- Carlos Salazar Castro
Carlos Salazar Castro (1800,
San Salvador ,El Salvador —July 23 ,1867 , San José,Costa Rica ) was aCentral American military officer and Liberal politician. Briefly in 1834 he was provisional president of El Salvador, and in 1839 he was provisional president ofGuatemala .He was born in 1800 in El Salvador to Gregorio Salazar and Francisca Castro y Lara. His father was interim president of the
Federal Republic of Central America fromSeptember 16 ,1834 toFebruary 14 ,1835 .Salazar was sent at age 12 to Guatemala to study humanities at the Colegio Tridentino. He graduated from secondary school in 1817 and returned to El Salvador, where he dedicated himself to commerce and to tending the estates of his family. He also joined the independence movement. He was a deputy to the local congress in 1822.
He fought alongside Liberal General
Francisco Morazán in the Central American civil wars, becoming his lieutenant in 1832, in the deposition of the Salvadoran head of state,José María Cornejo . FromJune 23 ,1834 toJuly 13 ,1834 Salazar served as provisional head of state of El Salvador. On the latter date, the federal government took over direct control of the state, and Salazar's father, Gregorio Salazar, became acting chief of state.General Salazar (the son) again fought at the side of his friend and ally General Morazán in 1837, against the movement known as "The Moderates" (Los Moderados). He was decorated for his performance in this campaign. In 1839 he was the hero of the
Battle of Villa Nueva (nearGuatemala City ), where Morazán's Liberals defeated the Conservatives underRafael Carrera and forced a (temporary) treaty of peace with him.He was secretary of the interior of the State of Guatemala in 1839 when the Liberals named him provisional president of the state to replace
Mariano Rivera Paz . Salazar served in this capacity fromJanuary 30 ,1839 toApril 13 ,1839 , when Rivera returned to office. Carrera soon renewed the civil war.With the fall of General Morazán's federal regime in 1840, Salazar accompanied him to
Costa Rica on Morazán's way into exile. Salazar stayed in Costa Rica when Morazán went toColombia , and retired from politics. He opened a business in San José, and lived there until his death onJuly 23 ,1867 . In El Salvador he has been designated "Benemérito de la Patria". El Salvador repatriated his remains, which are now buried in a cemetery in San Salvador.External links
*es icon [http://www.casapres.gob.sv/presidentes/pres/csalazar1834.htm Short biography from the Salvadoran government web site]
* [http://sshl.ucsd.edu/collections/las/guatemala/1831.html Some information on Guatemalan politics in 1839]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.