The Battle of San Jos

Taciturn, thirtyish Edgar Cardona is what Costa Ricans call a "finger soldier" --i.e., a soldier who has received his rank through favoritism ("Somebody points a finger at you and says: 'You're a corporal; you're a captain; you're a colonel.'"). In last year's civil war, Cardona was a colonel. Afterwards, Junta President Jose Figueres kept him on as Security Minister, even though he took to hobnobbing around San Jose with the President's conservative enemies.

When Figueres prepared to transform the army into a national police force, Cardona tried to slip one of his right-wing friends in as police chief. The President refused him. Disappointed, Cardona seized the capital's two main forts one afternoon last week and tried to stage a coup.

Figueres was too quick for him. Pulling out of his rambling frame palace, he rushed to grab the most commanding site in town, the five-story Gran Hotel Costa Rica, then set up headquarters in the Pacific Railway station. Isolating the forts, he laid siege to the troops inside. Some rebels quickly deserted. Thereupon Figueres attacked and Cardona immediately surrendered.

One fort still held out. From his command post Figueres opened up across the city's roofs with more guns than Costa Ricans knew they had. The staccato poc-poc of tommy guns mingled with the belch of mortars and the harsh slam of 50-calibre machine guns. The fort and surrounding houses were riddled. By the time the last rebels gave up, an estimated seven were dead, a score wounded.

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