Silvestre Selva Sacasa (31 December 1777 – 1855) was a Nicaraguan politician of Basque origin, who, as a senator in the State Legislative Assembly, was appointed by the invading forces of

Francisco Malespín Francisco Malespín Herrera (1806 – 25 November 1846) was a Salvadoran military officer and politician, elected as the president of El Salvador in 1844. He served from 7 February 1844 to 15 February 1845, when he was deposed by his vice presi ...

to serve as provisional Supreme Director, which he served from 16 December 1844 to 20 January 1845 with headquarters in the city of

Masaya Masaya () is the capital city of Masaya Department in Nicaragua. It is situated approximately 14 km west of Granada and 31 km southeast of Managua. It is located just east of the Masaya Volcano, an active volcano from which the cit ...

Biography

Background

Born on 31 December 1777 in

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

, he was the illegitimate son of Lieutenant General José Roberto Sacasa Marenco and Ubalda Rosalía Selva del Castillo Mayor. He was a maternal relative of

Roberto Sacasa Roberto Sacasa Sarria (27 February 1840 – 2 June 1896) was the President of Nicaragua from 5 August 1889 to 1 January 1891 and again from 1 March 1891 to 11 July 1893. Ancestry He was the son of Juan Bautista Sacasa Méndez and Casimira Sarri ...

, 10th President of Nicaragua.

Malespín's War

On 25 October 1844 the so-called '' Guerra de Malespín'' began when León was besieged by troops from El Salvador and Honduras under the command of General

, a Salvadoran military ruler and a conservative convinced that he obtained the support of the Granadan

legitimists The Legitimists (french: Légitimistes) are royalists who adhere to the rights of dynastic succession to the French crown of the descendants of the eldest branch of the Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution. They re ...

José Francisco del Montenegro José Francisco del Montenegro (1790 – 11 August 1851) was a Nicaraguan politician who served as Acting Supreme Director of Nicaragua from 5 to 11 August 1851, the same date he died. As a member of the Legitimist Party, in 1845, he became Minis ...

and Juan Ruiz were the ambassadors sent by Granada and Rivas to Malespín, with the result of the creation of a provisional government in charge of Senator Selva based in Masaya and without the consent of León, seat of the government of

Emiliano Madriz Emiliano Madriz (c. 1800 – 24 January 1845) was a liberal Nicaraguan lawyer and politician who served as acting Supreme Director of Nicaragua from 26 September to 26 December 1844, and as the interim Supreme Director in León until 24 January ...

who as Supreme Director directed the defenses of the city, which was finally occupied with the subsequent looting of its churches.

Overthrow of Malespín

On 2 February 1845

Joaquín Eufrasio Guzmán Joaquín Eufrasio Guzmán (Cartago, Costa Rica, 15 February 1801 – San Miguel, El Salvador, 1875) was a Central American politician and military general who served as acting President of El Salvador on three occasions: from 25 October 1844 to ...

, the Vice President of El Salvador, with support from much of

San Salvador San Salvador (; ) is the capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its eponymous department. It is the country's political, cultural, educational and financial center. The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, which comprises the capital i ...

, declared himself

President of El Salvador The president of El Salvador ( es, Presidente de El Salvador), officially known as the President of the Republic of El Salvador ( es, Presidente de la República de El Salvador), is the Head of State, head of state and Head of Government, head ...

. Malespín, backed by Honduran forces, returned to El Salvador in an attempt to regain his presidency, thus ending the war in Nicaragua. Selva was able to escape from León, where he was stationed after

Blas Antonio Sáenz Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms (BLAS) is a specification that prescribes a set of low-level routines for performing common linear algebra operations such as vector addition, scalar multiplication, dot products, linear combinations, and matrix ...

and

José León Sandoval José León Sandoval de la Cerda (1789 – 1854) was a Nicaraguan politician, member of the short lived centrist Republican Party, who served as 4th Supreme Director of Nicaragua from 4 April 1845 to 12 March 1847. A mestizo descendant of the co ...

formed a counter-government in

, which on 20 January declared Sáenz as provisional Supreme Director, until

Sandoval Sandoval is a habitational surname of Spanish origin. It primarily originates from Sandoval de la Reina, Spain, earlier called ''Sannoval'', which is a blend word of Latin ''saltus'' (meaning 'grove' or 'wood') and Latin ''novalis'' (meaning 'newl ...

was elected on 4 April.Justin Wolfe
The everyday nation-state: community & ethnicity in nineteenth-century Nicaragua
/ref>

References

{{s-end Presidents of Nicaragua 1777 births 1855 deaths