Doctor Manuel Enrique Araujo (12 October 1865 – 9 February 1913) was a Salvadoran

doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

who served as the

President of El Salvador The president of El Salvador ( es, Presidente de El Salvador), officially known as the President of the Republic of El Salvador ( es, Presidente de la República de El Salvador), is the head of state and head of government of El Salvador. He i ...

from 1 March 1911 until his assassination on 9 February 1913. He was the first civilian president elected in El Salvador since Rafael Zaldívar was deposed by the military in 1885. During his presidency, he attempted to implement various social reforms and the current

flag of El Salvador The flag of El Salvador features a horizontal triband of cobalt blue-white- cobalt blue, with the coat of arms centered and entirely contained within the central white stripe. This design of a triband of blue-white-blue is commonly used among ...

was adopted.

Early life

Manuel Enrique Araujo was born in on 12 October 1865 in Condadillo in the department of

Usulután Usulután () is the fifth largest city in El Salvador, and capital of the Usulután Department in the south-east of El Salvador. As of 2006, it is estimated to have population of 71,636 people. Usulután rests in a rich agricultural valley and ...

, El Salvador. His father was Manuel Enrique Araujo and his mother was Juana Rodríguez de Araujo. He was baptized on 22 September 1865 in the Tecapa church. His family were wealthy landowners who cultivated coffee; his father was of Basque and his mother of Portuguese descent. As a young man he studied medicine at the

University of El Salvador The University of El Salvador or Universidad de El Salvador (UES) is the oldest and the most prominent university institution in El Salvador. It serves as the national university of the country. The main campus, Ciudad Universitaria, is located ...

, and after earning his doctorate in 1891 at age 26, he went to

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to continue his studies specializing in surgery.

Early political career

In 1907, Araujo was elected as vice president of El Salvador, serving under President Fernando Figueroa. He assumed office on 1 March of the same year. Araujo ran for president in the 1910 election as the favored candidate, but without Figueroa's support. Despite the opposition of Guatemalan President

Manuel Estrada Cabrera Manuel José Estrada Cabrera (21 November 1857 – 24 September 1924) was the President of Guatemala from 1898 to 1920. A lawyer with no military background, he was a strong ruler (dictator) who modernised the country's industry and transportat ...

, Araujo won the election.

Presidency

On 1 March 1911, Araujo became president of El Salvador, the first civilian to assume office since Rafael Zaldívar was deposed by the military on 14 May 1885. He selected Onofre Durán Santillana to be his vice president. He also permitted Prudencio Alfaro Menéndez to return to the country after being in exile since his defeat in the War of 1907. During his presidency, the Army received special attention and increased funding; consequently, many foreign military advisors were hired to educate and train Salvadoran officers. In 1912, Araujo founded the

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

as a rural police force for the country. Former officers of the

Spanish Civil Guard The Civil Guard ( es, Guardia Civil, link=no; ) is the oldest law enforcement agency in Spain and is one of two national police forces. As a national gendarmerie force, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the au ...

were recruited to train them and to provide men for his private security corps. In a reorganization of the national judicial system, offices of Justices of the Peace were established in all the country's municipalities to ensure the rule of law throughout the nation. A Ministry of Agriculture was formed to promote the cultivation of coffee. In 1911, the '' Teatro Nacional'' (National Theatre) was built in San Salvador, and the centenary of the independence uprising of 1811 was celebrated with the inauguration of the ''Monumento a los Próceres de 1811'' (Monument to the Heroes of 1811) in ''Plaza Libertad'' (Freedom Park) to memorialize the heroes of the movement. The current national flag and the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

it contains were adopted in 1912.

Assassination

On 9 February 1913, during a concert in the San Salvador Bolivar Park (now Plaza Gerardo Barrios), President Araujo was severely wounded when farmers Mulatilo Virgilio, Fermin Perez and Fabian Graciano assaulted him with machetes. Araujo died five days later and was buried in one of El Salvador's famous cemeteries. The motives of the attackers, who were executed after a military trial, were never thoroughly investigated. Alfaro Menéndez, who was accused of being involved in the assassination, fled the country and would not return until 1915.

Personal life

Araujo married Hortensia Peralta Lagos at an unknown date.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

Manuel Enrique Araujo. Presidente 1911–1913 (2004), short biography in Spanish, ''University of Central America''
1865 births 1913 deaths People from Usulután Department Presidents of El Salvador Vice presidents of El Salvador Salvadoran people of Basque descent Salvadoran people of Portuguese descent Salvadoran surgeons Deaths by blade weapons People murdered in El Salvador Assassinated Salvadoran politicians 1913 crimes in El Salvador 1913 murders in North America 1910s murders in El Salvador {{ElSalvador-politician-stub