Arturo Araujo Fajardo (1878 – December 1, 1967) was the president of El Salvador from March 1, 1931, to December 2, 1931. He was overthrown in a military coup led by junior officers, and was forced to flee the country for

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Hon ...

. An agricultural leader and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

, Araujo had been elected in what is generally reckoned as the country's first honest presidential contest. Arturo Araujo was a distant relative of Manuel Enrique Araujo. Pachita Tennant Mejía de Pike, who is familiar with the history of Salvadoran families, says that the Araujo family mostly comes from the town of Jucuapa, in the department of

Usulután Usulután () is the fifth largest city in El Salvador, and capital of the Usulután Department in the south-east of El Salvador. As of 2006, it is estimated to have population of 71,636 people. Usulután rests in a rich agricultural valley and ...

, El Salvador. However, Arturo Araujo's family originally came from

Suchitoto Suchitoto is a municipality in the Department of Cuscatlán, El Salvador that has seen continuous human habitation long before Spanish colonization. Within its municipal territory, Suchitoto holds the site of the original founding of the Villa ...

, in the department of Cuscatlán, moving to Santa Tecla around 1885. His parents were Enriqueta Fajardo de Araujo and Dr. Eugenio Araujo, Finance Minister in the Administration of General Francisco Menéndez. He spent some time studying in Liverpool, England. It was there that Araujo became involved with Labour Party politics. He also met his English wife, Dora née Morton, while a student there.

Biography

Araujo was a member of land-owning oligarchy of

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south ...

. He made an unsuccessful bid for presidency in 1919. Before that, his speech at the first workers congress in the western town of Armenia earned him the nickname "Benefactor of the general people." In 1922, he made a failed attempt to invade the country from

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. The free elections in 1931 failed to obtain a plurality for any of the candidate. Arturo won the elections with the backing of his supporters in the congress. Alberto Masferrer had proposed a nine-point reform program of the country, based on which the president promised food, cloth, work and housing to every Salvadoran. However, Government corruption and the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

created disadvantage for the president. Soon he was overthrown in a military coup, and with his overthrow began five decades of military rule in the country.

Notes

1878 births 1967 deaths People from La Libertad Department (El Salvador) Presidents of El Salvador Leaders ousted by a coup {{ElSalvador-politician-stub