34 Facts About Rafael Carrera

Rafael Carrera became a dominant figure in Guatemala for three decades.

Rafael Carrera led a major revolt against the liberal government of Mariano Galvez that marked the dissolution of Federal Republic of Central America.

Rafael Carrera was born on 24 October 1814 in the Candelaria barrio of Guatemala City towards the end of the Spanish colonial period.

Rafael Carrera was of humble origin, a mestizo and illiterate.

Rafael Carrera enlisted in the army during the civil war, which lasted from 1826 to 1829.

Rafael Carrera became a respected military commander in the decade that followed.

Rafael Carrera is often portrayed as a "guerrilla" leader but an analysis of his military campaigns between 1837 and 1840 shows that they were closer to hybrid warfare.

Morazan had the opportunity to shoot Rafael Carrera, but did not because he needed the support of the Guatemalan peasants to counter the attacks of Francisco Ferrera in El Salvador; instead, Morazan left Rafael Carrera in charge of a small fort in Mita, and without any weapons.

Rafael Carrera defeated General Agustin Guzman when the former Mexican officer tried to ambush him and then went on to Quetzaltenango, where he imposed a harsh and hostile conservative regime instead of the liberals.

Rafael Carrera pretended to flee and led his ragtag army to the heights of Aceituno, with few men, few rifles and two old cannons.

Once Morazan reached the capital, he took it easily and freed Guzman, who immediately left for Quetzaltenango to give the news that Rafael Carrera was defeated; Rafael Carrera then, taking advantage of what his enemies believed, applied a strategy of concentrating fire on the Central Park of the city and employed surprise attack tactics which caused heavy casualties to the army of Morazan, finally forcing the survivors to fight for their lives.

In Guatemala, survivors from his troops were shot without mercy, while Rafael Carrera was out in unsuccessful pursuit of Morazan.

Rafael Carrera was appointed president in 1844 and on March 21,1847, by executive order declared Guatemala an independent republic, becoming its first president.

Rafael Carrera resigned of his own free will and left for Mexico.

When Rafael Carrera arrived to Chiantla in Huehuetenango, he received two altenses emissaries who told him that their soldiers were not going to fight his forces because that would lead to a native revolt, much like that of 1840; their only request from Rafael Carrera was to keep the natives under control.

Rafael Carrera went back to the Quetzaltenango area, while Zavala remained in Suchitepequez as a tactical maneuver.

Rafael Carrera received a visit from a Cabinet member of Paredes and told him that he had control of the native population and that he assured Paredes that he would keep them appeased.

Back in Guatemala City within a few months, Rafael Carrera was commander-in-chief, backed by military and political support of the Indian communities from the densely populated western highlands.

On 28 January 1851, Vasconcelos sent a letter to the Guatemalan Ministry of Foreign Relations, in which he demanded that the Guatemalan president relinquish power, so that the alliance could designate a new head of state loyal to the liberals and that Rafael Carrera be exiled, escorted to any of the Guatemalan southern ports by a Salvadorean regiment.

Rafael Carrera's strategy was to feign a retreat, forcing the enemy forces to follow the "retreating" troops to a place he had previously chosen; on February 1,1851, both armies were facing each other with only the San Jose river between them.

Rafael Carrera had fortified the foothills of La Arada, its summit about 50 metres above the level of the river.

Rafael Carrera divided his army in three sections: the left wing was led by Cerna and Solares; the right wing led by Bolanos.

Rafael Carrera personally led the central battalion, where he placed his artillery.

At the height of the battle when the Guatemalans faced an uncertain fate, Rafael Carrera ordered that sugar cane plantation around the meadow to be set on fire.

Rafael Carrera regrouped his army and crossed the Salvadorean border, occupying Santa Ana, before he received orders from the Guatemalan President, Mariano Paredes, to return to Guatemala, since the Allies were requesting a cease-fire and a peace treaty.

Once approved, Rafael Carrera commissioned Matheu himself and Miguel Ruiz de Santisteban to build the theater.

In 1854, by anti-democratic initiative of Manuel Francisco Pavon Aycinena, Rafael Carrera was declared "supreme and perpetual leader of the nation" for life, with the power to choose his successor.

Rafael Carrera was in that position until he died on April 14,1865.

The contest was finally settled in favor of Rafael Carrera, who besieged and occupied San Salvador, and dominated Honduras and Nicaragua.

Rafael Carrera continued to act in concert with the Clerical Party, and tried to maintain friendly relations with the European governments.

When Rafael Carrera came to power in 1840, stopped the complaints over Belize, and established a Guatemalan consulate in the region to oversee the Guatemalan interests in that important commercial location.

In 1859, William Walker's threat loomed again over Central America; in order to get the weapons needed to face the filibuster, Rafael Carrera's regime had to come to terms about Belize with the British Empire.

Rafael Carrera ratified the treaty on 1 May 1859, while Charles Lennox Wyke, British consul in Guatemala, travelled to Great Britain and got the royal approval on 26 September 1859.

Rafael Carrera did not significantly enhance the life of rural Indians, but he delayed the destruction of their culture that characterized the liberals' capitalist developments.