April 1920 Guatemalan presidential election

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April 1920 Guatemalan presidential election
Flag of Guatemala.svg
  1916 8 April 1920 August 1920  
  HERRERA, CARLOS. HONORABLE LCCN2016859094 (cropped).tif 3x4.svg
Nominee Carlos Herrera Adrián Vidaurre
Party PU Independent
Electoral vote366
Percentage85.71%14.29%

President before election

Manuel Estrada Cabrera
Liberal Party

President-elect

Carlos Herrera y Luna
PUPD

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 benefitted 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 Unpublished dissertation, p106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 Unpublished dissertation, p26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