Costa Rica (1983: Doomsday)

Work in progress.

The Nicaraguan Civil War was a major influence over political and national life in Costa Rica beginning in the late 1970s. The northern frontier was the loction of Contra guerrilla activity, while both Contra and Sandinista exiles in the country played active roles in the conflict. After Doomsday, open war spilled across the border from Nicaragua as a major force of Contras crossed over from Nicaragua's sparsely populated southeast. A major Sandinista force soon followed, seizing Guanacaste Province and the city of Puntarenas in order to head off the Contras.

The Costa Rican government, dependent on tourism and food exports to the US, was unable to drive out the invaders. By 1985, much of the Central Valley, home to the capital and half the country's population, was in Sandinista hands. The Costa Rican government fled to the coast, relocating to the port city of Limon.

A 1987 truce failed to hold, and the now three-way war resumed. Both Nicaraguan factions began to fracture soon afterwards, and by the end of the decade the Sandinistas in the Central Valley had declared themselves the legitimate rulers of Costa Rica, independent of either their bosses in Managua or the Costa Rican government in Limon. They enjoyed the support of part of the population, but others questioned their legitimacy, sparking a civil war that has never really let up.

Today, the Limon government controls the Caribbean coast, including a substantial portion of coastal Panama.