Francisco Menéndez

Divisional General
Francisco Menéndez
Divisional General Francisco Menéndez
	Menéndez, c. 1885–1890
43rd President of El Salvador
	In office; 22 June 1885 – 22 June 1890; Provisional President until 1 March 1887
Vice President	Vacant (until 1887); Baltasar Estupinián (1887); Vacant (from 1887)
Preceded by	José Rosales (acting)
Succeeded by	Carlos Ezeta
Deputy of the Constituent Assembly of El Salvador from Ahuachapán
	In office; 1871
Mayor of Ahuachapán
	In office; 1871
Personal details
Born	Francisco Menéndez Valdivieso; 3 December 1830; Ahuachapán, Federal Republic of Central America
Died	22 June 1890 (aged 59); San Salvador, El Salvador
Party	Liberal
Spouse	Bonifacia Salazar (m. 1858)
Occupation	Politician, military officer
Military service
Allegiance	El Salvador
Branch/service	Salvadoran Army
Years of service	1851–1890
Rank	Divisional general
Battles/wars	Battle of La Arada; Honduran–Salvadoran War; First Honduran intervention; Guatemalan–Salvadoran War; 1883 Salvadoran coup attempt; Menéndez's revolution; 1890 Salvadoran coup d'état †;

Francisco Menéndez Valdivieso (3 December 1830 – 22 June 1890) was a Salvadoran politician and military officer who served as President of El Salvador from 1885 to his overthrow and death in 1890.

Menéndez enlisted in the Salvadoran Army in 1851 and became an officer in 1858. As mayor of Ahuachapán in 1871, he joined a liberal rebellion against conservative president Francisco Dueñas. Menéndez was promoted to divisional general under Marshal Santiago González's government. He launched a revolution against President Rafael Zaldívar and became provisional president on 22 June 1885. Menéndez was overthrown and killed in a coup led by General Carlos Ezeta five years later on 22 June 1890, as Ezeta wanted to succeed Menéndez as president.

Early life

Francisco Menéndez Valdivieso was born on 3 December 1830 in Ahuachapán, El Salvador, then a part of the Federal Republic of Central America. His parents were wealthy landowners José Eustaquio Menéndez and Gabriela Valdivieso^[1] and Menéndez helped administer his family's wealthy by overseeing their lands dedicated to agriculture.^[2] His family in particular grew coffee.^[3] Menéndez was educated in Ahuachapán.^[1]

Military career

Menéndez enlisted in the Salvadoran Army in 1851 at the age of 20.^[1] That year, he fought in the Salvadoran defeat at the Battle of La Arada as a corporal under the command of President Doroteo Vasconcelos. In 1858, he was promoted to sub-lieutenant and married Bonifacia Salazar.^[2] That year, he was also a regidor on the Ahuachapán ayuntamiento.^[1]

He was the mayor of Ahuachapán in 1871.^[2] An idealist liberal,^[4] Menéndez joined Marshal Santiago González's rebellion against conservative president Francisco Dueñas. González elevated Menéndez to the rank of colonel and Menéndez established a defensive position at the Santa Ana hospital for four days amidst heavy canon fire. After the rebellion succeeded, González appointed Menéndez to the Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution,^[2] but González abandoned this constitution the following year and adopted a new constitution that increased term lengths from two to four years.^[5]

Menéndez was the military commander of the Chalatenango Department during González's invasion of Honduras in 1872 where he protected the invasion force's rear. He was later promoted to brigadier general and became the governor of Ahuachapán Department. Menéndez recaptured the city of Apaneca in 1876 after a Guatemalan invasion, for which he was promoted to divisional general. Menéndez opposed the government of President Rafael Zaldívar who was installed by Guatemalan president Justo Rufino Barrios. After Menéndez participated in a failed coup led by General Manuel Estévez against Zaldívar's government, Menéndez fled El Salvador for Guatemala.^[2]

Presidency

Barrios was killed at the Battle of Chalchuapa on 3 April 1885 when he attempted to forcibly reunite Central America by invading El Salvador. Menéndez, with the support of the new Guatemalan government,^[2] launched a revolution against Zaldívar.^[6] He resigned on 14 May and handed the presidency to General Fernando Figueroa, the second presidential designate, who served in a provisional capacity.^[7] Figueroa attempted to suppress the revolution, but he eventually resigned and fled El Salvador.^[8] Figueroa handed the presidency to Senator José Rosales on 18 June who served in an acting capacity,^[9] and he handed the presidency to Menéndez on 22 June^[1] when he entered San Salvador, El Salvador's capital city.^[2]

After the revolution, Menéndez appointed a cabinet consisting of Rafael Meza as Minister of External Relations, Justice, Public Instructions, and Worship; Manuel Gallardo as Minister of Finance and Public Credit; Jacinto Castellanos as Minister of Governance; Francisco Galindo as Minister of Promotion and Charity; and General Estanislao Pérez as Minister of War and the Navy.^[10]

As provisional president, Menéndez called the Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution.^[11] The Constituent Assembly, which was mostly composed of Menéndez's opponents, drafted the 1885 constitution, but Menéndez refused it as it did not contain provisions that he desired. He dissolved the Constituent Assembly and held new elections the following year. This time, his allies in the new Constituent Assembly drafted the 1886 constitution.^[12] This constitution set presidential terms to 4 years, banned immediate re-election, and established a unicameral legislature. The 1886 constitution remains the longest lasting constitution in El Salvador's history, lasting 53 years until the 1939 constitution was adopted.^[13]

Menéndez won the 1887 presidential election. Baltasar Estupinián was elected as Menéndez's vice president.^[14] After Menéndez's inauguration, he made two cabinet changes: Gallardo was reassigned as Minister of Finance, and Rafael Ayala succeeded Gallardo as Minister of Governance. During Menéndez's presidency, he established the Telegraphy School, the National Library, and the Polytechnic School.^[10]

General José María Rivas, the governor of the Cuscatlán Department, rebelled against Menéndez's government in 1888 for refusing to appoint him as Estupinián's successor as vice president^[15] after he was forced to resigned for appearing to obstruct Menéndez's agenda.^[16] The rebellion failed, but Rivas maintained his governorship. In 1890, Rivas rebelled again when Menéndez refused to appoint him as Cuscatlán's military commander. The rebellion was suppressed and Rivas fled to Honduras.^[15] Later that year, Menéndez created the Junta of Notables to select his successor. Out of two dozen of Menéndez's allies, the junta selected Julio Interiano to succeed Menéndez. They then proceeded to prepare the country's election infrastructure to rig the 1891 presidential election in Interiano's favor.^[17]

Overthrow and death

On 22 June 1890, General Carlos Ezeta led a coup d'état against Menéndez when his soldiers stormed the Presidential Palace during a banquet. Menéndez fought Ezeta's soldiers in the palace's garden with a sword.^[18] He died during the coup, either of a heart attack^[19] or cerebral hemorrhage. Menéndez's body was recovered by his nephew and he lay in state at the Plaza de Armas in downtown San Salvador. Menéndez was buried in the San Salvador General Cemetery.^[18]

Ezeta became provisional president after the coup,^[19] and in a victory speech, he declared that the 1885 Junta of Notables was "conspiratorial" because it excluded him; he wanted to be selected by the junta as Menéndez's successor.^[20] Ezeta won the 1891 presidential election virtually unanimously^[21] but he was overthrown in 1894 by General Rafael Antonio Gutiérrez, who supported Menéndez's 1885 coup.^[22]

Menéndez's adversaries accused him of embezzling public funds during his presidency. After Menéndez's death, a notary valued his personal wealth at 235,671 pesos.^[18] For establishing several educational institutions during his presidency, the Salvadoran government established Teacher's Day in 1928 and set its date as 22 June in Menéndez's honor.^[11]

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 147.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Cañas Dinarte & Scarlett Cortez 2006, p. 79.
^ White 1973, p. 90.
^ White 1973, p. 87.
^ Haggerty 1990, p. 144.
^ Bernal Ramírez & Quijano de Batres 2009, p. 31.
^ Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 142.
^ Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 155.
^ Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 145.
^ ^a ^b Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 148.
^ ^a ^b Bernal Ramírez & Quijano de Batres 2009, p. 33.
^ Ching 1997, p. 220.
^ Haggerty 1990, pp. 144–145.
^ University of California, San Diego.
^ ^a ^b Ching 1997, p. 202.
^ Ward 1916, p. 322.
^ Ching 1997, pp. 183–184.
^ ^a ^b ^c Cañas Dinarte & Scarlett Cortez 2006, p. 80.
^ ^a ^b Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 151.
^ Ching 1997, p. 184.
^ Ching 1997, p. 180.
^ Ching 1997, p. 175.

Bibliography

Bernal Ramírez, Luis Guillermo & Quijano de Batres, Ana Elia, eds. (2009). Historia 2 El Salvador [History 2 El Salvador] (PDF). Historia El Salvador (in Spanish). El Salvador: Ministry of Education. ISBN 9789992363683. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 October 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
Cañas Dinarte, Carlos & Scarlett Cortez, Violeta (2006). Aguilar Avilés, Gilberto & De Aguilar, Lilian (eds.). Historia del Órgano Legislativo de la República de El Salvador: 1824–2006 [History of the Legislative Organ of the Republic of El Salvador: 1826–2006] (PDF) (in Spanish) (II ed.). San Salvador, El Salvador: Albacrome. OCLC 319689765. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
Ching, Erik K. (1997). From Clientelism to Militarism: The State, Politics and Authoritarianism in El Salvador, 1840–1940 (PhD thesis). Santa Barbara, California: University of California, Santa Barbara. OCLC 39326756. ProQuest 304330235. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
"Elections and Events 1850–1899". San Diego, California: University of California, San Diego. Archived from the original on 23 March 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
Haggerty, Richard A., ed. (1990). El Salvador: A Country Study (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C., United States: Federal Research Division. ISBN 9780525560371. LCCN 89048948. OCLC 1044677008. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
Leistenschneider, María & Leistenschneider, Freddy (1980). Gobernantes de El Salvador: Biografías [Governors of El Salvador: Biographies] (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. OCLC 7876291. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
Ward, L.A., ed. (1916). Libro Azul de El Salvador: Histórico y Descriptivo, Comercio e Industrías, Hechos Datos y Recursos [Blue Book of Salvador: Historical and Descriptive, Commercial and Industrial, Facts Figures and Resources] (PDF) (in Spanish). San Salvador, El Salvador: Latin American Publicity Bureau. OCLC 16103876. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
White, Alastair (1973). El Salvador. Nations of the Modern World. London and Tonbridge: Ernest Benn Limited. ISBN 0510395236. LCCN 73175341. OCLC 1391406624. Retrieved 5 January 2026.

External links

"Presidentes de El Salvador – General Francisco Menéndez" [Presidents of El Salvador – General Francisco Menéndez]. Government of El Salvador (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 22 September 2007. Retrieved 5 January 2026.

[FOOTNOTELeistenschneiderLeistenschneider1980147-1] Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 147.

[FOOTNOTECañas_DinarteScarlett_Cortez200679-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Cañas Dinarte & Scarlett Cortez 2006, p. 79.

[FOOTNOTEWhite197390-3] White 1973, p. 90.

[FOOTNOTEWhite197387-4] White 1973, p. 87.

[FOOTNOTEHaggerty1990144-5] Haggerty 1990, p. 144.

[FOOTNOTEBernal_RamírezQuijano_de_Batres200931-6] Bernal Ramírez & Quijano de Batres 2009, p. 31.

[FOOTNOTELeistenschneiderLeistenschneider1980142-7] Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 142.

[FOOTNOTELeistenschneiderLeistenschneider1980155-8] Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 155.

[FOOTNOTELeistenschneiderLeistenschneider1980145-9] Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 145.

[FOOTNOTELeistenschneiderLeistenschneider1980148-10] Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 148.

[FOOTNOTEBernal_RamírezQuijano_de_Batres200933-11] Bernal Ramírez & Quijano de Batres 2009, p. 33.

[FOOTNOTEChing1997220-12] Ching 1997, p. 220.

[FOOTNOTEHaggerty1990144–145-13] Haggerty 1990, pp. 144–145.

[FOOTNOTEUniversity_of_California,_San_Diego-14] University of California, San Diego.

[FOOTNOTEChing1997202-15] Ching 1997, p. 202.

[FOOTNOTEWard1916322-16] Ward 1916, p. 322.

[FOOTNOTEChing1997183–184-17] Ching 1997, pp. 183–184.

[FOOTNOTECañas_DinarteScarlett_Cortez200680-18] Cañas Dinarte & Scarlett Cortez 2006, p. 80.

[FOOTNOTELeistenschneiderLeistenschneider1980151-19] Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 151.

[FOOTNOTEChing1997184-20] Ching 1997, p. 184.

[FOOTNOTEChing1997180-21] Ching 1997, p. 180.

[FOOTNOTEChing1997175-22] Ching 1997, p. 175.

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Heads of state of El Salvador
List of heads of state of El Salvador
Post-independence (1821–1823)	Barriere Delgado Filísola* Codallos* Consultive Junta^‡ Prado^†
Federal Republic of Central America (1823–1841)	J. Rodríguez Prado J. V. Villacorta Prado^† Cornejo J. D. Villacorta^† Cornejo Morazán^†* J. San Martín* Prado J. San Martín* C. Salazar^†* G. Salazar^† Escolán^† Silva^† Escolán^† Espinoza* F. Gómez^†* Vigil T. Menéndez^† Vigil T. Menéndez^† Cañas^†* Morazán* Silva^† Municipal Council of San Salvador Cañas^† Ramírez^† Lindo^†
Republic of El Salvador (1841–1931)	Lindo^† Arce^† Lindo Marín^†* J. J. Guzmán* D. Villacorta^† Marín^†* J. J. Guzmán* Arce^† J. J. Guzmán* Palacios^† Malespín* J. E. Guzmán^†* Malespín* J. E. Guzmán^†* Palacios^† J. E. Guzmán^†* Palacios^† Aguilar Palacios^† Aguilar Medina^† Quirós^† Vasconcelos R. Rodríguez^† Quirós^† Vasconcelos Dueñas^† Quirós^† Dueñas^† J. M. San Martín^†* Dueñas V. Gómez^† J. M. San Martín* J. Hernández^†* J. M. San Martín* Dueñas^† Campo Dueñas^† Campo Zepeda^† Santín* Barrios^†* Santín* J. E. Guzmán^†* Peralta^† Barrios* Peralta^† Barrios* Dueñas González* Méndez^† González* del Valle Zaldívar Guirola^† Zaldívar Figueroa^†* Rosales^† F. Menéndez* C. Ezeta* A. Ezeta^†* Gutiérrez* Regalado* Escalón* Figueroa* M. Araujo C. Meléndez^† Quiñónez^† C. Meléndez Quiñónez^† J. Meléndez Quiñónez P. Romero A. Araujo
Military dictatorship (1931–1979)	Civic Directory^‡ Hernández Martínez^†* A. Menéndez^†* Hernández Martínez* A. Menéndez^†* Aguirre^†* Castaneda* Revolutionary Council of Government^‡ Osorio* Lemus* Junta of Government^‡ Civic-Military Directory^‡ Cordón^† Rivera* F. Sánchez* A. Molina* C. Romero*
Salvadoran Civil War (1979–1992)	Revolutionary Government Junta^‡ Magaña Duarte Cristiani
Post-civil war (since 1992)	Cristiani Calderón Flores Saca Funes S. Sánchez Bukele C. Rodríguez^†
^† – Acting or provisional president ^‡ – Military junta * – Military president

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