Pact of Espino Negro

Pact of Espino Negro (1927) was an agreement developed by the United States to resolve the 1926-1927 civil war in Nicaragua[1][2]

Background

In 1924, moderate conservative Carlos Solórzano was elected president of Nicaragua. Juan Bautista Sacasa, who had served as Vice-President under overthrown President Jose Santos Zelaya, served as his Vice President.[1] Believing the Nicaraguan government was stable, the United States Marines agreed to end it's 13 year presence in the country and withdrew from Nicaragua in August 1925.[1]

President Solórzano, who had already purged the liberals from his coalition government,[1] was subsequently forced out of power in November 1925 by a conservative group who proclaimed General Emiliano Chamorro (who had served as president from 1917 to 1921), as president in January 1926.[1] In the wake of Chamorro's coup, Sacasa fled to Mexico. Fearing a new liberal-conservative war would take place,[1] the United States refused to accept Chamorro as President.

US Marines were sent back to Nicaragua in May 1926 to protect United States citizens and property within the nation.[1] In October 1926,[1] following a mediated peace agreement,[1] Chamorro resigned as President and former Nicaraguan President Adolfo Diaz was elected President by the Nicaraguan Congress.[1]

However, the country was again plagued with violence when Sacasa returned to Nicaragua and claimed his rights to the Presidency.[1] In April 1927, The United States sent Henry L. Stimson to Nicaragua to help resolve the conflict.[1] On May 20, 1927, General Jose Maria Moncada, the leader of the liberal rebels,[1] and President Diaz agreed to a truce.[1]

Pact

As part of the agreement, President Díaz would finish his term and United States forces would remain in Nicaragua to maintain order and supervise the 1928 elections.[1] The United States would also work with the Nicaraguan government to organize a non-partisan police force.[3] Both the rebels and the government also agreed to disarm their forces while the United States organized this police force- which would be known as the Nicaraguan National Guard-[1] as well.[1]

Aftermath

While most of the government and rebel forces agreed to accept the pact,[1] Saracas refused to sign the agreement and left the country.[1] A rebel liberal group under the leadership of Augusto César Sandino also refused to sign the Pact of Espino Negro.[1] Sandino would afterwards state an undeclared guerrilla war against the United States Marine and the Nicaragua National Guard.[1]

In January 1933, the United States - now in the midst of The Great Depression and anxious to end involvement in Nicaragua's military affairs after seeing the casualties inflicted by Sandino's army-[1] agreed to with withdraw from Nicaragua.[1] The following year the Nicaraguan National Guard captured and executed Sandino and destroyed his entire army.[1] The leader of the Nicaraguan National Guard, Anastasio Somoza,[1] also used this police force to win the 1936 Nicaraguan presidential election and establish a dictatorship.[1]

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 "United States Intervention, 1909-33". countrystudies.us. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  2. ↑ Nunez, O & Bourgois, P (1982). "The Third Social Force in National Liberation Movements". Latin American Perspectives. 8 (2): 5–21. doi:10.1177/0094582x8100800203.
  3. ↑ Moreno, D. (1994). The struggle for peace in Central America. University Press of Florida, p.13
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