Gabino Gaínza

Gabino Gaínza y Fernández de Medrano

Gabino Gaínza y Fernández de Medrano (born  October 20, 1753 in Pamplona , †  1829 in Mexico ) was the first President of Central America after independence from Spain .

Military career

Gabino Gaínza was born in Pamplona, ​​Spain (other sources also give the Basque Guipúzcoa as the place of birth). At the age of 14, he joined the Royal Spanish Army. In 1780 he was posted to Peru , where, among other things, he was involved in the suppression of the uprising under Tupac Amaru II . In January 1814 the viceroy José Fernando Abascál y Sousa Gaínza sent a troop of almost 800 men to Chile to fight the independence movement there led by José Miguel Carrera and Bernardo O'Higgins . After several battles with varying output occurred on 3. May 1814 mediation of the English Commodore James Hillyard the conclusion of the Treaty of Lircay between Gaínza and O'Higgins, who was later not recognized by the Viceroy Abascal. He then sent Mariano Osorio with new troops to Chile in July 1814 . Osorio arrested Gaínza, opened a court martial against him for negotiations with the insurgents and sent him back to Lima , where he remained in custody until the trial was over. In 1816 Gaínza was acquitted, but his standing in the army had suffered badly. He was transferred to Quito in the viceroyalty of New Granada.

Central America's independence

At the beginning of 1820 Gaínza was appointed General Sub-Inspector of the Army in the General Capitanate of Guatemala (which included the five provinces of Guatemala, El Salvador , Honduras , Nicaragua and Costa Rica ) belonging to the viceroyalty of New Spain . Both the new Viceroy of Peru Joaquín de la Pezuela , who pointed to Gaínza's sympathies for the independence movement, and the Captain General of Guatemala Carlos Urrutia y Montoya , who rejected Gaínza because of his age, protested against this nomination . Nevertheless, Gaínza took up the new post. Regardless of the initial aversion to him, Urrutia, who had suffered a stroke in August 1820 , transferred Gaínza - among other things on the initiative of his doctors Dr. Pedro Molina and Dr. Vicente Carranza , both members of the independence movement - exercising power on March 9, 1821. This was de facto captain general. After Mexico gained independence in August 1821 under the leadership of Agustín de Iturbide , Gaínza openly sided with the Central American independence movement. For the 15. September 1821 he convened in Guatemala City for a meeting that Guatemala (ie Central America) for independent from Spain explained and signed a corresponding declaration of independence. However, there was disagreement among the participants regarding the future state organization of Central America, especially regarding the question of whether it should join the newly founded Empire of Mexico on the basis of the "Plan of Iguala" or continue as an independent state. The meeting of September 15, 1821 determined that this should be decided by a national congress to be convened on March 1, 1822. Until its meeting, all political, military and clerical incumbents should also remain in their functions. In this way Gaínza became the de facto first head of state in independent Guatemala (Central America).

Connection to Mexico

Gaínza was a vehement advocate of an annexation of Central America to Mexico, which he intended to enforce against the will of the majority if necessary. After receiving a message from Agustín de Iturbide that a Mexican division was ready on the border with Guatemala to "protect the salutary projects of those who love their homeland with weapons", Gaínza informed the - still appointed in colonial times and mostly dominated by Spanish aristocrats - local councils ( Ayuntamientos ) in the five Central American provinces with a letter dated November 30, 1821 simply that "the circumstances do not allow the assembly of deputies ... to be awaited" and therefore urged them to take over to decide whether to join Mexico. The municipal councils agreed to a connection, whereupon Gaínza decree of January 5, 1822 the connection of Guatemala (Central America) to Mexico. Iturbide then appointed him by decree of January 23, 1822 provisional captain general of Guatemala. Especially in El Salvador , under the leadership of Dr. Matías Delgado and Manuel José Arce prompted massive resistance to the Anschluss, which culminated in an armed conflict. In view of Gaínza's inability to put down this resistance, Iturbide removed Gaínza and ordered the entry into Guatemala of the 600-strong troops already stationed on the border under the orders of the Mexican Brigadier General Vicente Filisola . On June 12, 1822, they reached Guatemala City. On June 23, 1822, Gaínza transferred the power of government to Filísola on the orders of Iturbides and went to Mexico. There he spent the rest of his life and died in poverty in 1829.

Web links

• Gabino Gaínza on the homepage of the Guatemalan government

literature

• Hector Gaitán A., Los Presidentes de Guatemala . Artemis & Edinter, Guatemala 1992, ISBN 84-89452-25-3

predecessor	Office	successor
-	Presidents of Central America September 15, 1821 - June 23, 1822	Vicente Filisola