The Palm Sunday Coup (Spanish: golpe de estado del Domingo de Ramos) was an attempted military coup d'état in El Salvador which occurred in early-April 1944. The coup was staged by pro-Axis sympathizers in the Salvadoran Army against President General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez.
| Palm Sunday Coup | |||||||
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| Part of World War II | |||||||
 Soldiers in San Salvador during the coup attempt | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Rebel armed forces | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Unknown | |||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Salvadoran Army |
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Background
editGeneral Maximiliano Hernández Martínez became president of El Salvador following a military coup d'état on 4 December 1931 against President Arturo Araujo and the dissolution of the Civic Directory.[1] During the lead up to World War II, Hernández Martínez heavily sympathized with Germany and Italy. However, under pressure from the United States, the primary coffee buyer of El Salvador, he was forced to abandon his sympathies and agreed to align himself alongside the Allies after the attack on Pearl Harbor.[2] Likewise, German and Italian residents in El Salvador were expropriated of their lands and sent to internment camps in the United States.[3][4][5]
Coup
editHernández Martínez held an election in January 1944 and was reelected to a third term as President.[6] His action angered many businessmen, politicians, and military officer since he blatantly violated the Constitution.[7]
On 2 April 1944, military officers who had pro-Axis sympathies from the 1st Infantry Regiment and the 2nd Artillery Regiment initiated a coup against Hernández Martínez.[7] The coup started on Palm Sunday and most senior military and government officials were either at home or attending church.[7][8] The rebels rose up in the departments of San Salvador and Santa Ana.[8] They took control of the national radio station and the police headquarters of Santa Ana during the coup.[8] The Salvadoran Air Force joined the conspirators and bombed the city of Santa Ana while the army attacked civilians and overthrew the local government.[8]
By the end of the day, Hernández Martínez ordered military units still loyal to him to crush the revolt.[8] The coup was suppressed on 3 April, martial law was declared, and a national curfew was put in place.[8]
Aftermath
editFollowing the coup attempt, Hernández Martínez initiated reprisals that lasted for two weeks.[8] Civilian protestors eventually forced Hernández Martínez to resign on 9 May in the Strike of Fallen Arms.[8][9]
See also
editReferences
editCitations
edit- ^ Grieb 1971, pp. 154–155.
- ^ Ministerio de Educación de la República de El Salvador (1994). Historia de El Salvador, tomo II.
- ^ Mario Nevas (2006). "El Salvador en los años 1920?1932".
- ^ Esmeralda Astilla 1976, p. 184.
- ^ Armstrong & Shenk 1982, p. 34.
- ^ Nohlen 2005, p. 287.
- ^ a b c Haggerty 1990, p. 18.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Zunes, Stephen (October 2010). "Movements and Campaigns - El Salvador: 1944". Nonviolent Conflict. Archived from the original on 31 December 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
- ^ Ackerman, Peter; DuVall, Jack (2015). A Force More Powerful: A Century of Non-violent Conflict. St. Martin's Press. pp. 256–263.
Bibliography
edit- Armstrong, Robert & Shenk, Janet (1982). El Salvador: The Face of Revolution. Boston: South End Press. ISBN 0896081389.
- Esmeralda Astilla, Carmelo Francisco (1976). "The Martinez Era: Salvadoran-American Relations, 1931-1944". Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College.
- Grieb, Kenneth J. (1971). "The United States and the Rise of General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez". Journal of Latin American Studies. 3 (2): 151–172. doi:10.1017/S0022216X00001425. JSTOR 156558. S2CID 146607906.
- Haggerty, Richard A., ed. (1990). El Salvador: A Country Study (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division Library of Congress. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
- Nohlen, Dieter (2005). Elections in the Americas: A Data Handbook. Vol. 1.