Manuel Bonilla

Manuel Bonilla

Manuel Bonilla Chirinos (born June 7, 1849 in Juticalpa , Olancho Department , Honduras , † March 21, 1913 ) was a general and from February 1, 1903 to April 11, 1907 (first term) and from February 1, 1912 to March 21, 1913 (second term) President of the Central American Republic of Honduras.

Origin and life

Manuel and Policarpo Bonilla were distantly related. In contrast to Manuel, Policarpo had no indigenous ancestors. The two Bonillas wanted to marry sisters. Policarpo successfully intervened against his sister-in-law's marriage to Manuel Bonilla with the bride's mother, stating that he did not want any indigenous relatives. The lost of his marriage Manuel Bonilla successfully exercised revenge. Manuel Bonilla went into exile in El Salvador and organized the uprising that put Terencio Sierra in the presidency and Policarpo Bonilla in prison. The New York Times reported on the US mercenary Lee Christmas , who was recruited in Honduras by Manuel Bonilla. He became director of the Tegucigalpa Police Department and Brigadier General of the Army , he acted as the prison guard of Policarpo Bonilla and was Christmas' judge when the latter was charged with numerous offenses. Policarpo was sentenced to a long prison term and remained in prison until early 1906; then he went into exile in El Salvador. Manuel Bonilla had been directly elected in October 1902, but was refused approval by parliament and Terencio Sierra transferred the presidency to Juan Ángel Arias Boquín. Manuel Bonilla proclaimed himself president on February 1, 1903 in the port of Amapala. Policarpo Bonilla had allowed his friend José Santos Zelaya to exercise sovereignty over a strip of territory on the Honduran-Nicaraguan border. When Manuel Bonilla came to power, he claimed this strip for Honduras. Zelaya had given a Pittsburgh syndicate a concession to the area. King Alfonso XIII of Spain was agreed as arbitration body and decided in favor of Honduras. Now the Zelaya concessionaires have asked for compensation and referred the matter to the US government. Manuel Bonilla did not want the Washington government to take up the matter and tried to settle the matter with the concessionaires. Zelaya, Policarpo Bonilla's friend stood in the way and Manuel Bonilla decided to get him out of the way. Zelaya and Policarpo Bonilla arranged an uprising in late 1906 that would overthrow Manuel Bonilla and bring Policarpo back to the presidency. Manuel Bonilla sent a close friend on a banana steamer to buy weapons for the war. To this end, he gave his friend a New York bond for a sufficient amount of money. But the money was never used for its intended purpose. The Nicaraguan army, under the command of General Juan José Estrada, occupied coastal towns and marched into the interior of Honduras.

General Dionisio Gutiérrez of the Partio Liberal started an uprising against Manuel Bonilla on December 23, 1906 with the support of José Santos Zelaya . The Honduran army pursued the insurgents of the Partido Liberal in Nicaraguan territory. The Nicaraguan government demanded compensation, which Manuel Bonilla refused. In February 1907, Nicaraguan troops invaded Honduras. The US government then had US Marines under William F. Fullam occupy ports in Nicaragua and Honduras: Bluefields , Puerto Cortés, La Ceiba and Trujillo .

Battle of Namasigüe 1907

On March 11, 1907 about 5,000 soldiers under the command of General José Dolores Reza, who had sent Fernando Figueroa from El Salvador , reinforced the about 1,500 soldiers of the Honduran army . These met the Nicaraguan troops at Nacaome. The battle lasted from March 18 to 23, 1907. It was opened by a bombardment of the Nicaraguan Krupp cannons. On March 19, 1907, Salvadoran and Honduran troops were led into the fire of the Nicaraguan Maxim machine guns . About half of the Honduran troops defected to the Nicaraguan troops. More than 1,000 of the Partido Conservador troops from Honduras and El Salvador were killed by superior weapons. Zelaya reported that the dead could no longer be buried. Manuel Bonilla and about 500 of his soldiers occupied the fortress on the island of Amapala in the Gulf of Fonseca , where Manuel Bonilla Terencio Sierra surrendered.

exile

USS Chicago armored cruiser

Manuel Bonilla embarked on the armored cruiser USS Chicago, from there to Mexico and Belize, where he worked for three years as a farmer in plant cultivation.

A US negotiator reached agreement with foreign ministers from Nicaragua and El Salvador on Terencio Sierra as president for Honduras. Miguel R. Dávila mobilized troops against the troops of Terencio Sierra. Sierra's troops were defeated and Miguel R. Dávila became president.

Main islands off Belize with Glover's Reef

In June 1910 Manuel Bonilla had met with two filibuster groups (Irregular Troop | irregular soldiers) in Glover's Reef and sailed with them to Puerto Cortés . Manuel Bonilla's liaison in Puerto Cortéz died the night before the filibus animals arrived. Government forces found records of the planned insurrection in his clothes, including the names of about 200 insurgents in Puerto Cortéz, San Pedro Sula , La Ceiba , whom the government immediately captured.

Second term

As a result of the US intervention in Honduras in 1911 , Manuel Bonilla began his second term as President on March 28, 1911. In October 1911 Bonilla was elected president and in the remaining time he awarded three railway concessions, one port concession and ten thousand hectares of land to Sam Zemurray . In addition, he canceled a major railroad concession granted to Washington S. Valentine. José Santos Zelaya sought asylum at Washington S. Valentin in 1913.

Web links

• A cien años de la batalla Namasigüe yace olvidado , in La Prensa on March 19, 2007

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} New York Times January 15, 1911 GEN. LEE CHRISTMAS Manuel / Policarpo Bonilla
2. ^ Nacaome in the Spanish language Wikipedia
3. ↑ USS Chicago in the English language Wikipedia
4. ↑ Robert L. Scheina Latin America's Wars: The Age of the Caudillo, 1791-1899 Brassey's, 2003 S. 258
5. ^ Glover's Reef in the Italian language Wikipedia
6. ↑ James Mahoney The Legacies of Liberalism: Path Dependence and Political Regimes in Central America , JHU Press, 2001, p. 178
7. ↑ New York Times November 27, 1913, arrest of Jose Santos Zalaya in the home of his friend, Washington S. Valentine, at 645 West

predecessor	Office	successor
Juan Ángel Arias Boquín	President of Honduras April 13, 1903-11. April 1907	Junta: Miguel Oquelí Bustillo , Máximo B. Rosales and Juan Ignacio Castro

predecessor	Office	successor
Francisco Bertrand	President of Honduras February 2, 1912-21. March 1913	Francisco Bertrand