Vicente de las Mercedes Herrera Zeledón (A.K.A. Jamón) (20 January 1821 – 10 November 1888) was

President of Costa Rica The president of the Republic of Costa Rica is the head of state and head of government of Costa Rica. The president is currently elected in direct elections for a period of four years, which is not immediately renewable. Two Vice President of C ...

from 30 July 1876 to 11 September 1877.El Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones: Presidentes de la República de Costa Rica
/ref> He came to power in the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

that deposed President Aniceto Esquivel and resigned in favor of Gen.

Tomás Guardia Tomás may refer to: * Tomás (given name) * Tomás (surname) Tomás is a Spanish and Portuguese surname, equivalent of ''Thomas''. It may refer to: * Antonio Tomás (born 1985), professional Spanish footballer * Belarmino Tomás (1892–1950), ...

the following year.

Biography

He was the son of José Cleto Herrera Salazar (born 1798–1880) and Antonia Zeledón Masís (born in 1854). He graduated in philosophy in 1839 at the Teaching House of St. Thomas in

San José, Costa Rica San José (; meaning "Saint Joseph") is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica, and the capital of the province of the same name. It is in the center of the country, in the mid-west of the Central Valley, within San José Canton. San ...

, and in May 1846 he moved to

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 H ...

, where he obtained in 1849 the title of doctor of law at the University of San Carlos Borromeo. He passed the bar in Costa Rica on 20 May 1850. He married on 18 December 1853 with Guadalupe Gutiérrez García, daughter of Atanasio Gutiérrez y Lizaurzábal, president of the Superior Court of Justice of Costa Rica from 1832 to 1833, and María of Pilar García Ramírez, and with her had three children: Angélica, Vicente and Mercedes Herrera Gutiérrez.

Ideology

His ideology was characterized by its conservative and doctrinal positions related to the thinking of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, especially in education. He was President of the Board of Charity of San José, Notary Major of the Ecclesiastical Curia and Secretary of the Cabildo of the Diocese of Costa Rica.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herrera Zeledon, Vicente 1821 births 1888 deaths People from San José, Costa Rica Presidents of Costa Rica Vice presidents of Costa Rica Leaders who took power by coup 19th-century Costa Rican people