Guatemalan presidential election, April 1920

Guatemala
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Indirect presidential elections were held in Guatemala on 8 April 1920. After two decades of repression and dictatorial rule, political opponents of Manuel Estrada Cabrera organized the Unionist Party (PU) in 1919.[1] Led by Conservatives tied to the landed oligarchy, the Unionists also attracted support among the urban proletariat, artisans, students, and industrialists.[2]

In January 1920 the Unionists allied with dissident Liberals in the legislature led by Adrian Vidaurre.[3] Toward the end of March 1920 the Unionists began to pressure the National Legislative Assembly to impeach Estrada Cabrera.[4] Even those who had benfitted from his rule accepted that Cabrera should step down.[5] On 8 April he was declared insane and no longer capable of governing the country by members of the Legislative Assembly. They then voted to replace him with Carlos Herrera y Luna (36 out of 42 voted for him). On 9 April Cabrera ordered troops still loyal to him to bomb the Unionist-held Guatemala City, but on 15 April Congress accepted his resignation.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Casey, Dennis Floyd (1979) Indigenismo: the Guatemalan experience Lawrence: University of Kansas. Unpublished dissertation, p106
  2. ↑ Dosal, Paul J (1993) Doing business with the dictators: a political history of United Fruit in Guatemala, 1899-1944 Wilmington: Scholarly Resources, p95
  3. ↑ Dosal, p96
  4. ↑ Pitti, Joseph A (1975) Jorge Ubico and Guatemalan politics in the 1920s Albuquerque: University of New Mexico. Unpublished dissertation, p26
  5. ↑ Grandin, Greg. The last colonial massacre: Latin America in the Cold War. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2004. Pp. 27.
  6. ↑ Pitti, p27

Bibliography

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