Maximiliano Hernández Martínez

Maximiliano Hernández Martínez (October 21, 1882, San Matías, El Salvador – May 15, 1966, Hacienda Jamastrán, Honduras) was the President of El Salvador from 1931 to 1944. Serving as President Arturo Araujo's Minister of Defense, he seized power during a palace coup, capitalizing on political unrest brought on by the collapse of coffee prices. An admirer of fascism, Hernández Martínez led a military government that actively suppressed opposition, most notably the Salvadoran peasant revolt of 1932 led by Farabundo Martí, where thousands of indigenous people were murdered if they were suspected of collaboration with the communists. This massacre came to be known as La Matanza. Estimates on the number of victims range from 10,000 to 40,000. He also created a racial law to keep blacks out of the country. In order to prove to the Salvadoran people, he had many people murdered, including his own son, because they had contradicted his government. Hernández Martínez was a believer in occultism. When a smallpox epidemic broke out in San Salvador he had colored lights hung around the city, hoping it would cure the ill. He believed in reincarnation and once said that "It is a greater crime to kill an ant than a man, for when a man dies he becomes reincarnated, while an ant dies forever." During his tenure, El Salvador saw notable economic growth, and he was admired by a sizable number of Salvadorans for returning stability to the country in the midst of widespread unrest. In 1944, however, he was deposed by the famous non-violent Strike of Fallen Arms led by students. During this massive political action, Salvadoran society was completely paralysed until he was deposed. Hernández Martínez fled to exile in Guatemala. The revolt spread to Guatemala where Jorge Ubico was similarly ousted. After being deposed, Hernández lived in Honduras until he was murdered by his driver, Cipriano Morales, the son of a victim of the dictatorship. He became one of the oldest politicians to be assassinated. He died by machete. During the country's civil war in the 1970s-1980s, an extreme right-wing death squad named after him operated in the country, and claimed responsibility for the assassination of many Christian democrat and Marxist politicians in San Salvador in 1980.^[1]

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