Maximiliano Hernández Martínez (21 October 1882 – 15 May 1966) was a Salvadoran military officer and politician who served as the 27th president of El Salvador from 4 December 1931 to 28 August 1934 in a provisional capacity and again in an official capacity from 1 March 1935 until his resignation on 9 May 1944. Martínez was the leader of El Salvador during most of World War II.
Martínez began his military career in the Salvadoran Army, attended the , and attained the rank of brigadier general by 1919. He ran for president during the 1931 presidential election but withdrew his candidacy and instead endorsed Labor Party candidate Arturo Araujo, who selected Martínez to serve as his vice president and later minister of war. After the Salvadoran military overthrew Araujo in December 1931, the military junta established by the coup plotters, known as the Civic Directory, named Martínez as the country's provisional president. His presidency was not recognized by the United States or other Central American countries until January 1934. The 1931 coup and Martínez's succession to the presidency allowed for the rise of a series of military dictatorships that held onto power in El Salvador until 1979.
Martinez served as president of El Salvador for more than 12 years, making him the longest-serving president in Salvadoran history, and his presidency is sometimes referred to as the . In January 1932, shortly after assuming the presidency, Martínez crushed a communist and indigenous rebellion. The mass killings committed by the Salvadoran military police following the rebellion's suppression have since been referred to as ("The Massacre") and resulted in the deaths of between 10,000 and 40,000 peasants. Martínez ruled El Salvador as a totalitarian one-party state led by the National Pro Patria Party, a political party he established in 1933 to support his 1935 presidential election campaign. The 1935, 1939 and 1944 presidential elections were uncontested, and Martínez received every vote cast. Martínez established the Central Reserve Bank and engaged in infrastructure projects such as building the Pan-American Highway in El Salvador, building the Cuscatlán Bridge in central El Salvador, and inaugurating the Nacional Flor Blanca stadium, which held the 1935 Central American and Caribbean Games. The Salvadoran economy almost exclusively relied on coffee production and exports during Martínez's presidency, particularly to Germany and the United States. El Salvador joined the Allied powers of World War II and declared war on Germany, Italy, and Japan in December 1941. Following an attempted coup in April 1944 and massive civil unrest following the execution of the coup's leaders, Martínez resigned as president in May 1944, and he and his family fled the country. In 1966, Martínez was killed in exile at his home in Honduras by his taxi driver following a labor dispute.
Martínez remains a controversial figure in El Salvador. Martínez was described as a fascist and admired the European fascist movements such as those in Germany and Italy. During the lead-up to World War II, he and many of his government officials held sympathies for the Nazis and Axis powers; however, sympathizers were later purged from the government after El Salvador joined the war on the side of the Allies. Martínez was a theosophist, believed in the occult, and had a number of religious and personal beliefs his contemporaries considered unorthodox. During the Salvadoran Civil War (1979–1992), a death squad named after him claimed responsibility for the assassinations of several left-wing politicians.
Early life
Maximiliano Hernández Martínez was born on 21 October 1882 in San Matías, El Salvador. His parents were Raymundo Hernández and Petronila Martínez. Martínez earned his bachelor's degree in San Salvador, El Salvador's capital city, after which he enrolled in the , a military academy where he earned the rank of sub-lieutenant. He returned to El Salvador and attended the Jurisprudence and Social Sciences Faculty at the University of El Salvador; however, he abandoned his studies in favor of pursuing a military career.
Martínez was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 17 November 1903 and to captain on 23 August 1906. He was promoted to major captain that same year during the Third Totoposte War against Guatemala, where he fought under former Salvadoran president and General Tomás Regalado. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 6 May 1909 and to colonel on 15 June 1914. The Legislative Assembly promoted Martínez to the rank of brigadier general on 14 July 1919, and President Jorge Meléndez officially sanctioned his promotion on 17 September. Martínez was later employed as a professor at the Captain General Gerardo Barrios Military School, and held various positions within the army. He became the military school's director in 1930.
1931 election and vice presidency
El Salvador had a presidential election in 1931. Every election prior to that date had been held with a pre-designated winner; however, President Pío Romero Bosque decided in spring 1930 to hold free and fair elections for 1931. This led to numerous candidates registering presidential campaigns. Romero did not endorse any specific candidate. Martínez was among the candidates, resigning his position as second inspector general of the army on 28 May 1930 in order to run for president. Martínez attempted to rally popular support by taking socialist political positions. His campaign was supported by the National Republican Party, a minor political party.
Ultimately, after receiving little support, Martínez withdrew his presidential candidacy and supported Arturo Araujo of the Labor Party, expecting that Araujo would award him the vice presidency. The National Republican Party withdrew its support for Martínez after his withdrawal and endorsement of Araujo. During the election, Araujo won 106,777 votes (46.7 percent), but did not win an outright majority of the votes cast. Martínez's endorsement probably did not sway many voters. As set out in the constitution of El Salvador, the Legislative Assembly convened on 12 February 1931 to select a president. The legislature unanimously voted in favor of declaring Araujo the election's winner after he promised to reimburse the campaign costs for two other presidential candidates – Alberto Gómez Zárate and Enrique Córdova – in order to satisfy them and their supporters in the legislature.
Araujo then selected Martínez to be his vice president, partly because he believed Martínez would support his policies, and partly to ensure the army's loyalty. Additionally, Araujo selected Martínez on the condition he would marry Araujo's mistress, Concepción "Concha" Monteagudo. Araujo and Martínez both assumed office on 1 March. In addition to the vice presidency, Araujo also appointed Martínez to serve as Minister of War, the Navy, and Aviation and appointed General Andrés Ignacio Menéndez to serve as Martínez's deputy. Upon assuming office, Martínez purged military leadership and promoted officers loyal to both himself and the government. Ongoing economic problems caused by the Great Depression and the ensuing unrest persisted through Araujo's presidency, leading to Martínez using his position as minister of war to quell protests. While suppressing anti-government protests, Martínez led a group of military officers in June 1931 demanding Araujo repeal the "red code" law, that allowed the president to try and execute military officers for attempting a coup. They also demanded Araujo reinstate the military's "right to insurrection". Araujo rejected their demands.
Rise to power
1931 coup and appointment as president
In late 1931, Araujo attempted to reduce the military's budget in order to improve the government's financial situation, but the army's officers refused to comply with Araujo's proposed budget cut. Araujo's government had failed to pay the military's officers and enlisted men for several months. On 1 December 1931, Araujo removed Martínez as minister of war, after questioning his loyalty, and replaced him with Salvador López Rochac, Araujo's brother-in-law. On 2 December, due to the government's failure to pay the military's wages and Martínez's removal, a group of junior officers overthrew Araujo, forced him to flee the country to Guatemala, and arrested many of the army's senior officers.
The coup leaders established the Civic Directory, and two of its officers—Colonel Osmín Aguirre y Salinas (who replaced López Rochac as minister of war) and Colonel Joaquín Valdés—assumed the role of co-chairmen of the Civic Directory. The entire Civic Directory itself consisted of twelve military officers from the army, the air force, and the National Guard. The Civic Directory approached Martínez and offered to install him as president of El Salvador, and Martínez accepted. On 4 December, the Civic Directory dissolved itself, declared Araujo had abandoned the presidency, and officially appointed Martínez to serve as the country's provisional president, while he was still serving as vice president. Although Martínez consolidated his power as provisional president, he did not restore himself as minister of war, instead appointing Valdés to the office. Martínez also appointed General Salvador Castaneda Castro as minister of government, promotion, agriculture, labor, sanitation, and charity; Colonel José Asencio Menéndez as sub-secretary of war, the navy, and aviation; Doctor Arturo Ramón Ávila as sub-secretary of foreign relations and justice; Pedro Salvador Fonseca as sub-secretary of finance, public credit, industry, and commerce; and Doctor Benjamín Orozco as sub-secretary of public instruction.
Martínez's role in the coup remains unclear. His supporters claimed the Civic Directory simply appointed him as provisional president in accordance with the constitution's provisions for replacing an incumbent in the event they left the country, while his opponents claimed Martínez organized the coup himself. The United States ambassador to El Salvador, Charles B. Curtis, believed the organizers of the coup installed Martínez as a figurehead in order to legitimize the coup and continue exerting power. , a Salvadoran poet and journalist, told American historian Thomas P. Anderson that Martínez had no advanced knowledge of the coup, but that he did know many military officers were dissatisfied with Araujo's government. General Salvador Peña Trejo stated Martínez knew the military was plotting something but he did not know any exact details. He further added that Martínez took advantage of the coup in order to assume the presidency. Meanwhile, in a 1968 interview, Araujo himself stated "it was General Martínez who secretly directed the move that brought him to power [...] I do not believe that other members of the my government, honorable men, were involved". Contemporary Salvadoran leftists also believed Martínez organized the coup. The Estrella Roja newspaper of the Communist Party of El Salvador praised the coup as "heroic and necessary" but also voiced concern that Martínez would not be able to solve the country's economic crisis.
International recognition
The Legislative Assembly confirmed Martínez as president of El Salvador in 1932, and designated him to serve the remainder of Araujo's term ending in 1935. On 8 June 1932, Martínez confirmed he would stay in office until 1935, after reportedly receiving 2,600 petitions containing thousands of signatures that requested he do so in April 1932. Although Martínez's government was recognized by the Legislative Assembly, his government did not receive recognition from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, or the United States due to the terms of the 1923 Central American Treaty of Peace and Amity. Article 2 of the treaty stipulated that all its signatories would not recognize governments that assumed power through undemocratic means, such as a coup d'état.