[stana]

"The man who led the armed uprising that caused the Costa Rican civil war won, abolished the army, voluntarily stepped down as dictator after 18 months, served two much later terms as president, and at 65 years old stood on the tarmac with a machine gun until a plane’s hijackers surrendered."

Wow! Stuff you will discover on HN. Never knew about José Figueres Ferrer, but his story and 20th century history of Costa Rica seems fascinating and worth further exploring :)

[idoubtit]

> at 65 years old stood on the tarmac with a machine gun until a plane’s hijackers surrendered.

That's a funny story. In fact, too funny and hardly believable...

According to a NYT article from the time of these events, the 4 hijackers accepted to release their hostages after a promise that they would get a plane back to their country. The hostages were released as planned, but then the hijackers where met by 200 armed soldiers and the President, himself armed with a submachine gun. Two of the hijackers were killed. https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/19/archives/president-says-n...

The tale where an old man with a machine-gun forces hijackers to surrender is more striking. Who cares if it seems impossible? Some newspapers (LA Times, Time) even propagated this, and now it's in Wikipedia-en, but not the Spanish version.

I think the NYT is a better source and its story is much more plausible. But the showdown is less funny and flattering. The President broke his promise. He did confront the hijackers, but he was protected by 200 soldiers, and the 4 hijackers had already surrendered.

[jacobolus]

I fixed the Wikipedia article. What do you think? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Figueres_Ferrer#Third_pre...

[ozim]

You do understand being 65 year old president usually sits in office calling shots via phone.

Even if he had 200 soldiers - still taking his time to be right there on the ground is something that stands out.

[jacobolus]

He ordered the army to shoot tear gas at the plane and shoot out the engine and tires, catching the plane on fire. Then he agreed to get the hijackers another plane in return for the release of the hostages. When the hijackers debarked the army started gunning them down.

That's not remotely the same story as "the president stood on the tarmac with a machine gun until the hijackers surrendered", a fabricated fairytale version.

[ozim]

Sorry I don’t know enough about you or the country.

I am from another part of the globe.

I do understand people might take it at face value and run with the idea. But also Ilive long enough to understand hostage situations are not what you see in the movies. Anyone who can read between the lines should know better.

I do understand it was also his marketing of tough guy. But still I have to say if he was down there with the troops it still checks my mark. If he ordered to shoot hijackers right there like 10 meters away and not from cozy office it still counts as tough guy for me.

[jrowen]

You might be interested in the similar story of Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, as told here by Matt Lakeman:

https://mattlakeman.org/2023/10/09/notes-on-ghana/

His recent "Notes on [...]" series describing different countries in West Africa is full of interesting stuff. The latest entry, on Ivory Coast (officially Cotê d'Ivoire), was posted here a few days ago and I've been enjoying working back from there.