9-th, 2004 - 17: 0   (Posted By: Webmaster)
Rafael Carrera    

Rafael Carrera
LIBERATOR OF GUATEMALA WHO WAS WORSHIPPED AS A GOD BY THE INDIANS (1814-1865)

RAFAEL CARRERA, dictator of five Central American republics and first President of Guatemala, is an amazing figure among the founders of the republics of the New World. Whereas all the others fought for progress and greater freedom for the masses, he upheld the opposite. But it was in so doing that he brought about the independence of his native land.
The other side of the story is that what he really opposed were radical laws, which though aimed at freeing the people, had been introduced so sharply and suddenly that a population, which was more than 95 percent illiterate was not prepared for them. By proponents of this view he is regarded as the champion of religion and stability. The Pope of Rome in recogniation for what he had done in this respect commended him highly and sent him his highest decoration. Finally, any appraisal of Carrera must take into consideration the rape of his wife by members of the opposing force. This fact seemed to have influenced his whole career.

When he was nine years old, in 1823, five of the former Spanish provinces of Central America, Guatemala, Honduras, E1 Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, formed the Central American Union. This Union, however, was dominated by the conservative element, which included the clergy, the old Spanish aristocracy, the landlords, and the monied class in general. This coalition was later known as the Conservative Party.

Opposing them was the Liberal Party, at whose head was General Francisco Morazán. Seizing power and wishing to root out the old injustices under which the Indians and the lower classes were exploited, Morazán promulgated what was known as "The Livingstone Code." under which the properties of the clergy were confiscated, the monasteries closed, freedom of religion proclaimed, civil marriages legalized, and the Catholic archbishop banished. This code also provided for schools, wider education, and trial by jury.

The Indians, who composed most of the population, opposed these reforms. For three centuries the priests had been working among them and had unbounded influence over them. Totally illiterate, religion was their chief, perhaps only, consolation. This religion was a mixture of Catholicism and the worship of Ekchuah, "The Black Christ," whom they had been worshipping long before the coming of the white man and to whose shrine at Esquipdtas they still go annually by the thousands. The clergy, in opposition to the laws of the Liberal Party, agitated among the Indians, who began an unorganized resistance, which was strongest in Guatemala. To make matters worse, there was an epidemic of cholera at this time, which spread terror through the country. To prevent panic, the Liberals ordered that the church bells should not be rung for funerals, that burials should be prompt, private, and without processions. They also sent doctors and medicine among the Indians. At this, it is said, the priests, seeing their opportunity for revenge, told the Indians that the Liberals were trying to poison and destroy their people--an allegation that the superstitious Indians fully believed, especially when they saw the doctors washing their instruments in the rivers. Rising against the government, they killed several officials. On this, Galvez, the Governor of Guatemala City, sent an official with a troop of cavalry to hear their complaints but they surrounded the soldiers and killed them to a man. Galvez, in return, sent a larger force which burned the Indian

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