Manuel José Arce y Fagoaga

Manuel José Arce y Fagoaga

Manuel José Arce y Fagoaga (born  January 1, 1787 in San Salvador , †  December 14, 1847 in San Salvador) was a Central American President .

Life

Manuel José Arce was born in San Salvador to Bernardo José de Arce and Antonia Fagoaga de Aguilar. He did a bachelor's degree in philosophy at the Colegio San Francisco Borja and then briefly studied medicine at the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala . In 1807, however, he had to break off his studies, as he had to take over the administration of his father's lands due to an illness of his father. In December 1808 he married his cousin Felipa Aranzamendi y Aguilar with whom he had eleven children.

The following estates belonged to him:

Hacienda	Area in Manzanas	Area in hectares
Chanqueso, San Salvador	1,536	1,075
San Lucas, San Salvador	4.032	2,822
San Diego, San Salvador	960	672
San Lucas, Opico	5,120	3,584

Political career

Struggle for independence

Arce was with his cousin Dr. Matías Delgado one of the organizers of the first independence movement in El Salvador in November 1811 and January 1814. In 1815 he was sentenced to five years in prison for this, but was released early in 1818.

After Central America gained independence from Spain on September 15, 1821, Arce was one of the leading liberals and a vehement opponent of the annexation of Central America to the Mexican Empire operated by Gabino Gaínza . As commander, he led the Salvadoran resistance against the troops sent by the Mexican Emperor Agustín I under the command of Vicente Filisola . After the defeat by Filísola, he traveled with a delegation to Boston and Washington to negotiate an annexation of El Salvador as a state to the USA . On the way back, in October 1823 in Tampico, Mexico, he supported the organization of a military expedition to bring about Cuba's independence , which ultimately failed due to a lack of human and financial resources.

As early as October 4, 1823, Arce was elected in absentia to the provisional government junta, which led the affairs of state after Central America became independent from Mexico. After his return from Mexico he took office on March 15, 1824 ("4th Junta"). On October 20, however, he resigned from the government junta to devote himself to pacifying the province of Nicaragua .

President of Central America

In the first presidential election of the United Provinces of Central America on March 26, 1825, Arce stood against the renowned Honduran conservative José Cecilio Díaz del Valle . Although Díaz del Valle achieved a relative, but not an absolute majority, so that, according to the constitution, the election of the president fell to the federal parliament. This elected Manuel José Arce as the first President of the Federation with a liberal majority of its MPs.

Although originally a liberal, Arce's policy as president was increasingly conservative. This led to serious disagreements with the liberal parliamentary majority. When Arce dissolved the federal parliament in October 1826, there were protests by the liberal provincial governments, especially in El Salvador and Honduras . Arce then sent troops under the command of Lieutenant General José Justo Milla to Honduras, who overthrew the head of state Dionisio de Herrera and took them into custody. This led to the outbreak of civil war, which ended with Francisco Morazán conquering the federation capital Guatemala City on April 13, 1829 . Arce had to resign, was expropriated and expelled from the country.

Exile and last years of life

Arce first went into exile in New Orleans , from there to Mexico City - where he published his memoirs - and then to Acapulco . In 1831/32 he tried again from Soconusco to overthrow the government of Francisco Morazán by force of arms, but was defeated and retired to San Juan del Rio in Mexico, where he lived for ten years. It was not until 1842 that he was allowed to return to his homeland, which had meanwhile become independent due to the collapse of the Central American Confederation, where he tried to win government support for the project of an interoceanic canal in Nicaragua. However, he soon had to leave the country and lived temporarily in Honduras and then - at the invitation of the Conservative President Rafael Carrera - in Guatemala .

In 1846 the Salvadoran government appointed Arce as the first general inspector of the army . Although he still took up this post, he had to give it up a short time later for health reasons. A year later he died impoverished in his hometown of San Salvador.

In honor of Manuel José Arce, the place El Chilamatal was renamed Ciudad Arce in 1947 when he was elevated to the status of town.

literature

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

Individual evidence

1. ^ Equipo Maíz, Historia de El Salvador , San Salvador, 1995. p. 50
2. ↑ es: Manzana (unidad de superficie)

predecessor	Office	successor
Provisional government junta	Presidents of Central America April 29, 1825 - April 13, 1829	José Francisco Morazán Quezada