Florencio Xatruch (October 21, 1811 – February 15, 1893) was a general who led the Honduran expeditionary force against
William Walker in Nicaragua in 1856.
Life
Florencio Xatruch was born in
San Antonio de Oriente
San Antonio de Oriente is a municipality in the Honduran department of Francisco Morazán.
Population as of 2015 is 15,299.
The first occupants came in 1660 in the village ''Mineral de San Antonio'' that is 4 km away from the present town. ...
, Honduras. His father, Ramón Xatruch, was of
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
background, and his mother, Eugenia Villagra, was part of
Choluteca's upper class, and whose family owned mines.
In 1824, Xatruch was sent to
León, Nicaragua
León () is the second largest city in Nicaragua, after Managua. Founded by the Spanish as Santiago de los Caballeros de León, it is the capital and largest city of León Department. , the municipality of León has an estimated population of 2 ...
to continue with his studies.
Military career
In 1826, as he returned to Honduras, he joined the armed forces of Domingo Sarmiento and Santos Sánchez, who were against the government of
Diego Vigil
Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''.
Et ...
. He then participated in
Francisco Morazán
José Francisco Morazán Quesada (; born October 3, 1792 – September 15, 1842) was a Central American politician who served as president of the Federal Republic of Central America from 1830 to 1839. Before he was president of Central America h ...
's armed forces, on March 14, 1832, along with his friend
José Santos Guardiola
José Santos Guardiola Bustillo (1 November 1816 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras – 11 January 1862 in Comayagua, Honduras) was a two-term President of Honduras from 17 February 1856 to 7 February 1860 and from 7 February 1860 to his death on 11 Janu ...
, in the war in
Jocoro, El Salvador. He was promoted to
sergeant
Sergeant ( abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other ...
, and this promotion was signed by Morazan himself. In 1841 he was again promoted to
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
by General Julian Tercero, and he served under the leadership of
Francisco Ferrera
Francisco Ferrera (29 January 1794 – 10 April 1851) was a president of Honduras. He was born in San Juan de Flores, Honduras.
Ferrera joined the guerrerista campaigns of General Francisco Morazán
José Francisco Morazán Quesada (; ...
.
When
Juan Lindo
Juan Nepomuceno Fernández Lindo y Zelaya (generally known as Juan Lindo) (16 May 1790, Tegucigalpa, Honduras – 23 April 1857, Gracias, Honduras) was a Conservative Central American politician, provisional president of the Republic of El Sa ...
was president, Xatruch was elected representative to the National Congress and participated in the approval of the third Constitution of Honduras in 1848. In 1850, he participated in an armed engagement supporting José Santos Guardiola. He moved to Nicaragua, along with his brother Pedro, who was eventually promoted to general also. In Granada, they offered their services to the "legitimates", and their troops were called "Xatruches", and then "Catruches", and finally "
Catrachos", term (nickname) that Hondurans are known for, especially in Nicaragua.
In 1855, Xatruch was promoted to brigade general. President Guardiola sent Honduran troops to fight William Walker under the leadership of the Xatruch brothers. Florencio was named General in Chief of the Allied Armies of Central America, but later, for political reasons, Juan Rafael Mora was left in charge and Xatruch was demoted to Inspector General.
He also led the combat against the
filibusters in Puebla,
Rivas.
Several Central American countries recognized him as brigade and division general. On June 12, 1857, Xatruch made a triumphant entrance to
Comayagua
Comayagua () is a city, municipality and old capital of Honduras, located northwest of Tegucigalpa on the highway to San Pedro Sula and above sea level.
The accelerated growth experienced by the city of Comayagua led the municipal authorit ...
, which was then the capital of Honduras. On May 22, 1858, President Guardiola named him Minister of War and Commerce, title he held until 1860. He was
Minister of Finance of Honduras
The Ministry of Finance of Honduras is responsible for the public finance policies of Honduras. The ministry was created after the first constitution of Honduras was adopted in 1825.
Ministers of Finance
* Casto Alvarado, ?-1841-1847http://www.r ...
from 1858 to 1859.
[http://www.repositorio.ciicla.ucr.ac.cr:8080/bitstream/handle/123456789/312/Tesis%20Ethel%20Garc%C3%ADa.%20Din%C3%A1mica%20politica%20y%20construcci%C3%B3n%20nacional%20estatal%20en%20Honduras%20%281833-1872%29.pdf ] On February 15, 1864, the General Assembly of Honduras declared him
Vice President of Honduras
The vice presidents of Honduras, also known as presidential designates, officially the designates to the presidency ( es, designados a la presidencia) is the second highest political position in Honduras. According to the current constitution, th ...
to the cabinet of
José María Medina
José María Medina Castejón (8 September 1826 – 1878) served as the President of Honduras three times during the 1860s and 1870s. Medina was born in Sensenti. While his father is not known, his mother's name was Antonia Medina Castejón.
...
.
He briefly acted as President from March 26 – May 17, 1871.
Life in Nicaragua
After the civil war of 1856, Xatruch stayed in Nicaragua, and worked in agriculture and mining. It is told that he had to sell the medals of honor he had received in order to finance his new businesses, that included two coffee farms ("Honduras" and "La Cruz") and several estates in
Managua
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In Nicaragua, Xatruch was named Director of Eastern Highways, by president
Tomás Martínez
Tomás Martínez Guerrero (21 December 1820 – 12 March 1873) was the President of Nicaragua between 15 November 1857 and 1 March 1867. From 24 June 1857 to 19 October or 15 November 1857, he acted jointly as the 2nd President in a dual Junta w ...
, and he worked building the highways to Mataere,
Masatepe
Masatepe () Masatepe is one of the nine municipalities of the Department of Masaya in Nicaragua. It is located on the plateau of the villages 50 kilometers from Managua along the road to Masaya. It belongs to the tourist corridor of " Los Puebl ...
and
Jinotepe. In 1878, president
Pedro Joaquín Chamorro named him Governor of Chinandega and Leon, and that same year, on August 9, he was named Division General of the Nicaragua Army.
Death
Xatruch died in
Managua, Nicaragua on February 15, 1893, when he was 82 years old. He was buried in the San Pedro Cemetery with great honors. Nicaragua National Congress, by decree on February 24, 1893, authorized the following
epitaph
An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...
: " From Nicaragua to the Honduran by birth but Nicaraguan by adoption, General Florencio Xatruch, a testimony of admiration and thankfulness for the services he provided to the Country".
Recent honors
In August 2003 Honduras President
Ricardo Maduro sent a troop of 370 officials, technical staff and soldiers to participate in the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
in support of the international contingent led by the United States. The troop was called
Tarea Xatruch Battalion in honor of Xatruch. The group included 40 officials, 22 sub-officials, 21 technical staff and 287 soldiers. They left August 11 for Spain for a training period, and then to
Nasariya,
Karbala
Karbala or Kerbala ( ar, كَرْبَلَاء, Karbalāʾ , , also ;) is a city in central Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad, and a few miles east of Lake Milh, also known as Razzaza Lake. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governor ...
and
Najaf
Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...
in Iraq, where they joined 360
Salvadoran, 230
Nicaraguan, 300
Dominican, and 1,300 Spanish officials and soldiers.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xatruch, Florencio
1811 births
1893 deaths
People from Francisco Morazán Department
Finance Ministers of Honduras
Vice presidents of Honduras
Honduran people of Catalan descent
History of Honduras
History of Nicaragua
Honduran military personnel
Honduran emigrants to Nicaragua