Battle of memories in Costa Rica: inventions, testimonies, and violence during the civil war of 1948

Abstract

Costa Rica’s Civil War of 1948 divided up Costa Ricans for several decades. This division depended a lot on opposite visions of the past that scholars have failed to analyze and document. This essay confronts official narratives of the Costa Rica’s Civil War of 1948 with testimonies and memories of participants to see how the real social confrontation has been hidden in scholars and partisans’ analyses in a way to invent the past. By doing so, this essay goes deeper into testimonies of combatants to determine hidden actions that challenge official revolutionary leaders’ explanations of this conflict.