Manuel José Estrada Cabrera was the President of Guatemala from 1898 to 1920. A lawyer with no military background, he was a dictator who modernised the country's industry and transportation infrastructure, but only via granting concessions to the American-owned United Fruit Company, whose influence on the government was deeply unpopular among the population. Estrada Cabrera used increasingly brutal methods to assert his authority, including armed strike-breaking, and he effectively controlled the general elections. He retained power for 22 years through controlled elections in 1904, 1910, and 1916, and was eventually removed from office when the national assembly declared him mentally incompetent, and he was jailed for corruption.
Jorge Ubico Castañeda, nicknamed Number Five or also Central America's Napoleon, was a Guatemalan dictator. A general in the Guatemalan army, he was elected to the presidency in 1931, in an election where he was the only candidate. He continued his predecessors' policies of giving massive concessions to the United Fruit Company and wealthy landowners, as well as supporting their harsh labor practices. Ubico has been described as "one of the most oppressive tyrants Guatemala has ever known" who compared himself to Adolf Hitler. He was removed by a pro-democracy uprising in 1944, which led to the ten-year Guatemalan Revolution.
Lázaro Chacón González was the acting President of Guatemala from 26 September 1926 to 18 December 1926 and President of Guatemala from 19 December 1926 to 2 January 1931.
José María Orellana Pinto was a Guatemalan political and military leader. He was chief of staff of President Manuel Estrada Cabrera and President of Guatemala between 1921 and 1926, after overthrowing Conservative Unionist President Carlos Herrera. During his rule the Quetzal was established as the currency of Guatemala. Orellana Pinto died under suspicious circumstances in 1926 at the age of fifty-four. He was buried in the Guatemalan capital with state honors.
Virgilio Rodríguez Beteta (1885–1967) was a Guatemalan lawyer, historian, diplomat and writer.
Parliamentary elections were held in Guatemala between 24 and 26 January 1947 in order to elect half the seats in Congress. The Revolutionary Action Party won a plurality of seats.
General elections were held in Guatemala between 6 and 8 February 1931. In the presidential election Jorge Ubico was elected unopposed, after the remaining sector of the old Liberal Party did not object to his candidacy, whilst the Conservative Party was too disorganised and discredited from the Lázaro Chacón González era to put forward a candidate. Ubico's Progressive Liberal Party, formed by a union of the two wings of the divided Liberal Party also won the parliamentary election unopposed.
A referendum on the presidential term of Jorge Ubico was held in Guatemala on 25 May 1935. If approved, it would allow Ubico to override the constitutional limitation on serving two consecutive terms in office. It was reportedly approved by 99.85% of voters.
General elections were held in Guatemala on 5 December 1926. The presidential election resulted in a victory for Lázaro Chacón González, who received 88.6% of the vote. Whilst the elections were rigged, the Progressive Liberal Party did manage to win some seats in the Congress.
A presidential election was held in Guatemala on 15 December 1921.
Presidential elections were held in Guatemala in July 1904. The result was a victory for Manuel Estrada Cabrera, who received all but three of the valid votes. He assumed the presidency on 15 March 1905.
Presidential elections were held in Guatemala on 11 April 1910. Manuel Estrada Cabrera was re-elected unopposed. He assumed the presidency on 15 March 1911.
Presidential elections were held in Guatemala on 17 January 1916. For the second successive election, Manuel Estrada Cabrera was re-elected unopposed. Despite there only being one candidate, voters were rounded up by the military and taken to polling stations, where they could only vote for Cabrera. Cabrera assumed the presidency on 15 March 1911.
Presidential elections were held in Guatemala on 27 August 1920. The result was a victory for Carlos Herrera, who received 95% of the vote.
Presidential elections were held in Guatemala on 22 February 1922. The result was a victory for José María Orellana, although the military had controlled the election and silenced the opposition, as well as putting down rebellions in at least twelve places including Antigua. Orellana assumed the presidency on 4 March.
Federico Hernández de León was a Guatemalan writer, historian and journalist. He graduated from the Instituto Nacional Central para Varones of Guatemala, with a high school diploma in 1900. Active politically, was arrested during the last few years of the government of president Manuel Estrada Cabrera, being held in the Central Penitentiary of Guatemala until the president was deposed on April 14, 1920. After his release, he went straight to take over the Diario de Centro América semi-official newspaper of Guatemala at the time. Later, he directed Nuestro Diario along with Carlos Bauer Aviles.
Manuel María Orellana Contreras was a Guatemalan army officer and politician, and from 17 to 31 December 1930, de facto interim President of Guatemala, after leading a coup d'état that ended Baudilio Palma interim presidency. Palma, in turn, had been appointed president only four days earlier, when president Lázaro Chacón González suffered a stroke and was forced to resign. At the moment the coup took place, Orellana Contreras was commander of the San Rafael de Matamoros Fort in Guatemala City.
Baudilio Palma was acting President of Guatemala, in place of general Lázaro Chacón González, from 13 to 17 December 1930, when he was deposed and probably assassinated after coup d'état led by general Manuel María Orellana Contreras, who appointed himself as president. Several authors argue that he might not have been killed, but went into exile to El Salvador, where he would have died on 19 June 1944.
Laura Zachrisson Descamps (1920-1948) was a Guatemalan women's rights advocate and educator. She was one of the teachers who was shot during the teacher's protest which occurred on 25 June 1944. She was one of the founders of the women's rights group Comité Pro-Ciudadanía.
Anarchism in Guatemala emerged from the country's labor movement in the late 19th century. Anarcho-syndicalism rose to prominence in the early 20th century, reaching its peak during the 1920s, before being suppressed by the right-wing dictatorship of Jorge Ubico.
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