TAKEOVER OF LA CAJA COFFEE PLANTATION IN COSTA RICA WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF WORLD WAR II

Abstract

One of the concrete steps taking by the Latin American governments to support the American Foreign Policy towards the Second World War was to control, supervise, and expropriate the business, farms, buildings and banking accounts of Germans, Italians and Japanese citizen. The Costa Rican government was not an exception. We have studied the rapid expropriation of “finca La Caja”, owned by the firm Otto Hübbe e hijos, the coffee farm and buildings were located in La Uruca, at the central district of San José, Costa Rican capital. Among the justification of the government were the strategic location of the land, the modern “beneficio de café” and the links with important banks and commerce firms in Germany. Even thought the Hübbe family reacted judicially to the expropriation, the results were null.

The research was base on different history sources, such as the “Junta de Custodia and Relaciones Exteriores” of the National Archives of Costa Rica and the newspapers section at the National Library of Costa Rica. The triangulation of information and data of those sources showed the strategic power of the United States over the Latin American countries and, the convenience of their governments to take advantage or the German capital and families, which were imprisoned in concentration camps in Latin America and the United States.