Who is juan santamaria

Since he was a poor young peasant, there are no pictures of him. Was he really the one who set fire to the building in Rivas? Was he really a drummer boy?

How old was he? Increasing prosperity due to world demand for coffee, the increased wealth of land owners and political stability caused Costa Rica to search for a cultural identity. It worked and the call was taken up by the government to find out about their national hero. The only problem was, everybody who had fought in the actual battle was dead, there were no eyewitnesses.

In the end it didn't matter because the story was already so ingrained into the culture as to be fait-accompli. Now you know. In the end, it does not matter if everything is true or not. And he never told a lie, either. All Rights Reserved. Throughout the mids, one of the most economically viable means of transporting goods from one side of America to the other was through Nicaragua.

When civil war broke out in Nicaragua in , the American William Wallace led a group of some mercenaries to support the Nicaraguan Democratic Party in their fight against the Legitimist Party. After the defeat of the Legitimists and a farcical election, Walker became the official leader of Nicaragua. Mora called the Costa Ricans to arms and formed a strong militia that was predominantly made up of peasants including the young Juan Santamaria.

His early years are a mystery, as nobody paid enough attention to a random kid with little-to-no prospects. We do know that he was born in the province of Alajuela, a rural agricultural part of Costa Rica, on August 29, Even today, Alajuela has a strong farming community.

His mother, Maria, raised him alone, and Juan only had an elementary school education before starting work. Juan likely worked on a coffee plantation, as many children born and raised in this area did. When the Costa Rican president called upon the common people to take up arms and defend their lands, Juan enlisted in the Costa Rican army as a drummer boy.

In order to figure out who Juan Santamaria was and why he had such an impact on Costa Rican history, we should probably look into the Filibuster War, where he fought and died. Walker wanted to control and integrate Latin American nations into the United States and establish slave hold colonies, which would supply the Southern states of America with slaves. Juan Santamaria took this declaration to heart, joining the Costa Rican army as a drummer boy. After the president declared war, Walker marched on Costa Rica.

The Costa Rican forces pushed back, managing to take Rivas, a city in Nicaragua. This was where the Second Battle of Rivas took place. Only four days after the Costa Rican army took Rivas, Walker attempted to take it back. The only options that the Costa Rican army had were to destroy that building, or to give up the fight.

On April 11, , the general suggested that one of the soldiers approach the hotel and set it ablaze. Several soldiers tried and fell to a hail of bullets, until our humble drummer boy stepped forward. Juan was a good son and a brave soldier.