1846 Salvadoran coup attempt

Attempted overthrow of Eugenio Aguilar October 2025 October 2025 1846 Salvadoran coup attempt 12–21 July 1846 El Salvador Coup failure Eugenio Aguilar cedes the presidency to Fermín Palacios for 10 days before regaining power Salvadoran government Liberals Conservatives Catholic Church Eugenio Aguilar José María San Martín Doroteo Vasconcelos Gerardo Barrios Fermín Palacios Jorge de Viteri y Ungo The 1846 Salvadoran coup attempt occurred in July 1846 when senator Fermín Palacios and bishop Jorge de Viteri y Ungo attempted to depose Salvadoran president Eugenio Aguilar. Palacios became acting president for 10 days after overthrowing Aguilar, but he ceded power back to him when Aguilar and his allies organized a counter-coup. Background General Francisco Malespín, the president of El Salvador, waged a war against Nicaragua from 1844 to 1845. The war was unpopular in El Salvador. In February 1845, after Malespín returned from Nicaragua, Generals Joaquín Eufrasio Guzmán and Gerardo Barrios led a coup d'état that deposed Malespín and exiled him to Honduras.Bernal Ramírez Quijano de Batres 2009 171–172 Guzmán became acting president after the coup and completed Malespín's two-year presidential term in 1846.Ching 1997 185 On 1 February 1846, Fermín Palacios, a senator, became acting president while the Legislative Assembly elected El Salvador's next president. After three weeks, the legislature elected liberal Eugenio Aguilar for a two-year term and he assumed office on 21 February.Ching 1997 185 During Aguilar's presidency, he feuded with Jorge de Viteri y Ungo, the bishop of San Salvador. Viteri, an ally of Malespín, called on the Salvadoran people to rebel against Aguilar.Leistenschneider Leistenschneider 1980 77 & 79Bernal Ramírez Quijano de Batres 2009 218 Aguilar asked Pope Gregory XVI to reassign Viteri to a bishopric in Nicaragua.Bernal Ramírez Quijano de Batres 2009 260 Coup right 350px "Our President was forced to surrender power to Senator Fermín Palacios, it is urgent that we oppose these fatal and sad results [...] we must openly support the legitimate President." Governor of San Vicente Doroteo Vasconcelos July 1846Ching 1997 185 On 12 July 1846, military officers who opposed Aguilar led a coup against him and installed Palacios as acing president.Leistenschneider Leistenschneider 1980 79 Palacios declared a state of siege.Leistenschneider Leistenschneider 1980 77 Aguilar, surprised by the coup, organized with his allies to regain power. José María San Martín, a prominent politician in San Salvador (El Salvador's capital city), contacted Doroteo Vasconcelos, the governor of San Vicente, to send letters to allies in Cuscatlán and San Miguel to rally soldiers to retake power.Ching 1997 185 After a few days, those who received Vasconcelos' letters affirmed their allegiance to Aguilar and confirmed they were prepared to restore him as president. On 21 July, Aguilar launched a counter-coup. Palacios surrendered power back to Aguilar, restoring him as president. Viteri fled El Salvador to Honduras after the counter-coup,Ching 1997 186 and on 29 July, Aguilar issued a decree that prohibited Viteri from returning.Leistenschneider Leistenschneider 1980 80 Aguilar's restoration led to Malespín's launching an invasion of El Salvador from Honduras in November, but Barrios repelled the invasion and Malespín was killed in action.Ching 1997 186Cañas Dinarte Scarlett Cortez 2006 101 Aftermath Aguilar served out the rest of his two-year term after being restored to the presidency. In 1848, he was succeeded as president by Vasconcelos who served until his overthrow in 1851 by Guatemalan president Rafael Carrera.Ching 1997 186Leistenschneider Leistenschneider 1980 89 See also List of Salvadoran coup d'états References Citations 22em Bibliography 35em yes Bernal Ramírez Luis Guillermo Quijano de Batres Ana Elia amp 2009 Historia 1 El Salvador History 1 El Salvador https://www.mined.gob.sv/descarga/cipotes/historia_ESA_TomoI_0_.pdf es Historia El Salvador El Salvador Ministry of Education 9789992363683 https://web.archive.org/web/20230213103128/https://www.mined.gob.sv/descarga/cipotes/historia_ESA_TomoI_0_.pdf 13 February 2023 dead 9 October 2025 Cañas Dinarte Carlos Scarlett Cortez Violeta 2006 Aguilar Avilés Gilberto De Aguilar Lilian San Salvador, El Salvador Historia del Órgano Legislativo de la República de El Salvador: 1824–2006 https://www.asamblea.gob.sv/sites/default/files/2017-12/Tomo_I_Historia_AsambleaLegislativa.pdf History of the Legislative Organ of the Republic of El Salvador: 1826–2006 es amp I Albacrome 319689765 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20181207102937/https://www.asamblea.gob.sv/sites/default/files/2017-12/Tomo_I_Historia_AsambleaLegislativa.pdf 7 December 2018 9 October 2025 Ching Erik K. 1997 From Clientelism to Militarism: The State, Politics and Authoritarianism in El Salvador, 1840–1940 https://www.proquest.com/docview/304330235 PhD en Santa Barbara, California University of California, Santa Barbara 39326756 9 October 2025 304330235 Leistenschneider María Leistenschneider Freddy 1980 Gobernantes de El Salvador: Biografías Governors of El Salvador: Biographies https://www.scribd.com/document/589275475/Gobernantes-de-El-Salvador es Ministry of the Interior 7876291 9 October 2025 amp Catholicism Conservatism El Salvador Liberalism Politics Category:1846 conflicts Category:Coups d'état in El Salvador