| Subject: What day of the week was april 11 1954? |
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Date Posted: 26/11/10 1:11:40
In reply to:
Juan Santamaría=The main international airport in Costa Rica is named after him.
's message, " " on 26/11/10 1:06:37
>Juan Santamaría
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to:
>navigation, search
>
>Juan Santamaría statue, Alajuela, Costa RicaJuan
>Santamaría (August 29, 1831 - April 11, 1856), is
>officially recognized as the national hero of the
>Republic of Costa Rica. A national holiday in Costa
>Rica, Juan Santamaría Day, is held every April 11 to
>commemorate his death.
>
>Santamaría was born in the city of Alajuela. When U.S.
>filibuster William Walker overthrew the government of
>Nicaragua and attempted to conquer the other nations
>in Central America, including Costa Rica, in order to
>form a private slave-holding empire, Costa Rican
>president Juan Rafael Mora Porras called upon the
>general population to take up arms and march north to
>Nicaragua to fight against the foreign invader.
>Santamaría, a poor laborer and the illegitimate son of
>a single mother, joined the army as a drummer boy. The
>troops nicknamed him "el erizo" ("the Porcupine") on
>account of his spiked hair.
>
>After routing a small contingent of Walker's soldiers
>at Santa Rosa, Guanacaste, the Costa Rican troops
>continued marching north and reached the city of
>Rivas, Nicaragua, on April 8, 1856. The battle that
>ensued is known as the Second Battle of Rivas. Combat
>was fierce and the Costa Ricans were not able to drive
>Walker's men out of a hostel near the town center from
>which they commanded an advantageous firing position.
>
>According to the traditional account, on April 11,
>General José María Cañas (Salvadoran) suggested that
>one of the soldiers advance towards the hostel with a
>torch and set it on fire. Some soldiers tried and
>failed, but finally Santamaría volunteered on the
>condition that, in the event of his death, someone
>would look after his mother. He then advanced and was
>mortally wounded by enemy fire. Before expiring he
>succeeded, however, in setting fire to the hostel,
>thus contributing decisively to the Costa Rican
>victory at Rivas.
>
>This account is apparently supported by a petition for
>a state pension filed on November 1857 by Santamaría's
>mother, as well as by government documents showing
>that the pension was granted. Various historians,
>however, have questioned whether the account is
>accurate, and if Santamaria died or not during that
>battle or another one. At any rate, towards the end of
>the 19th century, Costa Rican intellectuals and
>politicians seized on the war against Walker and on
>the figure of Juan Santamaría for nationalist purposes.
>
>[edit] Contemporary memorials
>Juan Santamaría is honored by a statue in a park
>bearing his name in the central canton of Alajuela one
>block south of the Central Park, and by a museum that
>was a former garrison in the same city. Two statues of
>Juan Santamaria larger than the life are in Costa
>Rica: one in Alajuela and other in the front of the
>Congress in San Jose. The Statue was commissioned by
>the Costa Rican Government in 1891, under sworn
>statement or affidavit of several witness of his deed
>in Rivas, a perpetual memorial archive has been
>preserved. As a drummer of the armed forces he wore a
>uniform, that evidently was of French design since in
>the 19th century most the of the high ranking officers
>were trained in France.[1]
>
>The main international airport in Costa Rica is named
>after him.
>
>[edit] Notes
>1.^
>href="http://www.museojuansantamaria.go.cr/memo/histori
>ografica/meson.htm">http://www.museojuansantamaria.go.c
>r/memo/historiografica/meson.htm
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