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One hopeful sign was that the conference would be held in thrifty, well-behaved Costa Rica, Central America's "New England," which has always tried to remain aloof from the madhouse politics of its neighbors. Actually practicing democracy, Costa Rica elects its leaders by secret ballot. President Rafael Angel Calderón Guardia is a handsome polo player, farmer and practicing physician who epitomizes Costa Rican political liberality and the Old World manners of its 90% white population.
Like Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are all represented by dictatorlets who have risen to power in the past decade.
Guatemala, first in population, is run like a barracks by President General Jorge Ubico, who washes and clothes, scolds and punishes, rewards and drives his people (60% Indians) to self-improvement. Short, straight, lonely General Ubico is an honest admirer of democracy in a land that has never known it, and made his own gesture toward Central American unity at a conference in 1934.
El Salvador, one of the most thickly populated countries in the Western Hemisphere, is ruled by a strange theosophist-vegetarian, General Maximiliano Hernández, who loves animals, particularly rabbits. Hernandez crushed a "Communist" revolt in 1932, has since paid his army well and given ''fireside chats" which are a blend of spiritualism, brotherliness and witchcraft. He has worked well with the U.S., particularly since Pearl Harbor.
Honduras, stronghold of United Fruit Co., is run by President General Tiburcio Carias Andino, a 300-lb. despot whose banquet halls are protected by machine guns placed behind potted palms. General Carias won Honduras in 1932 and sent thousands into political exile. Hundreds are still in jail. Others bitterly remember that, when they fled, Nicaraguan National Guardsmen caught them, cut the buttons from their pants, forced them to march 30 leagues holding up their breeches.
The Question. The obstacles to unification, with such diverse personalities sponsoring it, are considerable, especially since any workable plan would cost the dictators most of their power. To get whites, mestizos and Indians to agree is another difficulty. Salvadorans, having Aztec blood, remember chirpily that they have always been great fighters. Costa Rica's Catholic whites have a strong color prejudice. In Guatemala one group of Indians still hangs a little Judas (dressed in a rival tribe's costume) every Easter as a reminder that their rivals used Spanish soldiers in a tribal war 400 years ago. The greatest obstacle to unification is nationalism.