Manuel María Orellana Contreras (17 December 1870 in El Jícaro,

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

– 17 June 1940 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

) was a Guatemalan army officer and politician, and from 17 to 31 December 1930, de facto interim

President of Guatemala The president of Guatemala (), officially titled President of the Republic of Guatemala (), is the head of state and head of government of Guatemala, elected to a single four-year term. The position of President was created in 1839. Selectio ...

, after leading a coup d'état that ended Baudilio Palma's interim presidency. Palma, in turn, had been appointed president only four days earlier, when president

Lázaro Chacón González Lázaro Chacón González (27 June 1873 – 9 April 1931) was the acting President of Guatemala from 26 September 1926 to 18 December 1926 and President of Guatemala from 19 December 1926 to 2 January 1931. Born in Teculután, Zacapa he was t ...

suffered a stroke and was forced to resign. At the time the coup took place, Orellana Contreras was commander of the San Rafael de Matamoros Fort in

Guatemala City Guatemala City (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capital city, national capital and largest city of the Guatemala, Republic of Guatemala. It is also the Municipalities of Guatemala, municipal capital of the Guatemala Depa ...

Coup d'état against Baudilio Palma

In December, 1930 the following events occurred in rapid succession: * On 12 December, General Chacón suffers a stroke that forces him to resign. * General Mauro de León, first designated successor to the Presidency apparently resigns. * Lawyer and cabinet member Baudilio Palma, second designated successor, is appointed interim President. However, on 16 December 1930 a coup d'état led by General Orellana Contreras and Luis Leonardo forced Palma to resign after a short battle inside the Presidential Palace. During the fight, which lasted no more than an hour, both Palma and Mauro de León died. The Liberal Progresista party placed General Roderico Anzueto in the key position of Chief of Police.Anzueto would eventually become one of President

Jorge Ubico Jorge Ubico Castañeda (10 November 1878 – 14 June 1946), nicknamed Number Five or also Central America's Napoleon, was a Guatemalan military officer, politician, and dictator who served as the president of Guatemala from 1931 to 1944. A ge ...

's main supporters during his 13-year presidency.

Presidency

Once in power, Orellana Contreras reformed the Cabinet and worked on restructuring Guatemalan military bases. However, given the large investments that U.S. companies had in Guatemala--especially the

United Fruit Company The United Fruit Company (later the United Brands Company) was an American multinational corporation that traded in tropical fruit (primarily bananas) grown on Latin American plantations and sold in the United States and Europe. The company was ...

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

Secretary of State

Henry Stimson Henry Lewis Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) was an American statesman, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. Over his long career, he emerged as a leading figure in U.S. foreign policy by serving in both Republican and Demo ...

publicly denounced Orellana as an unconstitutional leader and demanded his removal. Realizing that the Americans would not recognize his government, Orellana Contreras resigned on December 29. Stimson sent Ambassador

Sheldon Whitehouse Sheldon Whitehouse (born October 20, 1955) is an American lawyer and politician serving since 2007 as the junior United States senator from Rhode Island. A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 1993 to 1998 as the United States Att ...

(grandfather of the future

U.S. senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

) to tell Orellana Contreras that his country would not be dealing with the new Guatemalan president whatsoever. Whitehouse pressed the National Assembly to force Orellana Contreras to resign, taking advantage of his lack of political experience and making clear that the U.S. government needed a stable (i.e. U.S.-loyal) regime in Guatemala.

After leaving power

Orellana Contreras was a cousin of General José María Orellana Pinto, a former president who had been President

Manuel Estrada Cabrera Manuel José Estrada Cabrera (21 November 1857 – 24 September 1924) was the President of Guatemala from 1898 to 1920. A lawyer with no military background, he modernised the country's industry and transportation infrastructure, via granting c ...

's chief of staff and who had appointed General

as chief of his secret police while in office. Ubico, the new president, commissioned Orellana Contreras as military attaché in the Guatemalan Embassy in Spain, where he worked until his death on 17 June 1940.

Notes

References

Bibliography