In 1948 forces under Pepe Figueres launched a revolution against the government of Teodoro Picado. Figueres took the town of San Isidro del General where there was an airstrip and set up a number of road blocks and strong points blocking the way between the capital San Jose and San Isidro.

They then attempted to hold back government forces long enough for aircraft to come from Guatemala filled with weapons to arm the rebels. Realising what was happening the government sent a strong force to retake San Isidro and prevent the continued shipment of weapons to the rebels. The rebel forces were surrounded but managed to resist the government onslaught. This was largely due to the strategic location of some machine-guns in the water towers of the "Bureau of Public Roads" known as Villa Mills. The Bureau of Public Roads known in Costa Rica by its English name was a U.S. company that was helping build the Inter-American Highway. It is not known exactly how the idea came up, but it was determined that if the rebels had an armoured vehicle they could drive the government forces from San Isidro. A D-8 caterpillar tractor was obtained from the Americans of the Public Roads. Whether this was a voluntary gift or not is known, but a number of sources have indicated that the Americans at Public Roads gave significant assistance to the forces of Figueres.

It is probable that if the Americans didn't give the tractor to the insurgents that they didn't stop the rebels from taking it. At any rate, the tractor was taken to Boquete where it was turned into an armoured vehicle by Milton Fonseca Balmaceda. Lacking true armoured plate, the vehicle was protected by two spaced plates of mild steel filled with either sawdust or sand, depending on the eyewitness. This armor was tested by firing bullets at it and found to be successful. The vehicle however was open topped, and many of the soldiers feared that it would be a death trap if a molotov cocktail or grenade were tossed in. To counter this, the crew were issued with extra bed mattresses and told to throw these on top of any of these projectiles to smother the blast. The soldiers said it looked like a house and it was knicknamed "Casa de Brujas" (witches house). The tank was armed with a Maxim machine-gun.

The "Casa de Brujas" was assigned to accompany units under the command of Honduran volunteer officers of the so called Caribbean Legion, first Francisco Morazan and then Jacinto Lopez Godoy. Consisting of about 100 or so men, the unit under Morazan was ordered to march to the relief of the San Isidro del General. At Boquete, Morazan decided to wait for the tank. However, the tank arrived late and when Morazan's forces reached San Isidro, the battle was over. Because of all of the extra weight from the armor, the vehicle was found to be very slow and difficult to steer. Alfonso Cespedes was the driver, Jorge Solano was one of the crew, and the machine-gunner was a sixteen year old boy named Rodrigo Chavez Casas who everybody called "Chorotega." Another crew member was Fernando Ortuno Sobrado.

Upon driving the government away from San Isidro del General, the rebels were ordered to abandon the town they had so valiantly defended and participate in the attack on Cartago. The "Casa de Brujas" was now attached to a 100 plus man unit under the Honduran Jacinto Lopez Godoy. The insurgents had laid siege to the Cartago barracks which had bogged down into a stalemate. The rebels could not take the barracks and the government could not break out. Godoy's unit was sent, with their tank to help assault the barracks. However, before they could arrive, the government garrison surrendered. Part of the reason that Godoy's forces had arrived late is because the armoured vehicle had advanced so slowly that it was trailing far behind the rest of the column. During this march, Fernando Ortuno Sobrado had enough and abandoned the vehicle to ride in a truck.

The government promptly occupied San Isidro del General in the rebels absence and after the fall of Cartago, the rebels ordered Godoy to return and re-liberate the town from the government. By nightfall of the 18th of April, Godoy's forces, including the "Casa de Brujas" reached La Piedra. Here Godoy divided his forces into four groups, three that would attack the flanks, and a fourth motorised group that would advance into town via the highway. "Casa de Brujas" was in the lead followed by a jeep and a bus with the legend "Aranjuez" over the windshield. On the morning of the 19th, the column attacked San Isidro. The government had learned from the rebels and placed three or so machine-guns in the Villa Mills water towers. These machine-guns fiercely resisted the advance of "Casa de Brujas." The gunner "Chorotega" was killed as he fired the Maxim gun. It is obvious that the opened top of the vehicle was a disadvantage against the machine-guns on the water towers. A couple of other insurgents were killed and wounded as well as a slightly greater number of government troops. The battle lasted most of the morning and afternoon with the government forces finally surrendering around 3PM. This was the last action of the revolution, and was actually unnecessary as the government had signed its capitulation to the rebels the previous day. However, nobody had been able to communicate with Godoy or the government forces before the battle.

Insurgent Armor in Latin America

Insurgent Armor: Introduction
Insurgent Armor: Costa Rica 1948
Insurgent Armor: Cuba 1958
Insurgent Armor: Dominican Republic 1965
Insurgent Armor: Chile 1973
Insurgent Armor: Nicaragua 1978-1979
Insurgent Armor: El Salvador 1981-1989
Insurgent Armor: Colombia 1993-1998