Elena Gallegos Rosales

Elena Gallegos Rosales (15 June 1882 – 30 August 1954) was the Salvadoran-born wife of the 24th President of Costa Rica. During her tenure as first lady, she was responsible for furnishing and establishing the new Presidential House, performing charitable works, and accompanying her husband on various diplomatic trips.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Gallegos and the second or maternal family name is Rosales.
Elena Gallegos Rosales
Born
María Natalia Elena Gallegos Rosales

(1881-06-15)15 June 1881
San Salvador, El Salvador
Died30 August 1954(1954-08-30) (aged 72)
San José, Costa Rica
NationalityEl Salvadorian (by marriage Costa Rican)
Other namesElena Gallegos de Acosta, Elena Gallegos Rosales de Acosta
OccupationFirst Lady of Costa Rica
Years active1920–1924

Early life

María Natalia Elena Gallegos Rosales was born on 15 June 1882 in San Salvador, El Salvador to Elena Rosales Ventura and Salvador Gallegos Valdés[1][2][3] Her father was at one time the president of the Supreme Court of El Salvador and held the office as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Education on several occasions.[2] Gallegos completed her basic education in San Salvador and was then sent abroad to finish her education in Paris.[1]

In 1907 when Julio Acosta García was sent to El Salvador as the Consul-General, he was introduced the Gallegos.[1][2] After a three-year courtship, the two were married in April 1910.[2] On 20 February 1911, Gallegos gave birth to twins, María, who died at birth, and Elena Zulai de Jesus Acosta Gallegos in the Santa Lucia neighborhood of San Salvador.[4][Notes 1]

Career

In 1915, Acosta was recalled to return to Costa Rica and assume the position as Secretary of State for the Office of Foreign Relations, Justice, Grace, and Worship.[6] Acosta was often out of the country on business, and during his term became the first Central American Minister to make official visits for all the countries of the isthmus.[7][8] Gallegos was expecting another child in 1917, and gave birth to an unnamed daughter on 23 February 1917, who died at birth,[9][10] barely a month after the coup d'état led by Federico Tinoco Granados on 27 January 1917.[11] As soon as they could travel, the couple left the country and returned to El Salvador to live with Gallegos' parents. Julio initially worked as the manager of their farm, La Esperanza, but soon found work in the editorial office of the Diario del Salvador newspaper.[12] After Tinoco was forced to resign in 1919 and the temporary president Juan Bautista Quirós Segura ceded power to interim president Francisco Aguilar Barquero, Acosta was invited to return to Costa Rica.[13]

Bringing his family back to Costa Rica, Acosta began campaigning for the presidency. He was elected with 89% of the vote and took office on 8 May 1920.[14] The immediate problem for Gallegos, with Acosta's election was where they were to live. The Blue Castle, which had served as the Presidential House was rejected as a residence or place to conduct business because of its association with Tinoco's dictatorship.[15] In December 1920, the Legislative Assembly approved the purchase of a property located at the corner of 3rd Avenue and 15th Street, which had been built at the end of the 1870s by Tomás Guardia. At the time of the purchase, the building was serving as the headquarters of the Northern Railway Company. (Since 1995 the former presidential home has been the home of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Costa Rica).[16] Gallegos was responsible for decorating, furnishing and organizing the Presidential House and due to the limited budget of the country, used her own funds to prepare the home in a simple but stately manner.[1]

During Acosta's presidency, Gallegos was also instrumental in bringing the religious order of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd to Costa Rica.[1] This group had been established in León, Nicaragua in 1911 but expansion during the anticlerical Tinoco regime, had been impossible. Concerned with the lack of opportunities for women, Gallegos and other women, who worked with the women incarcerated at the women's prison, invited the sisters to Costa Rica, with the approval of the government.[17] The Sisters established the House of Refuge (Spanish: Casa del Refugio which was aimed at teaching reading, writing, geography and arithmetic to women prisoners. Those who were released, could remain at the refuge and were provided with room and board, in exchanged for their labor in washing, ironing and repairing clothes for public patrons.[18]

The term of presidency ended in 1924 and the family moved to Paris, where Acosta worked for the Red Cross for three years before returning to Costa Rica.[19] From his return until 1944, when he was reappointed as Foreign Minister, Acosta held various positions with the government.[20] Gallegos accompanied him on various diplomatic missions, including the 1945 conference in San Francisco, California for the signing of the United Nations Charter.[1]

Death and legacy

Gallegos died on 30 August 1954 in San José, Costa Rica.[1] Her only surviving child, Zulay married the Colombian diplomat, Pedro Manuel Revollo Samper.[2]

Notes
  1. Elena Zulai's birth was registered in both San Salvador[4] and in Alajuela, Costa Rica.[5] Given that her father was still posted in El Salvador until 1915, Gallegos was unlikely to have traveled to his family home for the birth, and that the twin sister was not registered in Costa Rica, it is more probable that they were born in San Salvador.[6][4]

References

Citations
  1. Sáenz Carbonell et al. 1999.
  2. Revollo Acosta 2012, p. 19.
  3. Salvadoran Birth Records 1882, p. 57.
  4. Salvadoran Birth Records 1911, p. 120.
  5. Costa Rican Birth Indices 1911, p. 497.
  6. Revollo Acosta 2012, p. 21.
  7. Revollo Acosta 2012, pp. 25–30.
  8. Ureña Cruz & Solís Cruz 2013, p. 2.
  9. Costa Rican Birth Indices 1917, p. 253.
  10. Costa Rican Death Indices 1917, p. 297.
  11. Revollo Acosta 2012, p. 30.
  12. Revollo Acosta 2012, p. 32.
  13. Revollo Acosta 2012, p. 36.
  14. Revollo Acosta 2012, pp. 38–39.
  15. La Nación 2015.
  16. Boletín 2014, pp. 5–6.
  17. El Buen Pastor en Centroamérica n.d.
  18. Mora Chinchilla 2015, pp. 21–22.
  19. Revollo Acosta 2012, p. 62.
  20. Revollo Acosta 2012, pp. 63–66.

Bibliography
  • Mora Chinchilla, Carolina (2015). "Apuntes Sobre Viejas Instituciones de Bienestar Social en Costa Rica: Una lectura de la década 1930–1940" [Points about Old Institutions of Social Welfare in Costa Rica: A reading of the decade 1930–1940]. Revista Herencia (in Spanish). San José, Costa Rica: University of Costa Rica. 28 (1): 7–30. ISSN 1659-0066. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Revollo Acosta, Julio Ernesto (2012). El Canciller Acosta. San José, Costa Rica: MREC, Instituto Manuel María de Peralta. ISBN 978-9977-76-016-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Sáenz Carbonell, Jorge Francisco; Fernández Alfaro, Joaquín Alberto; Muñoz Castro, Maria Gabriela; Zúñiga Caamaño, Arturo (1999). "Primeras Damas de Costa Rica: Doña Elena Gallegos Rosales de Acosta Garcia" [First Ladies of Costa Rica: Doña Elena Gallegos Rosales de Acosta Garcia]. Tiquicia.org (in Spanish). San José, Costa Rica: self published. Archived from the original on 29 September 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2017. Self-published but with citations to source materials .CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Ureña Cruz, Erson; Solís Cruz, Steven (21 October 2013). "Instituto Superior Julio Acosta Garcia Y su trayectoria" [Higher Institute Julio Acosta García and His Career]. Instituto Superior Julio Aosta García (in Spanish). San Ramón, Costa Rica. Retrieved 2 December 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • "Costa Rica, Registro Civil, Indice de Nacimientos 1911–1912: Elena Zulay Acosta Gallegos". FamilySearch (in Spanish). San José, Costa Rica: Archivos Nacionales. 20 February 1911. p. 497. FHL microfilm #1103114 certificate #1491, image 46. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  • "Costa Rica, Registro Civil, Indice de Defunciones 1916–1917: innominada Acosta Gallegos". FamilySearch (in Spanish). San José, Costa Rica: Archivos Nacionales. 1917. p. 297. FHL microfilm #1104913 certificate #6415, image 217. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  • "Costa Rica, Registro Civil, Indice de Nacimientos 1916–1917: innominada Acosta Gallegos". FamilySearch (in Spanish). San José, Costa Rica: Archivos Nacionales. 23 February 1917. p. 253. FHL microfilm #1103119 certificate #5006, image 61. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  • "El Buen Pastor en Centroamérica y Puerto Rico" [Good Shepherd in Central America and Puerto Rico]. Buon Pastore International (in Spanish). Rome, Italy: Casa Generalizia, Suore del Buon Pastore. n.d. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  • "El Castillo Azul: Una histórica mansión en cuesta de Moras" [The Blue Castle A historic mansion on the Moras slope] (in Spanish). San José, Costa Rica: La Nación. 3 May 2015. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  • "El Salvador Registros civiles, Nacimientos 1867–1888: María Natalia Elena Gallegos Rosales". FamilySearch (in Spanish). San Salvador, El Salvador: Archivos provinciales. 15 June 1882. p. 57. FHL microfilm #1156753 certificate #219, image 410. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  • "El Salvador Registros civiles, Nacimientos 1911: María Acosta Gallegos and Elena Sulai de Jesus Acosta Gallegos". FamilySearch (in Spanish). San Salvador, El Salvador: Archivos provinciales. 20 February 1911. p. 120. FHL microfilm #1156762 certificates #371 and #372, image 65. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  • "Historia del edificio del Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones" [History of the Building of the Supreme Elections Tribunal] (PDF). Boletín de consultas resueltas Centro de Documentación (in Spanish). San José, Costa Rica: Instituto de Formación y Estudios en Democracía. 7 February 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2017.

Further reading
  • Sáenz Carbonell, Jorge Francisco; Fernández Alfaro, Joaquín Alberto; Muñoz Castro de Fernández Silva, María Gabriela (2001). Las primeras damas de Costa Rica (in Spanish). San José, Costa Rica: ICE. ISBN 978-9977-930-07-7.
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