People's Vanguard Party (Costa Rica)

The People's Vanguard Party, or Popular Vanguard Party (in Spanish: Partido Vanguardia Popular) is a communist party in Costa Rica. PVP was founded in 1931 as the Workers and Farmers Party, but was soon renamed to the Communist Party of Costa Rica (Partido Comunista de Costa Rica).

PVP publishes El Popular.

History

In 1943 the party was renamed as PVP, in order to facilitate its alliance with the Catholic Church and the government, whose reformist policies the party supported.

In 1949 the party was banned. It militants began working under the name 'Partido Acción Socialista Obrera'.

In the mid-1960s the U.S. State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 300.

In 1970, the party again could contest elections.

In 1984, a severe internal crisis appeared in the party. At the 14th party congress, two of the party MPs, Arnoldo Ferreto Segura and Humberto Vargas Carbonell took over the party leadership and deposed Mora (who had led the party since 1934). Mora's followers continued to use the name PVP, thus there were two parties with the same name. In 1984 Mora's party took the name Costa Rican People's Party.