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Rafael Carrera: Defender and Promoter of Peasant Interests in Guatemala, 1837-1848

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2017

Keith L. Miceli
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Extract

In the 1837-1839 rebellion in Guatemala Rafael Carrera, an illiterate mestizo swineherd, led his impromptu army of indigenous peasants to victory over Liberal government forces of Mariano Galvez. The rebellion was a popular insurrection in some respects, with Carrera and his followers fighting to restore religious and social customs that were being threatened by Liberal legislation. Encouraged by his parish priestadvisors and adored by his followers, Carrera had reached a stage of selfimportance which made him feel personally responsible for delivering the Guatemalan people from the Galvez regime. After three years of fighting, the rebels ousted the Liberals from office, and established a government administered by the clero-aristocratic oligarchy, but dominated by Carrera.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , July 1974 , pp. 72 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1974 

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References

1 Guatemala, along with the other provinces that composed the Captaincy General of Guatemala, obtained independence from Spain in 1821. It then became briefly part of Iturbide's unsuccessful Mexican Empire, and in 1824 joined with El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica to form the Central American Federation. The Federation was immediately beset by political differences between the Conservative and Liberal factions. The Liberals were the adherents of federalism and widespread enlightened reforms. The Conservatives were the partisans of centralism, and stalwarts for the retention of the colonial status quo. The 1826-1829 civil war ensued which resulted in a military victory for the Liberals. This gave them governmental control of the Federation. It was under this particular set of circumstances that Mariano Galvez became governor of Guatemala in 1831.

2 Miriam Williford, The Reform Program of Dr. Mariano Galvez, Chief-of-State of Guatemala, 1831-1838 (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, History department, Tulane University, 1963), pp. 3-5.

3 He continued the expropriation of Church funds and property. Other legislation adopted under the regime of General Morazan, President of the Central American Federation, was the right of ecclesiastical appointment and the banishment by decree of Archbishop Casaus y Torres in 1824.

4 Mary P. Holleran, Church and State in Guatemala (New York, 1949), p. 123.

5 Williford, p. 70.

6 Pedro Tobar Cruz, Los montaneses (Guatemala, 1959), pp. 159-160.

7 Reliance must be made on unofficial estimates of foreign observers for no government census was taken until late in the century. Although the total population (composed of whites, mestizos, and Indians) figures vary between 600,000 and 1,000,000, the relative Indian and Indian/mestizo proportions of 85% and 95%, respectively, are reflected consistently in the different estimates. See: Robert Dunlop, Travels in Central America (London, 1847), p. 333 and Frederick Crowe, The Gospel in Central America (London, 1850),p. 157. The term Indian also denotes peasanta word used throughout the paper. Peasant also refers to those mestizos who were on the same economic level as the Indians. Those mestizos who assumed the customs and dress of the white society were termed ladinos.

8 Williford, p. 6; Chester Lloyd Jones, Guatemala, Past and Present (Minneapolis, 1940), p. 283. At the top of the social scale were the small number of Spanish descendants who lived on large estates or in the larger cities where they occupied professional positions. Between the white and Indian stood the mestizos who tilled their own lands, worked on plantations, or worked as artisans in villages, towns, and cities.

9 Lorenzo Montufar y Rivera Maestre, Reseiia historica de Centro-America (Guatemala, 1878 1888), II, 77-79.

10 Miguel Garcia Granados, Memorias del General Miguel Garcia Granados (Guatemala, 1952), IV, 427-430.

11 Galvez acted quickly, but unsuccessfully to stop the epidemic. He set up sanitary cordons to prevent its spread. He set up hospitals; sent doctors with medicines into the infested areas; established a board of health and began the Boletin del colera which described the advance of the epidemic and prescribed ways to combat it.

12 Tobar Cruz, p. 51.

13 William Ray Manning (ed.), Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, Inter- American Affairs: Central America, 1831-1860, III (Washington, 1933), Doc. No. 793; El Editor, July 4, 1837; JohnL. Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan (New York, 1853), I, 225, 232; William J. Griffith, Empires in the Wilderness, Foreign Colonization and Development in Guatemala, 1834-1844 (Chapel Hill, 1956), p. 287.

14 A contract was made in 1834 with the Eastern Coast of Central America Company for the colonization of Verapaz. Griffith, p. 164.

15 The Codes provided for an extensive and complex system of judicial procedure and criminal punishment. Edward Livingston had drawn them up for the State of Louisiana, and Jose Barrundia, a Guatemalan Liberal, was chiefly responsible for their adoption in Guatemala.

16 Crowe, p. 141; See the documents in Montufar, II, 342-344, 353-355, 360-361, 370-375, 418-419.

17 El Editor, Alcance al Num. 15, July 20,1827.

18 G. W. Montgomery, Narrative of a Journey to Guatemala in 1838 (New York, 1839), p. 142; Arthur C. Morelet, Travels in Central America, Including Accounts of Some Regions Unexplored Since the Conquest, trans, by Mrs. M. F. Squier (New York, 1871), p. 410; Stephens, I, 247; Crowe, p. 141; Dunlop, p. 86 describe Carrera as being a mestizo.

19 Max Leon Moorhead, Rafael Carrera of Guatemala: His Life and Times (Unpub. doctoral dissertation, history department, University of California, 1942), p. 9. Cobos Batres says he has solved the problem. His thesis is that Carrera, although a simple swineherd, was not an Indian but a person of largely Spanish descent with some Negro and a lesser amount of aboriginal blood. See: Manuel Cobos Batres, Carrera (Guatemala, 1935), passim.

20 Rafael Carrera, Memorias de General Carrera, 1831-1840, edited by Ignacio Solis (Guatemala, 1906), pp. 1-18.

21 Dunlop, pp. 86-87, 209; Stephens, I, 225.

22 Garcia Granados, IV, 435-436.

23 Alejandro Marure, Efemerides de los hechos notables acaecidos en la Republica de Centro-America desde el ano 1821 hasta el de 1842 (Guatemala, 1844), p. 97; Carrera, Memorias , p. 43; Crowe, p. 142; Garcia Granados, IV, 436; Archivo Nacional, leg. 1543, exp. 58698, B119.3; Tobar Cruz, p. 73; Stephens, II, 75-76, described Carrera's infantry in 1839 as a group of barefooted, ragged and half-naked Indians, armed with muskets, machetes, and Spanish blunderbusses. Subsequent references to Archivo Nacional will be written AN.

24 Carrera, Memorias , p. 24.

25 Profesi6n de Fe Politica (Mataquescuintla, October 23, 1837). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, Biblioteca Nacional/Coleccion Carrera, folio, 1837. Subsequent references to Biblioteca Nacional/Coleccion Carrera will be written BNCC.

26 Crowe, p. 141.

27 El Tiempo, May 4,1839.

28 Ibid., June 12,1839.

29 Stephens, I, 246-247; Crowe, p. 141.

30 Stephens, II, 135.

31 Proclamacion de Rafael Carrera a los Habitantes de Guatemala, April 13, 1839; Rafael Carrera a la Asamblea Constituyente, June 14, 1839; Proclamacion de Rafael Carrera a los Habitantes de Guatemala, July 14, 1839; Froclamacion de Rafael Carrera a los Pueblos de Guatemala, July 22, 1839. The above proclamations are found in: Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1839.

32 Montufar, III, 190-192.

33 John L. Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan (New York, 1853), I, 247; Frederick Crowe, The Gospel in Central America (London, 1850), p. 141.

34 Though at times Carrera allied himself with the Conservative party of which the clergy was a part, he was as Dunlop put it, pretty cool to both. See Robert G. Dunlop, Travels in Central America (London, 1847), p. 89.

35 Hoja Suelta, July 31,1839. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1839.

36 Rafael Carrera Teniente General y General en Gefe del Ejercito de Guatemala (Guatemala, December 12,1840). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1840.

37 Ibid.

38 Qaceta oficial, June 23,1841.

39 Ibid., October 8,1841.

40 Rafael Carrera a los Pueblos de Guatemala (Guatemala, August 29, 1843). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, AN, Libro Verde, II.

41 Proclamation de Rafael Carrera a los Pueblos de Guatemala (Guatemala, July 9, 1839). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1839.

42 Proclamation de Rafael Carrera, Teniente General y Gefe del Ejercito de Guatemala a los Pueblos (Guatemala, November 25, 1840). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1840.

43 Ministro del Supremo Gobierno del Estado a Rafael Carrera (Guatemala, November 30,1840). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1840.

44 Gaceta oficial, October 8,1841.

45 Wi, October 9,1841.

46 Ibid., November 19,1841.

47 El Tiempo, December 14,1839.

48 Rafael Carrera Teniente General y General en Gefe del Ejercito de Guatemala (Guatemala, December 12,1840). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1840.

49 No evidence was found by the author which describes these measures.

50 Gaceta oficial, October 26,1844.

51 The numerous religious holidays, celebrated throughout the year, were a part of the Catholic Church tradition and looked upon with great joy by the peasants as happy pauses from their normally somber existence.

52 Manuel Pineda de Mont, Recopilacion de las leyes de Guatemala (Guatemala, 1869- 1871), III, 281-285. All Catholics must attend Mass on holy days of obligation.

53 Rafael Carrera Teniente General y General en Gefe del Ejercito del Guatemala (Guatemala, December 12,1840). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1840.

54 The fact that there are no proclamations, decrees, or newspapers which mention a conflict between Carrera and the Vicar General over this issue, indicates that the pontifical resolution was not put into effect.

55 Proclamation de Rafael Carrera ante la Asamblea Constituyente de Guatemala (Guatemala, August 15,1848). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1848.

56 Manuel Pineda de Mont, Recopilacion de las leyes de Guatemala (Guatemala, 1869- 1871), II, 51-67.

57 ;Wrf.,I,504-511;II,56.

58 Declaration de los Derechos del Estado y sus Habitantes (Guatemala, December 14,1839). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1839.

59 Pineda de Mont, 1,847-848. In colonial times the Indian enjoyed legal protection under the aegis of the Laws of the Indies. The Laws of the Indies, a compilation of decrees and ordinances, were prepared by the Council of Indies for application in the New World. These Laws reveal the rights and duties of the Spanish officials and those over whom they had jurisdiction. The Laws show how the paternalistic Spanish crown tried to regulate the lives and activities of its subjects. The Laws, composed of nine books which were subdivided into titles, reflect the humane intentions of the Spanish monarchs to protect the Indians and colonists. There are nineteen titles which deal with safeguarding the Indians from all forms of exploitation. As a part of breaking with Spanish tradition the Liberal regime in Guatemala discontinued the Laws of the Indies. Theoretically, the Indian was less protected and more vulnerable to exploitation by the whites and ladinos. In actuality, the Indian was probably not taken advantage of much more than in colonial days.

60 Rafael Carrera Teniente General y General en Gefe del Ejercito del Estado a sus Habitantes (Guatemala, September 7, 1840). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1840.

61 Carrera was not familiar with the November 9, 1839 law. By it, all public officials were obliged to be submitted to a residencia or review upon completing their term of office. There is little archival material showing that this law was put into practice. See: Pineda de Mont, II, 237-238.

62 Rafael Carrera al Ministro del Supremo Qobierno del Estado (Guatemala, November 25,1840), Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1840.

63 Rafael Carrera al Supremo Qobierno (Guatemala, December 12, 1839). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, AN, Libro Verde, I.

64 B. Zeceiia, Ministro del Gobierno del Estado a Rafael Carrera (Guatemala, November 30,1840). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1840.

65 Informe de la Asamblea Constituyente al Govierno (Guatemala, July 1, 1841). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1841.

66 Pineda de Mont, I, 195. By the decree, all criminal cases were to be handled without cost, and all civil claims under ten pesos were to be tried free of charge. Nominal fees were to be levied on those claims over ten pesos. No claimant was to pay the costs of an assessor. By the same decree, the judges of first instance could not charge a fee for reviewing an appealed claim under ten pesos.

67 Rafael Carrera Teniente General y General en Gefe del Ejercito del Estado a los Pueblos que lo Componen (Guatemala, December 8, 1841). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, Libro Verde, I.

68 Pineda de Mont, 1,572-574.

69 Abuso de Autoridad (Guatemala, September 10, 1840). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1840. For other examples of Carrera's ability to redress petitions directed to him, see: AN, leg. 2504, exp. 55842, B119.1; AN, leg. 2504, exp. 55834, B119.1; AN, leg. 2506, exp. 56246, B119.1.

70 Pineda de Mont, I, 504-511.

71 Informe de la Asamblea Constituyente al Gobierno (Guatemala, July 1, 1841). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1841.

72 For an explanation of the March, 1844 overthrow see page 93 of this paper.

73 Convenio de Guadalupe (Guatemala, March 11,1844). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1844.

74 Pineda de Mont, II, 195.

75 Convenio de Guadalupe BNCC, folio, 1844.

76 Ibid.

77 For examples of Carrera's participation in these land disputes, see: AN, leg. 1419, exp. 33230, B100.1, fol. 1; AN, leg. 1962, exp. 45282, B108.7; AN, leg. 1419, exp. 33356, Bl00.1;AN,leg. 1419, exp. 33326,B100.1; AN, leg. 1419, exp. 33305, B100.1.

78 Pineda de Mont, I, 244-245.

79 Ibid., II, 527-531; I, 244-245.

80 See page 93 of this study for further explanation of Carrera's economic austerity program.

81 Pineda de Mont, II, 87-88.

82 El Presidente Interino y General en Gefe del Ejercito del Estado a los Pueblos que lo Componen (Guatemala, December 19, 1844), Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, folio, 1844.

83 El Tiempo, December 6, 1839.

84 Rafael Carrera Teniente General y General en Gefe del Ejercito de Guatemala a los Pueblos (Guatemala, July 22, 1839). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, AN, Libro Verde, I.

85 Hoja Suelta, December 2,1839. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1839.

86 Hoja Suelta, December 4,1839. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1839.

87 El Tiempo, December 6,1839.

88 The dictionary definition of pedido states that it is a voluntary contribution which is called for by a government in times of urgent necessity. In reality, the pedido in Guatemala in the era being treated in this paper was a forced contribution in semantical disguise.

89 El Tiempo, December 14,1839.

90 He had fled to South America in early 1841, and returned to Central America in April, 1842.

91 Rafael Carrera Teniente General, General en Gefe del Ejercito de Guatemala (Guatemala, August 4,1842). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1842.

92 AN, leg. 2369, exp. 48917, B112.2.

93 Gaceta oficial, August 9, 1842.

94 Ibid., August 13,1842.

95 Rafael Carrera Teniente General y General en Gefe del Ejercito de Guatemala a los Pueblos (Guatemala, September 3, 1842). Hoja Suelta. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1842.

96 Hoja Suelta. September 29,1842. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1842. The government was well aware of Carrera's position on the restoration or establishment of taxes. On February 24, 1842 Provisional President Jose.Venancio Lopez tried to relieve the financial burden somewhat by decreeing a one real tax per arroba of meat. The new tax did not last, for the return of General Morazan to Central America made Carrera realize the danger of having Lopez, a Liberal, in control, and he forced him to resign. Rivera Paz was recalled to govern, and his first official measure called for the revocation of the decree which established the meat tax. It is not known why Carrera had not forced Lopez to rescind the decree. Perhaps, at the time, he (Carrera) had been absent from the capiital when the decree was issued.

97 El Tiempo, July 15,1839.

98 AN, leg. 3679, exp. 86738, B88.7

99 Hoja Suelta. November 18,1842. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1842.

100 Hoja Suelta. November 19,1842. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1842.

101 Hoja Suelta. December 29,1842. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1842.

102 Gaceta oficial, December 15,1843.

103 Francisco Malespin, an expatriated Salvadorean army officer who was a member of the 1840 Guatemalan mission to El Salvador, remained there as commander of the military forces. In 1844, he felt himself powerful enough to challenge Guatemala's hold on El Salvador. A war was precipitated, with Carrera emerging victoriously in August, 1844.

104 Gaceta oficial, June 20,1844.

105 Hoja Suelta. December 20, 1844. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1844.

106 Hoja Suelta. July 1,1845. Guatemala, BNCC, folio, 1845.

107 AN, leg. 3914, exp. 88173, B117.2. The Consulado de Comercio was a closed corporation, composed of wealthy merchants, with judicial powers in mercantile cases and supervisory functions in regard to commerce.