República Federal de Centroamérica — Transcript

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1. 0:17On July 1st, 1823, after separating
2. 0:23from Mexico, Central America was
3. 0:25provisionally named the United
4. 0:27Provinces of Central America and was
5. 0:30made up of the states of Guatemala,
6. 0:32Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and
7. 0:34Costa Rica. The following year, the
8. 0:39Central American Constituent Congress
9. 0:41met in Guatemala City. This was with
10. 0:45the objective of deciding what system
11. 0:48of government would guide the destiny
12. 0:50of the young nation. Two different
13. 0:55proposals were presented at the
14. 0:57discussion table. The liberals opted
15. 1:01for a federalist government similar to
16. 1:03that of the United States, where each
17. 1:06state has its own government and laws.
18. 1:11The conservatives, on the other hand,
19. 1:13leaned toward a unitary government
20. 1:15through which they intended for all
21. 1:18states to be subject to the same laws
22. 1:20and a single government. After debating
23. 1:26the two proposals, the liberals, who
24. 1:28were the majority, leveraged this
25. 1:30advantage and won the right to adopt
26. 1:33the federalist thesis, creating the
27. 1:35Federal Republic of Central America in
28. 1:371824. This young republic was led by
29. 1:44the Salvadoran liberal Manuel José de
30. 1:47Arce, who promised to transform the
31. 1:50Central American economy and society.
32. 1:54Unfortunately, Arce encountered great
33. 1:57opposition from the conservatives, who,
34. 2:00due to their social and religious
35. 2:02influence and enormous economic power,
36. 2:05did not allow any progress in his
37. 2:08government programs. Convinced of his
38. 2:13limitations, Arce ended up abandoning
39. 2:15his liberal-leaning programs and
40. 2:17decided to ally himself with the
41. 2:19conservatives who were hungry for power
42. 2:21. In 1826, President Arce, in collusion
43. 2:27with the conservatives, attempted to
44. 2:30dissolve the Federal Congress of
45. 2:32Central America, invading the states of
46. 2:34El Salvador and Honduras and sparking a
47. 2:37civil war. From there emerged the
48. 2:41liberal leader and Central American
49. 2:44hero Francisco Morazán. Francisco
50. 2:57Morazán fought for universal education
51. 2:59, freedom of religion, the separation
52. 3:01of church and state, civil marriage,
53. 3:04freedom of speech and the press, and
54. 3:06equality of all before the law. He
55. 3:11wanted to create an impartial judicial
56. 3:13system and sought to integrate all
57. 3:15ethnic groups into the development of
58. 3:18the new republic. In short, he wanted
59. 3:21to create a democratic and progressive
60. 3:24country in a region still sunken in the
61. 3:26obscurantism of the colonial era. His
62. 3:30enemies were the wealthy class, direct
63. 3:33descendants of the Spaniards, and the
64. 3:36conservative Church, which remained
65. 3:38firm in its behavior, attitude, ideas,
66. 3:41or intentions despite being in the
67. 3:44wrong. After several years of struggle,
68. 3:51General Morazán defeated the federal
69. 3:53forces of President Arce and the
70. 3:55conservatives, thus restoring the
71. 3:57constitutional order of the Republic.
72. 4:00Morazán's administration made several
73. 4:03efforts to transform Central America
74. 4:05into a great and powerful nation.
75. 4:09However, the conservatives and the
76. 4:11Church, in collusion, convinced the
77. 4:13people, through deception and bribery,
78. 4:15that the liberals, led by General
79. 4:17Morazán, were people without
80. 4:19principles who were against the Church
81. 4:21and were the enemies of the people,
82. 4:23which, due to the hatred instilled by
83. 4:25the conservatives, led to an indigenous
84. 4:29revolution in Guatemala that culminated
85. 4:31in the overthrow of General Morazán
86. 4:33and the dissolution of the Federal
87. 4:35Republic of Central America. in the
88. 4:39year 1838, leaving them free to
89. 4:43establish their own governments. After
90. 4:47having concluded his second term as
91. 4:49president of the Central American
92. 4:51Federal Republic, Morazán was left
93. 4:53without political or military power.
94. 4:57However, on July 13, 1839, the
95. 5:02Salvadorans welcomed him and appointed
96. 5:04him head of state of El Salvador. When
97. 5:08the conservatives of Guatemala,
98. 5:10Honduras, and Nicaragua realized the
99. 5:13new role that General Morazán was
100. 5:15playing, they decided to declare war on
101. 5:18El Salvador with an army of more than
102. 5:212,000 men. Morazán, despite his great
103. 5:27military disadvantage, managed with
104. 5:30only 600 men to expel the conservative
105. 5:32troops to then march toward Guatemala,
106. 5:35gathering an army of more than 1,300
107. 5:38Salvadorans, and thus try to restore
108. 5:41the constitutional order of the Central
109. 5:44American Federation once again. However
110. 5:49, General Morazán was cornered in
111. 5:51Guatemala City. by an army of more than
112. 5:555,000 men, forcing him to escape again
113. 5:57toward El Salvador. The general had
114. 6:02become the very personification of the
115. 6:04federation. He was the body and soul of
116. 6:08the Constitution of 1824. Eliminating
117. 6:13him meant putting an end to any idea or
118. 6:16hope that remained of the great Central
119. 6:18American Federation. On April 8, 1840,
120. 6:24the general went into exile headed for
121. 6:26Peru so as not to cause more problems
122. 6:29for his beloved state of El Salvador.
123. 6:34Around 1841, the British began to
124. 6:38intervene in the Mosquito Coast
125. 6:40territory, located between Honduras and
126. 6:43Nicaragua. This event drove Morazán to
127. 6:48end his self-imposed exile in Peru and
128. 6:51he decided it was time to return to
129. 6:53Central America because he considered
130. 6:56it a duty and an irresistible national
131. 6:59sentiment. It was thus that on April 7,
132. 7:041842, and without any setbacks,
133. 7:09Morazán's fleet, which was composed of
134. 7:12five ships, landed in the port of
135. 7:14Caldera, Costa Rica, overthrowing the
136. 7:16conservative government led by Braulio
137. 7:19Carrillo, who took the route of exile
138. 7:21to the state of El Salvador. On
139. 7:26September 11, 1842, a popular movement
140. 7:31against Morazán's government broke out
141. 7:33in Alajuela. 400 men led by the
142. 7:36Portuguese Antonio Pinto Suárez
143. 7:39attacked Morazán's guard, which was
144. 7:42composed of only 40 Salvadorans.
145. 7:45Morazán had to request help from his
146. 7:48supposed friend Pedro Mayorga. However,
147. 7:52he betrayed him and provided Morazán's
148. 7:55enemies with the means to capture him.
149. 8:00Subsequently, a mockery of a trial took
150. 8:03place, in which Morazán and his allies
151. 8:06were sentenced to death by the
152. 8:09self-appointed new authorities. It was
153. 8:14thus on a cold afternoon on September
154. 8:1715, 1842, amidst a deafening commotion,
155. 8:23Morazán requested command of the
156. 8:26firing squad, bared his chest with both
157. 8:28hands, and with an unwavering voice
158. 8:31commanded. He then corrected the aim of
159. 8:37one of the shooters and finally shouted
160. 8:40. The last syllable was silenced by a
161. 8:47single volley, and thus the dream of a
162. 8:50united federation led only by the will
163. 8:54of the people died with him.