Revolutionary Council of Government (El Salvador)

Revolutionary Council of Government
Revolutionary Council of Government
; Military junta of El Salvador
	Members of the Revolutionary Council of Government
Date formed	14 December 1948
Date dissolved	14 September 1950
People and organisations
No. of ministers	5
Member party	Armed Forces of El Salvador

The Revolutionary Council of Government (Spanish: Consejo de Gobierno Revolucionario, abbreviated CGR) was a military junta that ruled El Salvador between 1948 and 1950. The junta consisted of three military officers and two civilians.

Background

Salvadoran president Brigadier General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez resigned and fled El Salvador in May 1944 following the Strike fo Fallen Arms. His successor, Brigadier General Andrés Ignacio Menéndez, was overthrown by the military in October 1944 and Colonel Osmín Aguirre y Salinas scheduled a presidential election for January 1945. Aguirre rigged the election in favor of General Salvador Castaneda Castro. During Castaneda's presidency, he worried that reformist junior military officers would threaten his rule and sent them to foreign training to keep them out of the country.^[1]

Ahead of the 1949 presidential election, the Legislative Assembly issued a decree on 13 December 1948 to allow Castaneda to seek re-election in 1949 as the country's constitution prohibited re-election. The following day, the junior officers overthrew Castaneda in a coup d'état known as the Majors' Coup. They viewed Castaneda's continuismo as the military's "old guard" ("vieja guardia") attempting to stay in power, effectively threatening their reformist objectives. The coup leaders established the Revolutionary Council of Government (CGR), a military junta, to govern El Salvador. The CGR consisted of Lieutenant Colonel Manuel de Jesús Córdova, Major Óscar Osorio, Major Óscar Adán Bolaños, Doctor Humberto Costa, and Doctor Reynaldo Galindo Pohl. Major Humberto Villalta, a prominent reformer, was excluded from the junta as he was viewed as being too radical.^[2]

History

On 16 December 1948, the CGR declared that the military was "the armed arm of the people" ("el brazo armando del pueblo") and promised to implement reforms.^[2] It also promised to hold democratic elections and establish a new political system with a new constitution. A commission drafted a new constitution from February to August 1949.^[3]

Osorio resigned from the CGR on 23 October 1949 so that he could run as a candidate in the 1950 presidential election.^[4] On 31 January 1950, the CGR set the date for the presidential and legislative elections for 26 March and called for the formation of a constituent assembly.^[5] In the presidential election, Osorio ran as a member of the Revolutionary Party of Democratic Unification (PRUD) and defeated José Ascencio Menéndez of the Renovating Action Party (PAR) with 56.4 percent of the vote.^[6] Osorio became President of El Salvador on 14 September 1950 and the CGR dissolved.^[7]^[8] Similarly, PRUD won 38 of the Legislative Assembly's 52 seats.^[9] PRUD ruled El Salvador until the 1960 coup d'état overthrew Osorio's successor, Lieutenant Colonel José María Lemus.^[10]

References

Citations

^ Haggerty 1990, p. 18.
^ ^a ^b Bernal Ramírez & Quijano de Batres 2009, p. 148.
^ Bernal Ramírez & Quijano de Batres 2009, p. 149.
^ Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 211.
^ Cañas Dinarte & Scarlett Cortez 2006, p. 43.
^ Krennerich 2005, p. 287.
^ Krennerich 2005, p. 292.
^ Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 213.
^ Krennerich 2005, p. 281.
^ Krennerich 2005, p. 270.

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). San Salvador, El Salvador: Ministry of Education. ISBN 9789992363683. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 January 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2025.
Cañas Dinarte, Carlos & Scarlett Cortez, Violeta (2006d). 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) (IV ed.). San Salvador, El Salvador: Albacrome. OCLC 319689765. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
Haggerty, Richard A., ed. (1990). El Salvador: A Country Study (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, Federal Research Division. ISBN 9780525560371. LCCN 89048948. OCLC 1044677008. Retrieved 26 August 2025.
Krennerich, Michael (2005). "El Salvador". In Nohlen, Dieter (ed.). Elections in the Americas A Data Handbook Volume 1: North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. pp. 270–299. ISBN 9780191557934. OCLC 58051010. Retrieved 26 August 2025.
Leistenschneider, María & Leistenschneider, Freddy (1980). Gobernantes de El Salvador: Biografías [Governors of El Salvador: Biographies] (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. OCLC 7876291. Retrieved 26 August 2025.

[FOOTNOTEHaggerty199018-1] Haggerty 1990, p. 18.

[FOOTNOTEBernal_RamírezQuijano_de_Batres2009148-2] Bernal Ramírez & Quijano de Batres 2009, p. 148.

[FOOTNOTEBernal_RamírezQuijano_de_Batres2009149-3] Bernal Ramírez & Quijano de Batres 2009, p. 149.

[FOOTNOTELeistenschneiderLeistenschneider1980211-4] Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 211.

[FOOTNOTECañas_DinarteScarlett_Cortez200643-5] Cañas Dinarte & Scarlett Cortez 2006, p. 43.

[FOOTNOTEKrennerich2005287-6] Krennerich 2005, p. 287.

[FOOTNOTEKrennerich2005292-7] Krennerich 2005, p. 292.

[FOOTNOTELeistenschneiderLeistenschneider1980213-8] Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 213.

[FOOTNOTEKrennerich2005281-9] Krennerich 2005, p. 281.

[FOOTNOTEKrennerich2005270-10] Krennerich 2005, p. 270.

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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

Background

History

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography