Miguel R. Dávila

Miguel Rafael Dávila Cuellar (born September 29, 1856 in Barrio Abajo de Tegucigalpa , † October 12, 1927 in Tegucigalpa) was a Honduran politician. He was President of Honduras from April 18, 1907 to March 18, 1911.

Life

Dávila's parents were Juan Dávila and Gervasia Cuellar. He graduated from the Universidad de Honduras in 1880 with a degree in law . He was a lawyer and notary. He was a member of the Partido Liberal de Honduras and military. In opposition to the governments of Ponciano Leiva and Domingo Vásquez , he went to Nicaragua , where he devoted himself to political and commercial work. Under the government of Policarpo Bonilla he was Minister of Finance from 1894 to 1896 and Minister of War from June 1894 to July 31, 1896. In 1900 he was acting minister of war. From May to December 1903 he was Minister of Public Affairs. On November 3, 1894, he married Narcisa Romero Portillo. Miguel R. Dávila came to power through the Nicaraguan invasion in 1907 and was elected president in 1908.

US intervention 1907

USS Chicago armored cruiser

After Manuel Bonilla's defeat at the Battle of Nacaome , Miguel Oquelí Bustillo , Máximo B. Rosales and Juan Ignacio Castro ruled as junta . Manuel Bonilla had surrendered to Terencio Sierra and went with him on the armored cruiser USS Chicago , where negotiations about the presidency in Honduras were taking place.

A US negotiator reached agreement with foreign ministers from Nicaragua and El Salvador on Terencio Sierra as president for Honduras. Dávila mobilized troops under the command of Tiburcio Carías Andino and José María Valladares against the forces of Terencio Sierra, the forces of Sierra were defeated and Davila became president. Ángel Ugarte was Miguel R. Dávila's ambassador to the USA. From November 14 to December 20, 1907, the Central American Peace Conference took place in Washington, DC , at which the Convention of the Central America was agreed. Negotiations have begun in Washington to acquire the Honduras railway, which was built under the government of José María Medina on credit from British and French banks. The US bank of John Pierpont Morgan and Co. offered the Dávila government a loan of ten million USD to replace the loan. The corresponding Convenio Knox-Paredes treaty was named after the two foreign ministers Philander C. Knox and Juan Paredes. With this treaty, the Monroe Doctrine would have been realized and Europeans would have been pushed out of the US sphere of influence. It was rejected by both parliaments. Miguel R. Dávila took office on March 1, 1908 after a direct election .

US intervention in 1911

Manuel Bonilla initiated an invasion of Honduras with the financial support of the banana entrepreneur Sam Zemurray and Manuel Estrada Cabrera from Guatemala. USMC intervened in this invasion . The armored cruiser USS Tacoma (CL-20) anchored in the bay of Puerto Cortés . Negotiations took place there under the mediation of Thomas Cleland Dawson . As a result of the negotiations, Miguel R. Dávila resigned and Francisco Bertrand was appointed president. On March 28, 1911, the resignation was formally followed up in parliament.

In March 1911, Manuel Bonilla and his mercenaries occupied the Islas de la Bahía off the east coast of Honduras. Davila fled on March 28, 1911.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Robert L. Scheina Latin America's Wars: The Age of the Caudillo, 1791-1899 Brassey's, 2003 S. 258
2. ↑ en: Sam Zemurray , Lester D. Langley, Thomas David Schoonover The Banana Men: American Mercenaries and Entrepreneurs in Central America, 1880-1930 , University Press of Kentucky, 1995 p. 27

predecessor	Office	successor
Junta: Miguel Oquelí Bustillo , Máximo B. Rosales and J. Ignacio Castro .	President of Honduras April 18, 1907-18. March 1911	Francisco Bertrand