Background
Manuel Estrada Cabrera was born in Quetzaltenango on 18 November 1857.
government official politician president
Manuel Estrada Cabrera was born in Quetzaltenango on 18 November 1857.
He was then reelected four times in electoral exercises that were flimsy façades for his personal autocracy.
When El Salvador assisted Guatemalan rebels in 1906, Estrada Cabrera declared war. The United States and Mexico negotiated an armistice and then sponsored a treaty signed by all Central American states in which they agreed to stop intervening in each other’s affairs.
By 1920 discontent had reached nearly every sector of Guatemalan society. With the murder of an antigovemment legislator in the halls of Congress, national outrage was such that Estrada Cabrera tried to appease the opposition by allowing return of all political exiles. However, Congress declared him insane and forced his resignation. He died in exile.