destiny and the filibusters. He took that knowledge and made it public in order to rally support for his cause of preventing Walker’s advance into Costa Rica. Historians agree that Ticos have never been so close together in a common cause since then; for the Catholic Church, the elites and the working class all agreed that Walker was to be stopped.
Juan Santamaria’s Legacy in the Americas
When news of the outcome of the Battle of Rivas reached Walker supporters in the United States, they quickly canned the idea of Manifest Destiny and American expansion by means of adventurism. These supporters included special interest groups and politicians that would have provided material help to the filibusters. That was not the case, however, thanks to Juan Santamaria. On the day he was killed by enemy fire in Rivas, the idea Manifest Destiny as a reason for expansion also died.
To learn how the memory of Juan Santamaria is helping keep some communities in Costa Rica free from GMO crops, please read our previous article Transgenic-Free Territories in Costa Rica Gain Scientific Attention.
