Spain swept their opponents 7-0 in the just-concluded group stage of the 2022 World Cup Qatar Group E vs Costa Rica. Costa Rica did not have a single shot on goal in this game, and the Spanish goalkeeper did not serve a single goalball and stood to watch the whole game. You must know that in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Costa Rica defeated Uruguay and Italy and drew England's biggest dark horse.
This year's performance is simply very different from the previous one, and it disappoints everyone who expects this dark horse team to perform again. As a small country with no name, if it is not known through two World Cups, I am afraid that not many people care about what kind of country it is and what happened to it, let's briefly understand its past and present life.
Where is Costa Rica?
The narrow strip connecting North and South America is called Central America, and the Caribbean Sea is often put on the screen, just in eastern Central America. Costa Rica is located in south-central Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Meaning "rich coast" in Spanish, it has a total area of 51,000 square kilometers smaller than Ningxia and a population of 5.21 million, about the same as Changsha. The capital is San Jose. It is a relatively developed country in Central America, known as "Central American Switzerland". In 2021, the per capita GDP was 11,900 US dollars, which is close to that of the mainland.
Early history
Like many Central American countries, early Costa Rica was inhabited by Indians. Before the Age of Discovery, no regime was established here. In 1502, Columbus arrived on his fourth voyage and named the place Costa Rica.
In 1513 the Spanish invasion of Costa Rica began, and in 1563 Costa Rica became a Spanish colony under the jurisdiction of the Viceroyalty of Guatemala. For nearly 300 years, the native Indians were slaughtered by the Spaniards, and Spanish immigrants became the majority population, after which some Spaniards merged with the remaining Indians to produce Indo-European mestizos, and a small number of descendants of black slaves became the population of present-day Costa Rica, all of whom spoke Spanish.
At the beginning of the 19th century, there was a revolution in Spain, which took advantage of the Central American independence movement to rise, and countries broke away from Spanish rule. In 1821, Guatemala, along with El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, separated from Spain and joined Mexico, and in 1823 the five countries separated from Mexico to form the United Central American Province, and in 1824 adopted a constitution and changed its name to the Federation of the Central American Republics. This hastily established state did not resolve well the contradictions between the feudal ruling class and the new bourgeoisie, which led to constant civil wars. In 1838-1841, countries left the Union to become independent states.
After Costa Rica's independence in 1838, it did not escape this struggle of class contradictions. In 1849, the largest manor owner, Rafael Mora, forced his younger brother, Miguel Mora, then interim president, to resign and became president himself. In 1859, Mora was overthrown by his brother-in-law Monte Yalegre, and in the following 60 years there were several changes of government in Costa Rica, and coups were commonplace, in which the army played the role of a-stirring stick, and people protested and marched and armed struggles were constantly raged.
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American penetration
In 1832, the United States published the Monroe Doctrine, making Latin America its sphere of influence, and Central America becoming the backyard of the United States. In the 70s of the 19th century, American capital began to enter Central America. In 1899, the United Fruit Company of the United States controlled Costa Rica's railroad and the export of bananas, the lifeblood of the economy, and effectively controlled Costa Rica. In 1917, Costa Rica's defense minister, Tinoco, came to power in a coup d'état, just as the Panama Canal opened and the United States needed peace and stability to control the surrounding area. So in 1919, Tinoco resigned under the intervention of the United States, and the presidents since then have been under the control of American capital.
United Fruit Company's sphere of influence
In 1931, the Communist Party of Costa Rica was founded (later renamed the People's Vanguard), which launched a number of democratic movements against the bourgeoisie and forced the government to carry out democratic reforms, which annoyed the United States. After the end of World War II, socialist ideas spread rapidly in the Americas, and the U.S. government, deeply displeased, immediately gave the Costa Rican government substantial assistance to suppress the Popular Vanguard. The 1948 election became the trigger for the civil war, and former President Calderón's control of the Legislative Assembly sparked a wave of protests across the country.
Calderon
In 1948, the leader of the Social Democratic Party, Figueres Ferrer, seized power in a coup d'état, established a transitional government, announced a series of reforms, eliminated the influence of the former president and the army, and stabilized the situation in Costa Rica. He pledged to return power to the democratically elected government a year and a half later and announced the disbandment of the army. With his own hands, he smashed the exterior wall of the army headquarters building with a hammer and announced that the building would be converted into a national museum. The move eradicated the coup d'état in Latin America, the disappearance of the military junta that had disrupted Costa Rica for decades, and the people rejoiced and praised Ferrer's actions, which laid a deep popular base for his second presidency since.
Ferrell
After the disbandment of the army, Costa Rica created a 7,000-strong police force responsible for policing, counterterrorism and counter-narcotics, which the United States greatly appreciated. As an important Panama Canal region, the United States will never allow unstable factors, even if it is a president of a country, if he dares to disobey the United States, he will be dismissed in minutes, and the arrest of President Ma Panama by the United States is an example. Therefore, Ferrell's performance in the eyes of the United States is great loyalty, and immediately said that your business will be my business in the future, and I will cover you, big brother. In December 1948, Costa Rica signed the Inter-American Treaty of Mutual Assistance, which stipulated that any party to the treaty would receive assistance from other countries, including the United States, if any party was attacked.
Countries covered by the Inter-American Treaty of Mutual Assistance
The beginning of a modern society
In 1953, Ferrer was re-elected president. After he came to power, he began to focus on economic construction, and the government continued to strengthen its intervention in the economy. At the same time, national industry was developed, and the transfer from traditional agriculture to modern industry was transferred. With the saved military spending, a large amount of infrastructure was built, electricity, banks, railways, etc. were nationalized. In addition, the foreign capital tax rate will be raised to protect domestic industries, and relations with Latin America and Europe will be strengthened to balance the situation in which American capital is dominant. These measures dealt a blow to the financial oligarchy and promoted healthy business development, which paved the way for Costa Rica's subsequent development.
In 1970, Ferrer was re-elected president, at this time Costa Rica had established a rudimentary industrial system, and after he came to power, he began to vigorously promote the industrialization of Costa Rica, making the export of industrial products the largest economic source. In addition, tourism began to be a second direction of development, increasing flights and routes to various countries, improving relations with other countries, establishing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries, and participating in Latin American integration activities. In addition, during his tenure, Ferrer established a free education and health care system.
The establishment of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union during the Cold War was clearly an eye medicine for the United States. These foreign policies caused strong dissatisfaction in the United States, but Ferrer was quick to say that Costa Rica was still part of the Western Union, an ally of the United States, but that he had the right to express his opinion on world political issues out of democracy. The United States did not like his rhetoric, and after Ferrer's term ended in 1974, the United States disqualified him from running for president in 1978 on the grounds that he had hosted American financial fraudsters in 1972. He remained active in politics until his death in 1990, when Costa Rica awarded him the title of "Father of the Fatherland".
In 1983, Costa Rica declared its permanent neutrality, and the countries of the Americas expressed their support, and the United Nations established the "University for Peace" in San José, the capital of Costa Rica. In the decades that followed, civil wars and economic development stalled in surrounding Latin American countries. Costa Rica has entered the fast lane of development on its own. In 1984, the American version of the "East India Company" United Fruit Company withdrew from Costa Rica, completely ending the control of Costa Rica by American capital. On the contrary, US pharmaceutical, semiconductor, real estate, financial and insurance companies have gradually increased their investment in Costa Rica, accounting for two-thirds of all external investment, and by the end of 2019, Costa Rica had absorbed a total of 41.7 billion US dollars of foreign investment.
Nicaragua, which has a heavy "federal plot", has always hoped to restore the federation of the Central American Republic, and has tried several times to overthrow the Costa Rican regime, but it does not dare to openly invade, and can only make small moves behind the scenes. In 2010, Nicaragua occupied the island of Calero, which has a dispute with Costa Rica. Costa Rica then filed a lawsuit before the International Court of Justice alleging the Nicaraguan invasion, and Nicaragua also filed a counterclaim that Costa Rica's construction of a road near the boundary river violated Nicaraguan sovereignty. In 2015, 16 judges of the International Court of Justice unanimously ruled that Nicaragua lost its case and withdrew from Costa Rican territory while compensating for damage caused by the damage.
Disputed areas
Costa Rica, backed by the United States, has gradually developed into one of the most stable and prosperous countries in Latin America, with a national literacy rate of 97.9% in 2020, the highest in the region, and an average life expectancy of 80.6 years, ranking among the highest in the world. At the same time, it has also developed an economic structure based on industrial manufacturing, supplemented by agriculture and services.
San jose
Magnificent virgin forests and volcanoes, blue seas and beaches make Costa Rica the third most attractive tourist destination in Latin America, receiving more than 3 million tourists from all over the world in 2019 and generating $4 billion in foreign exchange earnings. It is a miracle that such a small country has become a unique landscape in Central America by relying on its flexible foreign policy and its own courage, and once became the country with the highest happiness index in the world.