General José Federico Alberto de Jesús Tinoco Granados (21 November 1868 – 7 September 1931), known as "Pelico", was a politician, soldier, and

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute Power (social and political), power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a polity. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to r ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

from 1917 to 1919.

Biography

Tinoco was born in 1868. On 5 June 1898 in San José, he married María de las Mercedes Elodia Fernández Le Cappellain. The couple had no children. After a career in the army, he was appointed Minister of War in the cabinet of President Alfredo González. On 27 January 1917 he and his brother José Joaquín seized power in a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

and established a repressive

military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

that attempted to crush all opposition. Though his government won support from the upper classes because it turned back the austerity measures adopted by President González, and declared war on the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

in May 1918, it failed to win the recognition of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, where President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

supported the deposed government. Popular sentiment against Tinoco, which began on 13 June 1919, quickly came to a head, and his brother was assassinated in early August. On August 13 Tinoco resigned in favor of Juan Bautista Quirós and went into exile in Europe. He died in Paris in 1931. Due to a dispute over the legitimacy of the government of Tinoco, Costa Rica was not a party to the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

and did not unilaterally end the state of war between itself and Germany. The technical state of war ended after World War II only after they were included in the

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...

. Costa Rica did issue a declaration of war against Germany again on 11 December 1941.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Granados, Federico Tinoco Tinoco Granados, Federico Tinoco Granados, Federico People from San José, Costa Rica Tinoco Granados, Federico Costa Rican liberals 20th-century Costa Rican politicians