Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0149/01494.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 35KB | 540 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01494}
$Pretitle{278}
$Title{Guatemala
Chapter 1B.   Central American Independence}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Jan Knippers Black and Martin C. Needler}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{guatemala
ubico
liberal
central
president
coffee
united
barrios
guatemalan
independence}
$Date{1983}
$Log{Various Archeology Scenes*0149401.scf
}
Country:     Guatemala
Book:        Guatemala, A Country Study
Author:      Jan Knippers Black and Martin C. Needler
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1983

Chapter 1B.   Central American Independence

[See Various Archeology Scenes: Courtesy Embassy of Guatemala, Washington DC.]

     As the eighteenth century wore on, the ideas of the French Enlightenment
penetrated Guatemala. The monthly Gaceta de Guatemala, published from 1729 to
1816, became more liberal and somewhat anticlerical under the editorship of
Simon Bergano y Villegas from 1804 to 1807. Although the Gaceta ceased
publication in 1816, its role was taken up by the even more radical El Editor
Constitucional and El Amigo de la Patria, both of which began publication in
1820. The Sociedad economica de amigos del Pais (Economic Society of the
Friends of the Country), functioning between 1796 and 1799, served as a forum
for discussion of colonial problems.

     The growing liberal movement based itself on interests as well as ideas.
Although a conservative faction was strong-based on royal officeholders and
the merchants-consul, who were authorized to act as agents of the trade
monopoly between Spain and the colonies-the growing liberal movement was
supported not only by urban professionals and intellectuals but also by
agriculturists and merchants excluded from the trade monopoly who would stand
to benefit from the liberalization of trade. The liberal movement was backed
especially by the society of indigo growers and even by the influential Fermin
Aycinena family.

     Independence came eventually as the outcome of a confused period of
turmoil that began in 1808, when Napoleon occupied Spain and placed his
brother Joseph on the throne. The colonists of Guatemala, like those elsewhere
in the Americas, were suddenly faced with questions of legitimacy. Like the
colonists elsewhere, they rejected the authority of Bonaparte and sent a
representative to the loyal parliament (cortes) that met in Cadiz. The
parliament, grateful to the colonies for their loyalty and attempting to
reinforce their support for the Bourbon cause, granted them greater local
authority, freer trade, and representation in future governments of Spain.

     The hopes and expectations of greater freedom aroused by the acts of the
parliament were frustrated, however, by the arrival in 1811 of a new president
of the audiencia, Jose de Bustamante y Guerra, who feared that a liberal
policy would loosen the ties of Central America to Spanish authority and
therefore refused to recognize the liberal policies of the parliament.
Repression increased with the restoration of Ferdinand VII to the throne of
Spain in 1814. The liberal constitution of 1812 promulgated by the parliament
was disavowed by the monarch; supporters of the parliament, including in
Guatemala the Fermin Aycinena family, were persecuted, and the monarch even
reestablished the Inquisition. In the mother country itself, however, those
who had fought for the Bourbon monarchy against Napoleon were not willing to
accept that they had fought for oppression and not for liberty, and in 1820
a revolution in Spain restored the liberal constitution of 1812, which
provided for freedom of the press, free trade, and free elections.

     It was at this juncture that the news arrived in Guatemala City of
Agustin de Iturbide's declaration of Mexican independence on April 10, 1821.
Although the acting president of the audiencia, Gabino Gainza, urged the
Central Americans to remain loyal to Spain, local sentiment was predominantly
in favor of independence. When the news arrived in September that the northern
province of Chiapas had decided to join the Mexican independence movement,
Gainza called a meeting of the political and religious leaders in Guatemala
City to decide on a course of action. Although the archbishop and some others
opposed independence, Gainza could see that majority sentiment favored it, and
on September 15 Gainza proclaimed independence, designating himself as
president of the Federation of Central America (also called the United
Provinces of Central America and the Central American Federation or Union).
The Declaration of Independence was composed by Jose Cecilio del Valle, the
editor of the liberal newspaper El Amigo de la Patria and the leading
intellectual figure in the country.

     For almost two years the actual constitutional situation was confused;
varying currents of opinion favored independence for each province,
independence for a united Central America, or independence in union with
Mexico. El Salvador, uneasy about the prospect of being dominated by either
Guatemala or Mexico, even voted to join the United States and sent a
representative to Washington to see if it could be arranged. Iturbide
proclaimed himself emperor of a domain extending all the way to Panama and
sent troops to Central America under General Vicente Filisola to make good his
claim. The Guatemalans acquiesced in this new situation, although there was
resistance from El Salvador. Iturbide was unable to consolidate his rule,
however, and abdicated in March 1823, leaving Central America to its own
devices. Filisola summoned a Central American constituent assembly, which
issued a second declaration of independence, on July 1, 1823, and drafted a
federal constitution. The provinces were five-the present-day nations of
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Manuel Jose Arce
of El Salvador was elected president, and Valle was a close second.

     The constitution established a federal congress and senate but gave the
five provinces their own legislative bodies and internal self-government. A
president and vice president headed the federal executive, and a supreme court
of justice was the highest judicial authority. Each province was also to have
a chief, vice chief, and supreme court. A variety of civil rights were
guaranteed, but the Catholic religion was made official; slavery was
abolished.

     Disputes soon arose, beginning with the third session of the congress in
March 1826, as the Conservatives, who had lost out in the question of
independence and the establishment of the federal system, tried to regain
power. (In the context of nineteenth-century Central America, the terms
Conservative and Liberal defy precise definitions. Perhaps the closest
equations are proclerical and anticlerical, respectively.) In essence
President Arce went over to the Conservatives, leading to conflict with the
Liberal governments of El Salvador and Guatemala. Arce deposed the Guatemalan
chief of state; the unfortunate vice chief who succeeded him was lynched by a
mob, and power in Guatemala was then assumed by a Conservative. Intervention
by Arce in Honduras was less successful, however, and his government was
overthrown by a Liberal army led by Francisco Morazan, still regarded as the
greatest Honduran hero. The Conservative leaders, including Arce, were sent
into exile, along with the archbishop.

     Morazan was elected president of the federation in 1830; he abolished
church tithes, legalized civil marriage, and developed a system of public
education. The federal capital was moved to San Salvador, a more reliably
Liberal environment than Guatemala City. Valle finally won the elections of
1834; but he died right after the election, and Morazan accepted another term.

     In Guatemala Pedro Molina, the Liberal editor of the periodical El
Editor Constitucional, served as provisional chief from 1829 to 1830. After
some turmoil the Guatemalan legislature elected as provincial chief of state
Mariano Galvez, who put through an enlightened Liberal program consona