continued from san juan del sur HOME

186 years of Independence from Spain; 151 years since The San Jacinto Battle

By Fernando J. Rodríguez S.
The proclamation of Independence in Central America and Mexico was the result of a complex process in which diverse factors took part: the displeasure of the Hispano-Americans caused by the oppressive absolutist peninsular regime, the commercial and productive restraints, and the constraints on political rights.

In this context, the novel proposals originating in the French Revolution and the Constitution of the United States inspired the fight of the Latin Americans through their emancipation and served as a guide at the time of organizing their new political institutions.

After the armed rebellions of 1811 and 1812 in San Salvador, Tegucigalpa, Leon, San Fernando de Masaya, Granada and Rivas, the fight for Central American independence acquired a diplomatic profile. It is important to emphasize that Central America was the only region in the Latin American continent to obtain its independence through diplomatic channels (as opposed to armed conflict as were seen in Mexico, where Father Hidalgo and other patriots fought hard against the Spanish Empire, or in the South, where the glorious army of liberation of America, led by the Generals Bolivar and San Martin, fought against the military elites of the powerful Spanish army of King Fernando VII).

Don Miguel de Larreynaga, distinguished lawyer, representing the province of Nicaragua, gave an inspiring speech on freedom, democracy and peace in the general hearing of Guatemala, urging the Central American citizens to vote for their freedom, their sovereignty and the right to be masters of their own destiny and creators of their own history. The expected independence finally arrived on September 15th 1821. The pacifist separation of Central America demonstrated the political will of the Central Americans to live without masters, peacefully and democratically. However, the political situation has not been the same for all the Central American states.

When the slave-endorsing adventurer William Walker appeared on the scene in 1855, the peoples of Nicaragua affirmed once again their will and desire to live in sovereignty and peace when a squadron of patriotic Nicaraguans defeated three squadrons of William Walker’s occupying troops who possessed superior weapons. The battlefield was the farm property of San Jacinto to the northeast of Managua, on the morning of September 14th 1856. That battle marks the second independence, because the Nicaraguans reaffirmed their determination to be owners of their destiny and their history, without masters and with absolute sovereignty of the nation.

Home: San Juan del Sur