Zavala, Joaquín (1835–1906)

Joaquín Zavala (b. 30 November 1835; d. 30 November 1906), president of Nicaragua (1879–1883, 1893). Zavala, a native of Managua, continued work on the Pacific Railroad, extended telegraph lines to Las Segovias, favored public education, founded the National Library, and continued the process of secularization by decreasing church influence in both government and education. In addition, he maintained peace in the country.

Zavala, a Conservative, was reelected to the presidency in 1893 when acting President Salvador Machado stepped down in the face of a rebellion led by the Genuines, a splinter group of the Conservative Party, and by Liberals commanded by José Santos Zelaya. Zavala, however, was an ally and friend of Zelaya's and thought Zelaya could bring modernity to Nicaragua. Nonetheless, Zavala and Zelaya engaged in two battles to determine their country's future. Zavala lost both of these crucial battles, and his administration quickly fled Managua, leaving the government to Zelaya.

See alsoZelaya, José Santos .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sara Luisa Barquero, Gobernantes de Nicaragua, 1825–1947 (1945), esp. pp. 139-141.

Benjamin I. Teplitz, "The Political and Economic Foundations of Modernization in Nicaragua: The Administration of José Santos Zelaya, 1893–1909" (Ph.D. diss., Howard University, 1973), esp. pp. 9, 26-30.

Additional Bibliography

Cruz S., Arturo J. Nicaragua's Conservative Republic, 1858–93. New York: Palgrave, 2002.

                                 Shannon Bellamy