Carlos Herrera

His Excellency
Carlos Herrera y Luna

President of the Republic of Guatemala
In office
March 30, 1920 – December 10, 1921
Preceded by Manuel Estrada Cabrera
Succeeded by José María Orellana
Guatemalan Parlament Representative
In office
1899–1920
Personal details
Born Carlos Herrera Luna
(1856-10-26)October 26, 1856
 Guatemala
Died July 3, 1930(1930-07-03) (aged 73)
Paris,  France
Political party Partido Liberal (1898-1920)
Partido Unionista (1920-1921)
Profession Sugar businessman
Religion Catholic

Carlos Herrera y Luna (26 October 1856 – 3 July 1930)[1] was acting President of Guatemala from March 30, 1920 to September 15, 1920 and President of Guatemala from September 16, 1920 until December 10, 1921.

Biography

Business

Herrera Luna was a successful sugar business man, developing Pantaleón Sugar Mill in Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, and Concepción and El Baúl sugar mills in Escuintla in the early 1900s. Pantaleón Sugar Holdings is today one of the top 10 sugar companies in America, with mills in Central and South America.

Presidency

1917-18 earthquakes: the Cathedral no longer has towers, the "Cardboard Palace" is built where the colonial Royal Palace used to stand and the old colonial City Hall has disappeared and in its place a Chinese Palace was built.
"Palacio del Centenario" -Centennial Palace-. Built in 1921 by Herrera administration to celebrate the first centennial of the Independence. It was located where the Royal Palace used to be, before it was destroyed by the 1917 Guatemala earthquake. The Centennial Palace was made of wood and therefore the Guatemalans called it the "Cardboard palace". It got destroyed in a fire a few years later.

After Manuel Estrada Cabrera was overthrown on April 14, 1920, the Unionist Party leaders, who were mostly conservatives, dealt with the liberal leaders from the Cabrera's regime such that they could appoint the new cabinet. However, the liberal leaders outsmarted the conservatives and appoint Herrera Luna in office, in spite that he had served as a liberal representative for the whole 22 years that Estrada Cabrera's government lasted; furthermore, they also appointed several key members of the ousted government in the new administration.[2] Under these circumstances, the deals that Estrada Cabrera had set with the United Fruit Company were sure to hold. However, as an experienced business man, Herrera Luna realized that all of those concessions granted too much power to UFCO without any real benefit for Guatemala in return and did not accept them.

Education

Herrera Luna granted several benefits to the National University after its valuable contributions to the revolution against Estrada Cabrera's regime:

Coup d'état

Main article: José María Orellana
Herrera and his cabinet shortly before the coup d'état of 1921.
General José María Orellana (right) and general Jorge Ubico (left) after the coup d'état that deposed president Herrera in 1921.

Herrera was deposed in a coup, led by José María Orellana, in December 1921 after Herrera resisted to approve the concessions granted to the United Fruit Company and its subsidiaries by his predecessor, Manuel Estrada Cabrera.[3] He subsequently went into exile in France.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Macmillan General Reference Staff 1998.
  2. ↑ Arévalo Martinez 1945, p. 228.
  3. ↑ Bauer Paz 1965.

Bibliography

Preceded by
Manuel Estrada Cabrera
President of Guatemala
1920–1921 		Succeeded by
José María Orellana
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