By Kat Sunlove

Independence Day in Costa Rica calls for a big celebration. This year’s holiday marked the nation’s 189^th year of independence from Spain, making it one of the world’s oldest democracies. On September 15, 1821, Guatemala called a Popular Assembly and declared independence for itself and four other Central American countries, forming the short-lived Federal Republic of Central America. By 1838 the Central American Federation had essentially ceased to function and Costa Rica formally withdrew and declared itself a separate sovereign state.

Back in 1824, the Costa Rican Congress had elected Juan Mora Fernandez as the new nation’s first Chief of State. A true visionary, he built schools and roads, promoted industry and commerce and was the man who foresaw the importance of coffee as an export crop for the nascent country. Under his progressive liberal guidance, land grants were offered free to anyone who would plant coffee. Through his farsighted leadership, Fernandez helped to create a nation of small coffee plantations, which led to a large middle class of property owners. Even today, many Tico families continue to own their own land with every square inch planted in beautiful dark green coffee plants. And although a group of large affluent coffee barons evolved during the 1800’s, they cooperated with peasant coffee farmers in processing the crops for export and, with their wealth, invested in the nation’s infrastructure, building a new road to transport coffee from high in the Central Valley to the Pacific port of Puntarenas. In fact, last spring my husband Layne and I lived on that historic road and took our morning walks along its rutted concrete surface.

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