La Nación was founded on October 12, 1946, by Sergio Carballo Romero as director, Ricardo Castro Beeche as manager, and Jorge Salas heading the administration.

The first reporters were Adrián Vega Aguiar, Salvador Lara, Eduardo Chavarría, Federico González Campos, Claudio Ortiz Oreamuno and Joaquín Vargas Gené.

The newspaper was born during the confusion and political unrest caused by lingering electoral fraud, corruption scandals, government repression and street violence against the opposition, with the participation of the Costa Rican communist movement, that at the time was an ally to the Picado administration.

Less than two year later after the foundation of La Nación, these events led into the 1948 Costa Rican Civil War.

The Panamanian weekly El Capital, and Siglo XXI and Al Día in Guatemala.