49 Facts About Gerardo Barrios

Jose Gerardo Barrios Espinoza was a Salvadoran military officer and politician who served as president of El Salvador on three occasions between June 1858 and his overthrow in October 1863.

When Santin left the presidency due to illness on 24 June 1858, Gerardo Barrios assumed office as provisional president.

In January 1859, Santin and Gerardo Barrios both resigned from their positions and Joaquin Eufrasio Guzman, Gerardo Barrios' father-in-law, became president.

Gerardo Barrios ran unopposed and won the 1859 presidential election, and began a six-yer term on 1 February 1860.

Gerardo Barrios attempted to return to power in May 1865, but his ship was forced to dock in Nicaragua where he was arrested.

Gerardo Barrios was extradited to El Salvador in August 1865 where he was court-martialed and sentenced to death.

Gerardo Barrios was executed by a firing squad on 29 August 1865.

Gerardo Barrios is considered to be a national hero and has many locations and institutions named after him.

Jose Gerardo Barrios Espinoza was born to Jose Maria Barrios and Petrona Espinoza de Barrios; his paternal grandparents were Pedro Joaquin Barrios and Margarita Cisneros Avila, both of Spanish descent.

Gerardo Barrios's place and date of birth is disputed; he was born in either Cacahuatique or La Poza de la Juana, and he was born on either 24 September 1813 or 3 October 1813.

Gerardo Barrios suffered from some sort of defect and limped throughout his life.

Gerardo Barrios was described as being sincere and loyal with his friends and being discreet when speaking.

Gerardo Barrios fought for Francisco Morazan, the president of the Federal Republic of Central America, during the First and Second Central American Civil Wars beginning in 1828 when he was only a teenager.

Gerardo Barrios served as a member of the Federal Congress of the federal republic from 1836 to 1838.

Gerardo Barrios was a coquimbo, a liberal who fought until the very end of the second civil war and fled on the ship of the same name after Morazan was executed in 1842.

In 1844 and 1845, Gerardo Barrios participated in the overthrow of President Francisco Malespin.

On 2 February 1851, Gerardo Barrios fought under President Doroteo Vasconcelos during the Battle of La Arada, which ended in a Salvadoran defeat against Guatemalan forces under President Rafael Carrera.

Gerardo Barrios was called to participate in the Filibuster War against William Walker's Nicaraguan government where he commanded a division.

On 7 June 1857, Gerardo Barrios began a coup d'etat against Campo, moving 1,500 soldiers of the first division to the port city of La Libertad, and the following day, moved the division to San Salvador.

Campo declared Gerardo Barrios to be a traitor and ordered General Ramon Belloso to attack Gerardo Barrios' soldiers on 12 June 1857.

Gerardo Barrios appointed Guzman, Barrios' father-in-law, as his vice president.

Gerardo Barrios named Lorenzo Zepeda as the first designated successor to the presidency, and Barrios as the second designated successor.

Additionally, Gerardo Barrios was appointed as minister of external relations on 31 March 1858.

On 24 June 1858, Gerardo Barrios assumed the presidency in an acting capacity when Santin temporarily left politics due to illness.

On 14 September 1858, Gerardo Barrios ordered Morazan's body to be exhumed from its resting place in Cojutepeque to be moved to San Salvador, where it was buried following a religious ceremony on 17 September 1858.

Santin ordered Gerardo Barrios to resign from his positions, to which Gerardo Barrios responded he would only do so if Santin resigned.

On 19 January 1859, Santin and Gerardo Barrios both resigned, and the Legislative Assembly met to choose a new president.

Gerardo Barrios supported Guzman's bid for the presidency, while Santin attempted to regain his position.

Gerardo Barrios returned to the presidency, again in an acting capacity, on 12 March 1859 after Peralta resigned.

On 4 December 1859, Gerardo Barrios won the 1859 presidential election unopposed and assumed the presidency in an official capacity on 1 February 1860, appointing Jose Felix Quiros as his vice president.

Gerardo Barrios left office on 16 December 1860 so that he could make a state visit to Guatemala and was replaced by Peralta as acting president.

Gerardo Barrios returned to El Salvador and resumed his presidency on 7 February 1861.

In 1859, Gerardo Barrios rebuilt the Asuncion College and reorganized its structure to be more secular and established three new universities: the Normal Schools of San Miguel, San Salvador, Santa Ana.

In 1860, Gerardo Barrios informed the Legislative Assembly that he intended to "regenerate" the country.

Gerardo Barrios sought to achieve five primary goals during his presidency: promote agriculture, industry, and commerce; introduce progressive Western European ideals to the country; encourage immigration to the country; reform the country's education system; construct new roads and ports to expand the country's international trade and internal transportation.

Gerardo Barrios believed that El Salvador would be a major coffee producer by 1864, encouraging the transfer of government-owned haciendas to coffee planters.

Gerardo Barrios' government allowed oligarchs who held a stake in coffee production to hold significant power and influence in El Salvador, power and influence which would persist until the overthrow of President Arturo Araujo by the military in December 1931.

On 11 October 1861, Gerardo Barrios issued a decree which ordered all priests in the country to swear loyalty and submission to the constitution and the government.

Gerardo Barrios' rise to the presidency in El Salvador was initially supported by Carrera, who was still serving as president of Guatemala, as he believed that Gerardo Barrios' strong government would ensure stability in the region in the wake of the war against Walker's Nicaragua.

In December 1860 and January 1861, Gerardo Barrios made an official visit to Guatemala.

On 11 January 1862, Honduran President Jose Santos Guardiola was assassinated and Gerardo Barrios sought to influence the succeeding liberal government.

In February 1863, Salvadoran forces led by Gerardo Barrios defeated the Guatemalans at the Battle of Coatepeque.

The day Gerardo Barrios was overthrown, Francisco Duenas, a conservative exile, succeeded Gerardo Barrios as the country's provisional president; on 4 December 1864, Duenas won the 1864 presidential election unopposed and assumed the presidency in an official capacity on 1 February 1865.

In June 1865, Gerardo Barrios returned to El Salvador with 800 rifles on the ship Manuela Planas sailing under the American flag with hopes of seizing the presidency by force his ship was damaged by a lightning strike and was forced to divert for El Realejo, Nicaragua.

Gerardo Barrios was imprisoned and court-martialed by the Salvadoran government; his trial began on 10 August 1865.

In 1882, when a monument to Morazan was inaugurated, Gerardo Barrios was given a tribute due to their shared ideology of Central American unification.

In 1910, Gerardo Barrios was declared by the Salvadoran government to be a national hero.

An equestrian status of Gerardo Barrios was installed in that plaza in 1910.

In 1981, the Captain General Gerardo Barrios University was established in San Miguel.