page_title: Maximiliano Hernández Martínez
section_title: Authoritarian but Efficient Presidency
hierarchical_section_title: Maximiliano Hernández Martínez / Presidency / Authoritarian but Efficient Presidency
caption_attribution_description: Español: El General Martinez Durante La ignaguracion Del Estadio Flor Blanca.
context_page_description: Maximiliano Hernández Martínez was the President of El Salvador from 4 December 1931 to 28 August 1934 in an acting capacity and again in an official capacity from 1 March 1935 until his resignation on 9 May 1944. He was the leader of El Salvador during World War II. While he served as President Arturo Araujo's Vice President and defense minister, a directorate seized power during a palace coup and afterwards named General Hernández Martínez President of El Salvador.
  He was President of El Salvador for almost 12 years and ruled the nation with an authoritarian one party state lead by the fascistic and anti-communist National Pro Patria Party. His rule was marked by rigged and fraudulent elections and brutality, most notably the 1932 Salvadoran peasant massacre, known as La Matanza. Under his rule, El Salvador joined the Allied Powers during World War II on 8 December 1941 following the Bombing of Pearl Harbor. He also benefited the nation through infrastructure projects such as the Pan-American Highway and the Cuscatlán Bridge.
context_section_description: Hernández Martínez's government policies had various effects on the country's cultural, political, and economic life. By establishing a centralized government, he participated in almost all the decisions that had to be made, directing almost every single one of his government's activities. He distanced the military, except himself, from the civil administration of the country resulting in military officers being a minority within his cabinet. The salaries for government officials and for the military were extremely low, compared to previous times, which significantly scared away the military from interested in participating in the government despite higher wages being one of the reasons the military toppled Araujo's government in 1931. However, he always preferred to be close to military protection, therefore, he transferred the presidential office and his family residence to the then Normal School for Boys, next to the El Zapote Barracks.
  He promoted economic growth based on the expansion of large coffee plantations, thus benefiting landowners and initiating links between the military and the oligarchy. During his presidency, the creation of the Central Reserve Bank and the Mortgage Bank, the Salvadoran Coffee Company, the Rural Credit Box, the Cotton Cooperative, the General Directorate of Public Works, and the Social Improvement, developed a commendable work within its functions. 
  Roads were built throughout the country such as the Pan-American Highway and the Flor Blanca National Stadium (now the Estadio Jorge "Mágico" González) where the Third Central American and Caribbean Games were held in 1935. Buildings such as the telegraph building, the castle of the former National Guard (current headquarters of the General Directorate of the National Civil Police), and large bridges such as the Cuscatlán Bridge over the Lempa River were built in 1942.
  On 23 February 1932 the Salvadoran government defaulted on its external debt and stated that it would not pay the loans if the interests were not softened and the term was extended. The net debt, that is to say without interest, was fully paid off in 1938, although the interest was not paid off until 1960. Once the debt had been paid off, Hernández Martínez proposed, through a commemorative plaque placed in the Legislative Assembly, the policy of non-acquisition of loans international in the future. Despite this initiative, he also acquired loans for the construction of the Pan-American Highway. On the other hand, on 12 March 1932, he decreed the Moratorium Law, by which he reduced the interests of the debtors who were about to fall into bankruptcy. In addition, with the objective of stabilizing the value of the colón, he created the Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador in 1934, indemnifying private banks to stop issuing money.
  As for policies referring directly to the population, his theosophical customs prevailed. For example, when a smallpox plague broke out in San Salvador, he treated it by covering the lamps in the squares with blue paper, hoping that "invisible doctors" would save those who were destined to live. Among other things, he established that anyone who asked for an education should be considered a communist. He especially denied workers and employees access to education because, in his words, "soon there would be no more people willing to work in cleaning tasks."
  In July 1932, he established the Social Improvement Fund, and in October, the National Board of Social Improvement, whose main activity was to acquire homes and provide soft loans to farmers to buy them. However, this activity did not bring results expected by the population, since the beneficiaries were much less than what had been projected. Despite the fact that it was described as an agrarian reform, it was not, since the lands were not expropriated, but bought at a price market and sold to a lower one, using national funds that would never be reintegrated and that would pass into the hands of the landowners of the time. Homes were also built to be sold under the same conditions, although this occu
caption: President Hernández Martínez at the opening of the Flor Blanca National Stadium.
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