Background
Manuel Estrada Cabrera, a foundling, was born in Quezaltenango, Guatemala on November 21, 1857.
Manuel Estrada Cabrera, a foundling, was born in Quezaltenango, Guatemala on November 21, 1857.
He received early schooling under Church supervision.
Estrada Cabrera became a lawyer, practicing in both Quezaltenango and Retalhuleu.
President Jose Maria Reyna Barrios (1891 - 1898) appointed him minister of government and justice, but his performance was colorless. When Reyna Barrios was assassinated on February 8, 1898, Estrada Cabrera, who had risen to vice president, became provisional president. The first Guatemalan head of state taken from civilian life in over 50 years, Estrada Cabrera overcame resistance to his regime by August 1898 and called for September elections, which he won handily. He retained power for 22 years through controlled elections in 1904, 1910, and 1916. One Guatemalan historian has suggested that the extreme despotic characteristics of the man did not emerge until after an attempt on his life in 1907. Estrada Cabrera's regime did bring some advances. His achievements, however, were overshadowed by growing repression and blatant graft, including bribes for the president. The lot of native workers was little better than peonage, and everywhere there was a spy system to report subversive activities. On the foreign front Estrada Cabrera was frequently concerned about plottings of Guatemalan exiles in neighboring countries. A border dispute with Mexico strained his relations with that nation, and a personal feud with Gen. Tomas Regalado led to a border clash with El Salvador when Regalado, inebriated, invaded Guatemala. Estrada Cabrera cultivated friendly relations with the United States, and he supported United States policy during the Panamanian revolution of 1903.
By 1919 strong opposition developed against the dictator, which, emboldened by rumors of United States disenchantment with Estrada Cabrera, moved in the early months of 1920 to challenge his control. Popular pressure forced the National Assembly on April 8 to declare Estrada Cabrera insane. Fighting followed, but good offices of the diplomatic corps brought a settlement which included Estrada Cabrera's surrender and assurances of his safety. He was later tried and imprisoned but released in 1922 because of ill health. He died on September 24, 1924, and was buried at Quezaltenango.
He was a member of the Liberal Party of Guatemala.
He was married to Desideria Ocampo and had two sons, both of whom commited suicide, when still in their youth. He also had twelve illegitimate children from five other women.