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Juan Santamaría (August 29, 1831 - April 11, 1856) was a Costa Rican soldier, officially recognized as the national hero of his country. A national holiday in Costa Rica, Juan Santamaría Day, is held every April 11 to commemorate his death.
Santamaría was born in the city of Alajuela. When U.S. filibuster William Walker overthrew the government of Nicaragua and attempted to conquer the other nations in Central America, including Costa Rica, in order to form a private slave-holding empire, Costa Rican president Juan Rafael Mora Porras called upon the general population to take up arms and march north to Nicaragua to fight against the foreign invader. Santamaría, a poor laborer and the illegitimate son of a single mother joined the army as a drummer boy. The troops nicknamed him "el erizo" ("the Porcupine") on account of his spiked hair.
After routing a small contingent of Walker's soldiers at Santa Rosa, Guanacaste, the Costa Rican troops continued marching nornational Airport]] (SJO).]] Juan Santamaría is honored by a statue in a park bearing his name in the central canton of Alajuela one block south of the Central Park, and by a museum that was a former garrison in the same city. Two statues of Juan Santamaria larger than the life are in Costa Rica: one in Alajuela and other in the front of the Congress in San Jose. The Statue was commissioned by the Costa Rican Government in 1891, under sworn statement or affidavit of several witness of his deed in Rivas, a perpetual memorial archive has been preserved. As a drummer of the armed forces he wore a uniform, that evidently was of French design, since in the 19th century most the of the high-ranking officers were trained in France.[1]
The main international airport in Costa Rica is named after him.