born Sept. 25, 1906, San Ramón, Costa Rica
died June 8, 1990, San José
Costa Rican statesman and president (194849, 195358, 197074).
Educated in Costa Rica, Mexico, and the U.S., he became an opponent of the right-wing regime of Rafael Ángel Calderón, and in 1948 he led an uprising to force Calderón to yield the presidency to the democratically elected Otilio Ulate. A junta dominated by Figueres wrote a new constitution that abolished the army and gave women the right to vote, and the presidency was turned over to Ulate in 1949. Figueres himself was elected president by a landslide in 1953; governing as a moderate socialist, he adopted a pro-U.S. policy and quickly outlawed the Communist Party. Returned to power in 1970, he became a symbol of the democratic left and is given much credit for Costa Rica's enduring stability and democracy.