Founding Junta of the Second Republic

As agreed in the Figueres-Ulate Pact, Figueres would rule by decree for 18 months and then power will be given to president-elect and alleged winner of the 1948 Costa Rican general election Otilio Ulate Blanco.

[1] The rejection of the result by the "calderonistas" and the shooting in which two police officers died and Dr. Carlos Luis Valverde Vega (member of the opposition) was killed, led the government-related sectors to face the opposition forces led by the National Liberation Army, commanded by José Figueres Ferrer, in the period between March 12 and April 19, 1948.

An agreement was reached that established the exercise of the Executive Branch at the head of engineer Santos León Herrera, who would be responsible for organizing the new government; measures would be taken for the withdrawal of government troops; the most important military chiefs and officials would leave the country; the armed action would be completed and the National Liberation Army forces would advance to their new positions; guaranteeing the life and property of all citizens; as well as respect for the Social Guarantees.

[1] On May 1, 1948, the Ulate-Figueres Pact was issued, whereby Otilio Ulate Blanco and José Figueres Ferrer agreed, among other things, that the Revolutionary Junta would govern the country without a congress for a period of eighteen months from May 8; Popular elections would be called to elect representatives to a Constituent Assembly; would immediately appoint a commission responsible for drafting a Constitution to be submitted to the Constituent; would recognize and declare immediately that on February 8, it was legitimately elected Otilio Ulate Blanco as President of Costa Rica; I would ask the Constituent Assembly to ratify the election of Otilio Ulate Blanco to exercise power in the first constitutional period of the Second Republic, which would not exceed four years and would integrate the National Electoral Tribunal (now the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Costa Rica).

[6][7] The Cardonazo was an attempted coup d'état carried out on April 3, 1949, in Costa Rica by the then Minister of Public Security of the de facto government, Edgar Cardona Quirós.

The government responded immediately by fencing the barracks with military and faithful volunteers (such as Frank Marshall Jiménez), 3 producing a slight confrontation of both sides within the facilities, which allowed Figueres to enter the same negotiation.