Francisco Menéndez


Francisco Menéndez Valdivieso was a Salvadoran politician and military officer who served as President of El Salvador from 1885 to his overthrow and death in 1890.
Menéndez enlisted in the Salvadoran Army in 1851 and became an officer in 1858. As mayor of Ahuachapán in 1871, he joined a liberal rebellion against conservative president Francisco Dueñas. Menéndez was promoted to divisional general under Marshal Santiago González's government. He launched a revolution against President Rafael Zaldívar and became provisional president on 22 June 1885. Menéndez was overthrown and killed in a coup led by General Carlos Ezeta five years later on 22 June 1890, as Ezeta wanted to succeed Menéndez as president.

Early life

Francisco Menéndez Valdivieso was born on 3 December 1830 in Ahuachapán, El Salvador, then a part of the Federal Republic of Central America. His parents were José Eustaquio Menéndez and Gabriela Valdivieso. His parents were wealthy landowners, and Menéndez helped administer his family's wealthy by overseeing their lands dedicated to agriculture. His family in particular grew coffee. Menéndez was educated in Ahuachapán.

Military career

Menéndez enlisted in the Salvadoran Army in 1851 at the age of 20. That year, he fought in the Battle of La Arada as a corporal under the command of President Doroteo Vasconcelos. In 1858, he was promoted to sub-lieutenant and married Bonifacia Salazar. That year, he was also a regidor on the Ahuachapán ayuntamiento.
He was the mayor of Ahuachapán in 1871. An idealist liberal, Menéndez joined Marshal Santiago González's rebellion against conservative president Francisco Dueñas. González elevated Menéndez to the rank of colonel and Menéndez established a defensive position at the Santa Ana hospital for four days amidst heavy canon fire. After the rebellion succeeded, González appointed Menéndez to the Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution.
Menéndez was the military commander of the Chalatenango Department during González's invasion of Honduras in 1872 where he protected the invasion force's rear. He was later promoted to brigadier general and became the governor of Ahuachapán Department. Menéndez recaptured the city of Apaneca in 1876 after a Guatemalan invasion, for which he was promoted to divisional general. Menéndez opposed the government of President Rafael Zaldívar who was installed by Guatemalan president Justo Rufino Barrios. After an attempted coup against Zaldívar's government led by General Manuel Estévez, Meléndez fled El Salvador for Guatemala.

Presidency

Barrios was killed at the Battle of Chalchuapa on 3 April 1885 when attempted to forcibly reunite Central America by invading El Salvador. Menéndez, with the support of the new Guatemalan government, launched a revolution against Zaldívar. Zaldívar resigned on 14 May and handed the presidency to General Fernando Figueroa, the second presidential designate, who served in an provisional capacity. Figueroa attempted to suppress the revolution, but he eventually resigned and fled El Salvador. Figueroa handed the presidency to Senator José Rosales on 18 June who served in an acting capacity, and he handed the presidency to Menéndez on 22 June when he entered San Salvador, El Salvador's capital city.
After the revolution, Menéndez created a cabinet consisting of Rafael Meza as Minister of External Relations, Justice, Public Instructions, and Worship; Manuel Gallardo as Minister of Finance and Public Credit; Jacinto Castellanos as Minister of Governance; Francisco Galindo as Minister of Promotion and Charity; and General Estanislao Pérez as Minister of War and the Navy.
As provisional president, Menéndez called the Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution. The Constituent Assembly, that was mostly composed of Menéndez's opponents, drafted the 1885 constitution, but Menéndez refused it. He dissolved the Constituent Assembly and held new elections the following year. This time, his allies in the new Constituent Assembly drafted the 1886 constitution. This constitution set presidential terms to 4 years, banned immediate re-election, and established a unicameral legislature. The 1886 constitution is the longest lasting constitution in El Salvador's history, lasting 53 years until the 1939 constitution was adopted.
Menéndez won the 1887 presidential election. Baltasar Estupinián was elected as Menéndez's vice president. After Menéndez's inauguration, he made two cabinet changes: Gallardo was reassigned as Minister of Finance, and Rafael Ayala succeeded Gallardo as Minister of Governance. During Menéndez's presidency, he established the country's telegraphy school, the national library, and the polytechnic school.
General José María Rivas, the governor of the Cuscatlán Department, rebelled against Menéndez's government in 1888 for refusing to appoint him as Estupinián's successor as vice president. The rebellion failed, but Rivas maintained his governorship. In 1890, Rivas rebelled again when Menéndez refused to appoint him as Cuscatlán's military commander. The rebellion was suppressed and Rivas fled to Honduras. Later that year, Menéndez created the Junta of Notables to select his successor. Out of two dozen of Menéndez's allies, the junta selected Julio Interiano to succeed Menéndez. They then proceeded to prepare the country's election infrastructure to rig the 1891 presidential election in Interiano's favor.

Overthrow and death

On 22 June 1890, General Carlos Ezeta led a coup d'état against Menéndez when his soldiers stormed the Presidential Palace during a banquet. Menéndez fought Ezeta's soldiers in the palace's garden with a sword. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage during the coup. Menéndez's body was recovered by his nephew and he lay in state at the Plaza de Armas in downtown San Salvador. Menéndez was buried in the San Salvador General Cemetery.
Ezeta became provisional president after the coup, and in a victory speech, he declared that the 1885 Junta of Notables was "conspiratorial" because it excluded him; he wanted to be selected by the junta as Menéndez's successor. Ezeta won the 1891 presidential election virtually unanimously but he was overthrown in 1894 by General Rafael Antonio Gutiérrez, who supported Menéndez's 1885 coup.
Menéndez's adversaries accused him of embezzling public funds during his presidency. After Menéndez's death, a notary valued his personal wealth at 235,671 pesos. For establishing several educational institutions during his presidency, the Salvadoran government established Teacher's Day in 1928 and set its date as 22 June in Menéndez's honor.