Mora Valverde, Manuel (1910–1994)

Manuel Mora Valverde (b. 1910; d. 29 December 1994), the leading figure and one of the founding fathers of communism in Costa Rica, elected to five terms in the national congress (1934–1948, 1970–1974), and twice candidate for the presidency (1940, 1974).

Manuel Mora's life and career have been intertwined with the communist movement in his native Costa Rica. His active political career began while he was still a young law student at the School of Law in San José. In 1930 he played a leading role in the organization of the Workers and Peasants Bloc, which rather quickly evolved into the Costa Rican Communist Party (PC).

Along with Carlos Luis Fallas Sibaja, Jaime Cerdas Moran, and others, Mora capitalized on the deteriorating economic conditions during the Great Depression to bring the Communist Party to the forefront of labor union organization. With his segment of the labor movement as a voting base, he made the Communist Party a force to be reckoned with in national politics. Never a true contender for power, it has been a militant and influential minority party.

Mora contributed to his country through his dedication, writings, austerity, and ability to change the agenda of Costa Rican politics. Political leaders from León Cortés Castro (1936–1940) through Rafael Angel Calderón Guardia (1940–1944), Otilio Ulate Blanco (1949–1953), and José Figueres Ferrer (1948–1949, 1953–1958, 1970–1974) felt it necessary to respond ideologically to the communist challenge. Even though they rejected Mora's party and its links to the Soviet Union, most respected him as a national leader. Mora's program did not become the nation's program; however, the challenge that he posed led his political opponents to formulate their own responses to the socioeconomic problems of Costa Rica. He thus contributed to the great progress that has characterized Costa Rica since 1940.

Mora reached the apex of his power and influence during the administrations of Calderón Guardia (1940–1944) and Teodoro Picado Michalski (1944–1948). After changing the name of his party to the Popular Vanguard (PVP) and receiving the approval of Archbishop Víctor M. Sanabria Martínez, he entered into a political alliance with the governing National Republican Party. This alliance, which called itself the Victory Bloc, enacted wide-ranging social legislation, which has been maintained and enhanced by subsequent administrations.

With the overthrow of Picado by the Figueresled revolution in 1948, Mora was forced into exile and his party was outlawed. He later returned to Costa Rica and renewed his political activities, but neither his own party nor the various leftist coalitions in which it participated ever achieved the strength and influence that the Popular Vanguard enjoyed during its alliance with the government between 1942 and 1948. In 1993, the University of Costa Rica presented him with its Rodrigo Facio prize. The following year he was the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the Universidad Estatal a Distancia.

See alsoCommunism .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

John Patrick Bell, Crisis in Costa Rica (1971).

Charles D. Ameringer, Don Pepe (1978).

William Krehm, Democracies and Tyrannies of the Caribbean (1984).

Richard Biesanz, Karen Zubris Biesanz, and Mavis Hiltunen Biesanz, The Costa Ricans (1982; rev. ed. 1988).

Marc Edelman and Joanne Kenen, The Costa Rica Reader (1989), pp. 74-114 and 309-313.

Additional Bibliography

Merino del Rio, José. Manuel Mora y la democrácia costar-ricense: Viaje al interior del Partido Comunista. Heredia, Costa Rica: Editorial Fundación UNA, 1996.

Salas, Addy. Con Manuel: "Devolver al pueblo su fuerza." San José: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica, 1998.

                                             John Patrick Bell