Honduran military general and politician
In this
Spanish name
, the first or paternal
surname
is
Cabanas
and the second or maternal family name is
Fiallos
.
Jose Trinidad Cabanas Fiallos
(9 June 1805– 8 January 1871) was a liberal Honduran military general and politician who served as President of Honduras on two separate occasions: From 1 March to 6 July 1852. And 31 December 1853 to 6 June 1855. His role in Honduran history began during the
First Central American Civil War
. He became a Central America hero, when he attempted to reunite Central America,
[1]
during
Francisco Morazan
's tenure and after the unionist's death.
During his second term as president, Cabanas attempted to build the railroad in Honduras. He was supported by the common Central American people, but his liberal beliefs were not accepted by the conservatives, then holding power.
[2]
He was popularly known as being "The gentleman without blemish and without fear".
[3]
Biography
[
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]
Jose Trinidad Cabanas
was born to Jose Maria Cabanas Rivera and Juana Fiallos in
Tegucigalpa
and was baptized on the day of his birth in 1805.
He attended school at the "Colegio Tridentino" in
Comayagua
, where he studied
Latin
,
rhetoric
,
theology
and
philosophy
.
Military life
[
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]
In 1827, when the military forces of
Justo Milla
invaded and besieged
Comayagua
, and overthrew the government of
Dionisio de Herrera
, Cabanas, at 22 years old, was volunteered with his brothers by his aged father, who proclaimed,
- "Sir, the weight of my years does not allow me to accompany you to battlefield, but here you have my three sons that can do what I should, with a willingness to shed their blood for the flag that you defend".
Cabanas later joined the army of the
Federal Republic of Central America
, where he was deputy to Gen.
Francisco Morazan
and eventually became a General of the Federal Army, gaining political and military leadership, which earned him the position of deputy of the Constituent Assembly of 1830.
Cabanas' first military experience was at Battle of the Trinity on 11 November 1839. He participated in the battles in
San Salvador
, Las Charcas, and also stood out in the battles of The Holy Spirit and in the battles of San Pedro Perulapan ?conducted in Salvadoran territory?, occurred on 6 April and 25 September 1839, respectively.
At 13 November of this year, he defeated the forces of General
Francisco Zelaya y Ayes
on the battle in El Sitio of La Soledad, on outskirts of Tegucigalpa, and he was later defeated by the same General on 31 January 1840 in Los Llanos, in Potrero.
After the liberal defeat of 1840, Cabanas and Gen. Morazan moved from
Guatemala
and went into exile in
Panama
, then he traveled to
Costa Rica
.
Cabanas established a loyal friendship with General
Francisco Morazan
, who, as General Luis Maldonado says, told him "My Dear General" in his correspondence. After the death of Morazan in Costa Rica on 15 September 1842, General Cabanas says: "It's not possible. You can shoot us, but not General Morazan ...that would be a crime to Central America".
After this he returned to
El Salvador
, where he lived for several years and collaborated in the government of Salvadorean presidents
Eugenio Aguilar
and
Doroteo Vasconcelos
. He was Minister of War in December 1850 and was defeated at the Battle of Sitio in
San Jose La Arada
in February 1851.
Presidency
[
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]
General Jose Trinidad Cabanas.
During his tenure, with
Jose Santiago Bueso
with vice-president, Cabanas made important deeds to encourage the public instruction, agriculture and mining, as well as significant efforts to improve the coffee cultivation and Public Instruction. He was the first promoter of the railroad, the coffee and craft of rush. He was an educator president, that imposed taxes on exports of cattle and timber to establish the first 50 public schools paid for by the Exchequer.
While Trinidad Cabanas resided in the city San Miguel, was reported by a Senators' Commission consisted of Francisco Lopez, Vicente Vaquero and Leon Alvarado, about the results of the elections conducted in Honduras in late 1851, when he was elected as president. The Legislative Assembly of Honduras sent him the Election's Decree as Honduras' Constitutional President, he made the Promise of Law and took possession on 1 March 1852.
In order to restore the Federation, Cabanas was appointed as Vice-Chief of State by the Constituent Assembly of Central America, met in Tegucigalpa on 13 October 1852. However Cabanas rejected this charge and said: "I'm not ready for so high office, I'm a soldier, I have no public administration knowledge" so the Vice President Pedro Molina took over the task of celebrating assemblies in El Salvador and
Nicaragua
.
At 23 June 1853, he signed the first contract for construction of the Inter-Oceanic Railroad of Honduras, to communicate Omoa with Amapala, a project that had been in development since 1590 but had been shelved by the
Council of the Indies
and instead realized in Panama. As this idea required borrowings from foreign banks, Cabanas saw this option as a threat to the transfer and loss of national sovereignty, so he withdrew and the project was conducted in the government Jose Maria Medina.
War against Guatemala
[
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]
At 1853, Cabanas appointed Jose Francisco Barrundia, Minister Plenipotentiary in Washington. During this year, General
Rafael Carrera
,
President of Guatemala
constantly harassed General Cabanas. Thus, Cabanas deposited the presidency to General
Francisco Gomez
during the period from 9 May to 31 December 1853, to personally lead the military campaign against Guatemala, and installed his headquarters in Gracias .
Statue in honor of Jose Trinidad Cabanas. Located in city Tela, Atlantida Department.
He returned to the presidency on 1 January 1854 and faced difficult political conditions. On July to this year, he sent a military column to
Nicaragua
under the leadership of General Francisco Gomez, who died attacked by
cholera
on 25 July 1854, without achieving the objectives of imposing the supporters of the old Federation.
Due to attempts of Cabanas to restore the Central American Federation and his conflicts with the conservative Nicaraguan government of
Rafael Carrera
, Carrera declared that his aim in Honduras was to overthrow General Jose Trinidad Cabanas, which achieved backing of the Honduran conservatives, who, led by General Juan Lopez
[1]
, invaded the nation and defeated to Cabanas on the Battle of Masaguara, in the plains of Santa Rosa and Gracias on 6 October 1855, forcing him to resign the presidency and take refuge in El Salvador. General Juan Lopez called the vice-president Jose Santiago Bueso to hold the presidency of the Executive, on 18 October of same year.
In El Salvador, Cabanas became both a Minister in the government and head of the National Congress.
Cabanas traveled to Nicaragua to seek support to regain the Honduran presidency to the Nicaraguan president
Patricio Rivas
, who didn't give him for alleged influences of adventurer
William Walker
. So he returned to El Salvador, where he lived for many years and served as minister and civil and military governor of San Miguel in the government of his friend
Gerardo Barrios
(1858?1863).
Last years
[
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]
During the last years of his life, General Cabanas retired from politic and could return to Honduras at 1867 and settled in Comayagua. In Honduras, he began a campaign against the presence of
William Walker
in Central America, then was appointed by the administration of President
Jose Maria Medina
as quartermaster of the Customs of
Trujillo, Honduras
. Cabanas died on 8 January 1871, at age 65.
After his death, The Government of Honduras awarded him the title of "Soldier of the motherland" and the Republic of El Salvador named "
Cabanas Department
" in his honor. His remains rest in the church of San Sebastian de
Comayagua
.
References
[
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]
- ^
Woodward, Ralph Lee (1993).
Rafael Carrera and the Emergence of the Republic of Guatemala, 1821-1871
. University of Georgia Press.
ISBN
0-8203-1448-X
Sources
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All in Spanish:
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1821?1839
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1839?1982
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Democratic era (since 1982)
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International
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