Background
Maximiliano Hernández Martínez was born in San Matias on 21 October 1883.
government official military politician president
Maximiliano Hernández Martínez was born in San Matias on 21 October 1883.
He studied at the Escuela Politécnica Militar.
He experienced a more or less normal military career, reaching the post of commander-in-chief of the army by 1931. He became president in December, upon the resignation of elected President Arturo Araujo. In 1935 he was elected to a term in his own right. Subsequently, constituent assemblies extended his term until (in theory) 1949.
Less than a month after the the second uprising attempt, on March 8, 1944, Hernández Martínez was forced out of office by a general strike and lockout of protest against his regime. He fled to Honduras. Although he sought to return home during the 1956 presidential election campaign, a hostile reception resulted in his again seeking refuge in Honduras. He was murdered there by his chauffeur, apparently as a result of a personal quarrel.
General Hernández Martínez presided over a particularly brutal dictatorship. In 1932 he suppressed a peasant uprising, led by Communists, but with wide support among the rural population, in which as many as 45,000 people were reported to have perished. A second attempted uprising in February 1944, in protest against General Hernández’ further extension of his term of office, was suppressed with equal brutality.
