Herrera, Dionisio de (1781–1850)

Dionisio de Herrera (b. 9 October 1781; d. 13 June 1850), chief of state of Honduras (1823–1827) and Nicaragua (1830–1833). Born to a wealthy creole family in Choluteca, Honduras, Herrera obtained a law degree in 1820. After serving as secretary to the municipal council of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, he became representative to the Cortes from Comayagua Province. He wrote the 28 September 1821 Declaration of Independence of Tegucigalpa and later represented Honduras in the Imperial Congress of Mexico (1822). After Central America separated from Mexico and formed the United Provinces of Central America in 1824, he became chief of state of Honduras and defended the country unsuccessfully against Federal president Manuel Arce. Herrera was imprisoned in Guatemala until 1829, when the Liberal forces under Francisco Morazán overthrew the Arce regime after a three-year civil war.

Herrera returned to politics and was elected president of the assembly of Honduras while also representing Choluteca. Later the government sent him as an envoy to Nicaragua, where he became chief of state from 1830 to 1833. He was elected by the Salvadoran assembly in 1834 to serve as chief of state in El Salvador, but he abandoned politics, except for a brief term as vice president of the Constituent Assembly of Honduras in 1839. He died in San Salvador.

See alsoHonduras .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rómulo Durón y Gamero, Historia de Honduras (1956).

Rafael Heliodoro Valle, "Dionisio de Herrera, 1783–1850: A Centennial Tribute," in Hispanic American Historical Review 30 (November 1950): 554-558.

José Reina Valenzuela, El prócer Dionisio de Herrera (1965).

Additional Bibliography

Argueta, Mario. La primera generación liberal: Fallas y aciertos (1829–1842). Tegucigalpa: Banco Central de Honduras, 1999.

Gudmundson, Lowell, and Héctor Lindo-Fuentes. Central America, 1821–1871: Liberalism before Liberal Reform. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1995.

Zúñiga Huerta, Angel. Presidentes de Honduras. Lima: Tegucigalpa: Graficentro Editores, 1992.

                                      Jeffrey D. Samuels