José María Cañas Escamilla (September 23, 1809—October 2, 1860) was a

Salvadoran Salvadorans (), also known as Salvadorians, are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvadoran diaspora, particularly in the United States, with smalle ...

military figure. He was born in

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 ...

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of 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 by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

Biography

He moved to

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

in 1842 along with General

Francisco Morazán José Francisco Morazán Quesada (; born October 3, 1792 – September 15, 1842) was a liberal Central American politician and general who served as president of the Federal Republic of Central America from 1830 to 1839. Before he was president ...

, where he married Guadalupe Mora Porras, sister of President

Juan Rafael Mora Porras Juan Rafael Mora Porras (8 February 1814, San José, Costa Rica – 30 September 1860) was President of Costa Rica from 1849 to 1859. Life and career Mora first assumed the presidency upon the resignation of his younger brother, Miguel Mor ...

. He was Costa Rica's Customs Administrator in 1844 and also became State General in 1847. He was named Secretary of War during Juan Rafael Mora Porras's presidency in 1849 and eventually became Governor and Commander of Puntarenas in 1850. Named as a general in 1856, he commandeered the Costa Rican Army during the third and most important part of the campaign against

filibuster A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent a decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking ...

William Walker William Walker may refer to: Arts * William Walker (engraver) (1791–1867), mezzotint engraver of portrait of Robert Burns * William Sidney Walker (1795–1846), English Shakespearean critic * William Walker (composer) (1809–1875), American Bap ...

. He was known as an affable and kind person amongst his troops. Cañas was also responsible for the development of Costa Rica's

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

port,

Puntarenas Puntarenas () is a city in the Puntarenas Province, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. As the seat of the Municipality of Puntarenas canton, it is awarded the title of city, which comprises the Puntarenas, Chacarita and El Roble districts. A ...

, where he served as commander for several years. In 1855, Cañas imported 32 Chinese laborers to

near the

Nicoya Peninsula The Nicoya Peninsula () is a peninsula on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. It is divided into two provinces: Guanacaste Province in the north, and the Puntarenas Province in the south. It is located at . It varies from in width and is about lon ...

, employing many of them as laborers on his estates. A benevolent patron to these workers, Cañas's memory is, to this day, held in high remark by many of their descendants. Years after Cañas's death, his children were still well received in

by members of the thriving Chinese-Costa Rican community. In representation of Costa Rica he signed the Cañas-Jerez Treaty, the Cañas-Martínez Treaty and the Cañas-Jerez Treaty that dealt with the demarcation of the border between Costa Rica and

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

and U. S. President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...

also validated the treaty. In 1859, when his brother-in-law was deposed, he emigrated back to El Salvador with him. The following year they returned to Costa Rica seeking the restoration of Mora Porras in the presidency. The expedition failed and they both died in

after being captured by troops now controlled by President

José María Montealegre José María Montealegre Fernández (19 March 1815 – September 26, 1887) was President of Costa Rica from 1859 to 1863. Born into a wealthy family of coffee plantation owners, he was sent to study medicine in Aberdeen, where he graduated as ...

, and those troops who were once Cañas's, threatened to shoot and kill him. Juan Rafael Mora Porras was executed by

firing squad Firing may refer to: * Dismissal (employment), sudden loss of employment by termination * Firemaking, the act of starting a fire * Burning; see combustion * Shooting, specifically the discharge of firearms * Execution by firing squad, a method of ...

on September 30; Cañas was killed using the same method on October 2, 1860. Cañas was the last prominent Costa Rican leader to face the death penalty as the victim of political persecution. Two decades after the execution of Cañas, President Tomás Guardia, who had served under his command in 1856, abolished the death penalty. Several years after Cañas' execution his widow and their children returned to

. The family thrived and was welcomed once again into the country's highest spheres. Cañas' only surviving son, Rafael Cañas Mora, served in the Costa Rican congress and was a successful businessman. Other Cañas descendants include Dr. Luciano Beéche Cañas, a Costa Rican doctor; Rafael Beéche Cañas, founder of the tuna fishing industry in

; Eduardo Beéche Titzck, former governor of the state of

; Arturo Beéche Bravo, author, educator and royal historian;

Alberto Cañas Escalante Alberto Cañas Escalante (16 March 1920 – 14 June 2014) was a politician, writer, intellectual, public servant, and journalist from San José (Costa Rica), San José, Costa Rica. He is known as one of the most important figures in the cultura ...

, author, intellectual and politician; Marta Castegnaro Cañas, newspaper columnist and historian. Cañas is considered a national hero and there is a monument bust of him in Parque Cañas, a park which was named for him in 1956 and the dedication ceremony was attended by his great-grandson Alberto Cañas Escalante, the centennial of the Filibuster War, in

in front of the railroad Ferrocarril Eléctrico al Pacífico.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canas, Jose Maria Military history of Costa Rica 1809 births 1860 deaths People from Cuscatlán Department Salvadoran emigrants to Costa Rica Government ministers of Costa Rica People executed by Costa Rica by firing squad Executed Costa Rican people