[7] The Social Guarantees generated great popular support but also brought the ire and intense opposition of the most powerful classes including the coffee oligarchy, the creole aristocracy, and some intellectual sectors.
Key allies for Figueres were the Caribbean Legion and Frank Marshall, the leader of the anti-communist forces with dual Costa Rican and German citizenship whose family had been persecuted by Calderón.
[8] This seemed reasonable since Figueres himself, who exercised the de facto presidency before passing power to Otilio Ulate, made a series of socialist and progressive reforms.
These included the creation of the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity, women's suffrage, the end of racial segregation (before 48 blacks could not leave certain areas or vote), the nationalization of the country's bank, and the abolition of the army.
[14] Another important aspect is the Labor Code, which provides Costa Rican wage earners with a series of rights that are even higher than those of some developed countries (such as the United States)[15][16] and according to some studies may have contributed to the creation of a strong middle class.
[17][18] In any case in Costa Rica there was never the semifeudalization that occurred in the rest of Central America, and since its identity began to develop, the differences between social classes were never very marked.