Morazán Ralph Lee Woodward
Rafael Carrera and the Emergence of the Republic of Guatemala, 1821-1871,
03/2012
Book Chapter
As early as 9 February 1838 the Valenzuela government had cautioned Morazán not to march into Guatemala, fearing that he would upset the recent understanding with Carrera, who had returned to Mita in ...peace.¹ Morazán had heeded this advice,² yet the resumption of warfare by Carrera in March forced Valenzuela to look to the federal government for help. After negotiators rejected Carrera’s demands, Morazán launched a major offensive at the end of March to crush the rebellion. The guerrillas responded with new ferocity, particularly, although not exclusively, against foreign-owned properties. Marshall Bennett’s Hacienda de San Gerónimo in the Verapaz, reportedly
Conclusions Ralph Lee Woodward
Rafael Carrera and the Emergence of the Republic of Guatemala, 1821-1871,
03/2012
Book Chapter
No single individual dominated the first half century of Guatemalan national independence more than Rafael Carrera. Although uneducated, his native intelligence and personal energy enabled him to ...overcome the intrigues of the “enlightened” Creole elite and enforce a unity on the country that had eluded it since the beginnings of the disintegration of the Spanish empire in 1808. Although undisciplined, his intelligence, good judgment, and ability to recognize and command trustworthy advisers served him well. His revolution rode the crest of a strong rejection of liberalism by people of all classes as it restored Hispanic tradition and institutions and established
Nicaragua Ralph Lee Woodward
Rafael Carrera and the Emergence of the Republic of Guatemala, 1821-1871,
03/2012
Book Chapter
Before Carrera had concluded his intervention in Honduran affairs, a new, more serious crisis had come to Central America, the filibusters from the United States. The conservative-liberal struggle ...combined with the Anglo-American rivalry and the search for an interoceanic passage to embroil first Nicaragua and then all of the states of the old federation in a great National Campaign to expel the North Americans. The role of Carrera’s Guatemala in these events has often been underestimated.
Nicaragua became a focus of attention for both North Americans and Europeans following the California gold strike. The British had been especially aggressive in
Consolidation Ralph Lee Woodward
Rafael Carrera and the Emergence of the Republic of Guatemala, 1821-1871,
03/2012
Book Chapter
The principal beneficiaries of Carrera’s revolt were the aristocratic, conservative elite of Guatemala City. Gálvez’s decree of 26 July 1838 had allowed those exiled in 1829 to return to Guatemala, ...and many of them had gained positions of responsibility in both the private and public sectors even before Carrera’s April 1839 victory. Juan José de Aycinena led their coagulation as a political force. Like Aycinena, many were clergymen. Others headed important merchant or planter families. Discredited after their defeat by Morazán in 1829, by 1839 they had been accepted back into the social and economic life of the state, and
El Salvador Ralph Lee Woodward
Rafael Carrera and the Emergence of the Republic of Guatemala, 1821-1871,
03/2012
Book Chapter
The conservatives in Central America could not forever hold out against liberal resurgence. The moderate Rafael Mora had fallen already to a coup in 1859, an act that the Guatemalan government ...deplored as “an illegal and inexcusable act.” Mora met with Carrera in Guatemala after going into exile on n February 1860.¹ Subsequently, Mora organized a force and returned to Costa Rica, but he met defeat at La Angostura on 28 September, and two days later he died before a firing squad. The governments that succeeded him appeared to continue conservative domination there, but in reality they were a transition
The Pax Carrera Ralph Lee Woodward
Rafael Carrera and the Emergence of the Republic of Guatemala, 1821-1871,
03/2012
Book Chapter
The defeat of the filibusters in Nicaragua ushered in several years of relative stability and peace in Central America, in which Rafael Carrera was the most powerful caudillo on the isthmus. The ...conservatives enjoyed their most secure tenure in the nineteenth century, lasting until 1893 in Nicaragua and until 1871 in Guatemala. Elsewhere, where liberal resurgence occurred more quickly, Carrera took steps to check its return to power. Thus, although the late 1850s and early 1860s appear more stable than the earlier years, they were not without conflict, civil disorder, and warfare in Central America. But recognizing Guatemala as essentially
