Manuel José Arce

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

Life

Manuel José Arce was born the son of Bernardo José de Arce and Antonia Fagoaga de Aguilar in San Salvador. He received a bachelor's in philosophy at the Colegio San Francisco Borja and then studied briefly medicine at the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala. In 1807 he had to cancel the studies, however, because he had to take over the management 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.

He owned the following estates:

Political career

Independence struggle

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

After the independence of Central America from Spain on September 15, 1821 Arce was one of the leading liberals vehemently opposed to the run by Gabino Gaínza port of Central America to the Empire of Mexico. As commander, he led the Salvadoran resistance to the Mexican Emperor Agustín I sent troops under the command of Vicente Filisola. After losing to Filisola he traveled with a delegation to Boston and Washington to negotiate a port of El Salvador as a federal state in the United States. On the way back he supported in October 1823 in the Mexican Tampico organizing a military expedition to bring about the independence of Cuba, but ultimately failed because of a lack of human and financial resources.

Already on October 4, 1823 Arce was elected in absentia in the provisional government junta that led the government business after the independence of Central America from Mexico. After his return from Mexico, he joined the Office on 15 March 1824 ( " fourth junta "). Already on October 20, he retired again but from the Government Junta of, to devote himself to the pacification of 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 ran against renowned Honduran conservatives José Cecilio del Valle Díaz. Although Díaz del Valle reached a relative but not an absolute majority, so that according to the Constitution of the Federation Parliament fell to the election of the President. This started off with the liberal majority of its deputies Manuel José Arce as the first President of the Federation.

Although originally Liberal, Arce took an increasingly conservative policies as president. This led to serious disagreements with the liberal majority in parliament. As Arce dissolved the Federation Parliament in October 1826, there were protests from the liberal provincial governments, particularly in El Salvador and Honduras. Then Arce sent troops under the command of Lieutenant-General José Justo Milla to Honduras that overthrew the president Dionisio de Herrera and took into custody. This led to the outbreak of a civil war that ended with the April 13, 1829 Francisco Morazán conquered the Federation capital, Guatemala City. Arce had to resign, was expropriated and expelled from the country.

Exile and final years

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

In 1846, the Salvadoran government Arce appointed the first Inspector General of the Army. He took these items still on, but had to give it up a short time later due to health reasons. A year later, he died penniless in his hometown of San Salvador.

In honor of Manuel José Arce of El Chilamatal in 1947 was renamed in his elevation to the city in Ciudad Arce.