Gerardo Barrios

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Gerardo Barrios

Captain General José Gerardo Barrios Espinoza (born September 24, 1813 in Nuevo Edén de San Juan, Department of San Miguel , † August 29, 1865 in San Salvador ) was a politician , military man , statesman and from 1859 to 1863 President of El Salvador .

family

Several places in the north of the department of San Miguel are now said to be the birthplace of Barrios, including San Miguel itself, Ciudad Barrios , San Gerardo, Chapeltique, Sesori and Nuevo Edén de San Juan. According to the most common oral tradition, Barrios was born in San Juan am Lempa (then in the General Capitanate of Guatemala, Viceroyalty of New Spain ), today's Nuevo Edén de San Juan, and baptized on October 24, 1813. His parents were Don José María Barrios (born between 1793 and 1794) and Doña Petrona Espinoza, who married in 1812. Gerardo was their eldest child and had two sisters: Petronila (born 1815), who later became the wife of José Trinidad Cabañas , and María Josefa (born 1817). His father was the eldest son of Pedro Joaquín Barrios (of Spanish origin, born in France), who married Margarita Cisneros Ávila (of Creole origin, born in San Miguel) in 1792. Pedro Joaquín Barrios was an indigo planter and mine operator in what was then the province of San Miguel.

career

Gerardo Barrios and Adelaida Guzmán de Barrios, 1851

At a young age, Barrios joined the troops of the liberal-oriented Francisco Morazán during the Central American Civil War and took part in the conquest of San Salvador and Guatemala City in 1829. Also in the suppression of the Salvadoran secession attempt under José María Cornejo in 1832 he fought in the rank of lieutenant on the side of Morazán. In 1834 he was elected to the Parliament of El Salvador and in 1838 appointed President of the Central American Federal Congress, which had also had its seat in San Salvador since 1834. On April 5, 1840, after the final collapse of the Central American Republic, Barrios left El Salvador with Morazán and other liberals in the port of La Libertad on the schooner Izalco and went into exile in Costa Rica . After Morazán's failed attempt at restoration , the then Colonel Barrios returned to El Salvador on the Coquimbo ship in December 1842 and initially devoted himself to agriculture. In December 1843 he married Adelaida Guzmán Saldos, a daughter of the MP Joaquín Guzmán, in San Miguel . The marriage remained childless.

After a failed coup attempt with General Cabañas against the conservative President Francisco Malespín on September 5, 1844, Barrios moved to León in Nicaragua . The extradition of the coup plotters demanded by Malespín was rejected in Nicaragua. Troops under the leadership of Malespín then marched into Nicaragua and besieged León. Barrios was able to escape from the besieged city and allied himself in San Salvador with the executive president Guzmán , his father-in-law, against Malespín. He was eventually overthrown and Guzmán became president.

In January 1846, Barrios went on a three-year tour of Europe on behalf of the government to promote economic and cultural ties between Central America and the ancient world. He was a guest of Napoleon III. , Queen Isabella of Spain , Queen Victoria of Great Britain , King Ferdinand of Sicily , King Karl Albert of Sardinia and visited Pope Pius IX. At the end of 1849 he returned to El Salvador.

In 1851, the army of a Salvadoran-Honduran alliance invaded Guatemala under the command of President Vasconcelos to overthrow the conservative President Carrera and restore the Central American Confederation . In this army, General Barrios was the commander of the San Miguel division. However, the invasion was repulsed by Guatemalan armed forces on Mount La Arada (near San José La Arada, Chiquimula department ).

In 1857 Barrios took part in a military intervention in support of Nicaragua in the fight against the mercenaries around William Walker . The Salvadoran troops were no longer involved in fighting. Back in El Salvador, he attempted a coup d'état against President Campo , which failed due to insufficient support.

Presidency and overthrow

The term of office of President Campo ended on January 30, 1858. The elections of 1857 resulted in the following result:

In the Santín government, Barrios was Minister of the Interior and Foreign Affairs and Commander-in-Chief of the Army. Due to illness, President Santín had to be represented in office from June 24 to September 18, 1858. Since Guzmán and Zepeda refused, Barrios took over the official business at this time. When the parliament brought legal proceedings against Santín in January 1859, Santín fled to Nicaragua. The official business took over from January 24th Joaquín Guzmán. On February 15, first José María Peralta and on March 12, 1859 Gerardo Barrios was appointed president. During Barrios' trip to Guatemala from December 16, 1860 to February 7, 1861, Peralta again served as executive president.

In the elections in December 1859, shortly before the end of Santín's official term in office, Barrios got a majority. Before that, he was able to push through a constitutional reform that extended the presidential term of office from two to five years. Parliament confirmed him as President for the term of office from February 1, 1860 to January 30, 1865. On January 24, 1960, the parliament awarded him the title of Capitán General .

The following activities fell during Barrios' tenure:

The Barrios government is now considered to be the most progressive of its time in Central America.

Barrios' grave

The majority of the conservative Salvadoran opposition under Francisco Dueñas Díaz had fled to Guatemala in 1860. Barrios' liberal policies and talks with the governments of Honduras and Nicaragua about the possible restoration of a confederation were seen as a threat by conservative and clerical forces, especially in Guatemala. In February 1863, Guatemalan and Nicaraguan troops marched into El Salvador, besieged San Salvador and proclaimed Dueñas president. On October 26, 1863, the besieged city fell and Barrios escaped via the port of La Unión, first to Costa Rica and later to Panama . During his exile, Dueñas convened a constituent assembly and on March 18, 1864, Barrios was declared guilty of high treason by decree.

After Carrera's death in April 1865, Liberal Salvadoran forces saw an opportunity to regain power. Barrios planned a rebellion that should come from the province of San Miguel under his leadership and was supported by General Cabañas . When Barrios arrived in the port of La Unión, however, the hopelessness of this undertaking became apparent, his ship, the schooner Manuela Planas , set off for Panama on June 25th. It suffered a mast break in a severe storm and had to anchor in the Nicaraguan port of Corinto on June 28 . Barrios was arrested by Nicaraguan authorities and taken to León on June 30th . On condition that his life be spared, he was finally extradited to El Salvador and detained in San Salvador on July 27th. However, on August 28 , a war tribunal chaired by Santiago González passed a death sentence , which Dueñas signed at 11 p.m. The following day, Barrios was at 4am shot . Gerardo Barrios was buried in the Cementerio de los Ilustres cemetery in San Salvador.

Later reception

Plaza Gerardo Barrios

Gerardo Barrios embodies today, alongside Francisco Morazán, the idea of ​​the unity of Central America. The day of his execution, August 29, has been declared a national day of remembrance in El Salvador. Several streets, squares, public and military facilities in the country have been named after him, including the Plaza Gerardo Barrios with its equestrian statue in the center of San Salvador. His portrait was also featured on the 50 colones banknotes issued between 1979 and 1996 .

swell

  • Italo López Vallecillos: Gerardo Barrios y su tiempo. Ministerio de Educación, Dirección General de Publicaciones, San Salvador 1967.
  • Hubert Howe Bancroft: History of Central America. Vol. III. 1801-1887. The History Company, San Francisco 1887.

literature

  • Emiliano Cortés: Biografía del capitán general Gerardo Barrios. Ediciones LEA, San Salvador 1965.

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Miguel Santín del Castillo President of El Salvador
1860–1863 		Francisco Dueñas Díaz
personal data
SURNAME Barrios, Gerardo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Barrios Espinoza, José Gerardo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Politicians in El Salvador
DATE OF BIRTH September 24, 1813
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuevo Edén de San Juan, San Miguel Department
DATE OF DEATH August 29, 1865
Place of death San Salvador