Joaquín Eufrasio Guzmán

Joaquín Eufrasio Guzmán

Joaquín Eufrasio Guzmán (1801 – c. 1875) was a politician and briefly acting President of El Salvador on three occasions: from 25 October 1844 to 16 February 1845, from 25 April 1845 to 1 February 1846, and from 19 January 1859 to 15 February 1859, after conducting a coup against General Malespin during the war with Guatemala.

Guzmán was born in Cartago, Costa Rica, in 1801 into a landowning family. In the dissensions between the Federal and Centralist parties, Guzmán joined the former. A landowner, he was commissioned as a lieutenant-colonel. He was elected Vice President of El Salvador in 1844 with General Francisco Malespin as president. That year Malespin declared war against Guatemala and left the capital to command the army in person. Guzmán became acting president. Guzmán conducted a coup against Malespin on 2 February 1845 and was joined by the greater part of the inhabitants of the capital, and a portion of the general's small army. They deposed Malespin and Guzmán assumed the executive office till the end of the presidential term. Backed by a force from Honduras, Malespin invaded El Salvador but was defeated and assassinated. Guzmán was rewarded by the Assembly with the rank of general of division. He favored free elections and in 1848 delivered the office to his successor, Aguilar. Guzmán was several times elected to the legislative assembly, the council of state, and the prefecture of the department where he resided.

He was later elected as Vice President of El Salvador alongside President Miguel Santín del Castillo, and served from February 1858 to February 1859. He died in 1875, San Miguel, El Salvador. He had married and had a family. His son David Joaquín Guzmán was a politician and doctor, founding director of the National Museum of El Salvador and a museum of anthropology in Nicaragua.