José Santos Guardiola Bustillo (1 November 181611 January 1862) was a two-term President of Honduras. He is the only President of Honduras to be assassinated while in office in a crime committed by his personal guard.

Early life

José Santos Guardiola was born on 1 November 1816 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. His parents were the Catalan miner Esteban Guardiola and Bibiana Bustillo. He married Ana de Arzibu.

Presidency

For his first term, from 17 February 1856 to 7 February 1860, he was elected president by Congress after the overthrow of Trinidad Cabañas.Dana Munro. 1918. The Five Republics of Central America, p. 122 His second term, from 7 February 1860 to his death, came through the way of free elections in which he won easily. His administration was one of the most liberal in Honduran history, in spite of him belonging to the Conservative Party. His government granted freedom of press, suffrage and movement; it respected and it guaranteed the individual freedom and it regularized the relations between the church and the State. He opposed Francisco Morazán in the conflict over whether to have a

Central American Central America is a Subregion#North America, subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Ce ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

. His good relations with the British helped facilitate the return of governance of the Bay Islands and the La Mosquitia region into Honduras. He struck a deal with Queen Victoria on which Great Britain recognized the Honduran sovereignty of the aforementioned territories (the treaty of Wyke-Cruz) as long as the inhabitants of the islands were granted freedom of worship. For this the Vicar of Comayagua, Miguel del Cid, enemy of General Guardiola, excommunicated him, but

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

overturned it and named Juan de Jesus Zepeda Zepeda as Bishop of Honduras. He fought against William Walker, who organized several private military expeditions into Mexico and Central America with the intention of re-establishing slavery and taking over all of Central America.

Death

On 10 January 1862, Hipólito Zafra Valladares, the head of the presidential guard, was murdered. Pablo Agurcia became the new head and proceeded to change the guards of the president in order to kill him. The next day, on 11 January 1862, President Guardiola was sleeping with his wife in the presidential palace of Honduras. At around 5 AM he woke up due to a commotion outside his room. He opened the door to see what was happening and was shot by his assassin, a presidential guard. Guardiola died in the arms of his daughter.

Aftermath

The killer and his accomplices ran away but were captured by general Casto José Alvarado. The provisional president, José María Medina, ordered a court to hear the case and the suspects were sentenced to death.

Issue

One of their many daughters of Guardiola, Genoveva Guardiola Arbizú, married the first President of the Republic of

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, Tomás Estrada Palma. Composer Guadalupe Haertling was among Guardiola's descendants.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guardiola, Jose Santos 1816 births 1862 deaths People from Tegucigalpa Honduran people of Catalan descent Conservative Party of Honduras politicians Presidents of Honduras Assassinated Honduran politicians People murdered in Honduras Politicians assassinated in the 1860s Assassinated presidents in North America National presidents assassinated in the 19th century