ESTRADA CABRERA, MANUEL

born Nov. 21, 1857, Quezaltenango, Guatemala died Sept. 24, 1924, Guatemala City jurist and politician who became dictator and ruled Guatemala for the first two decades of the 20th century through a standing army, secret police, and systematic oppression. After a church-directed education, he practiced law for a time in Guatemala City and was appointed a judge on the Supreme Court. He then entered politics, was elected to the Congress, and served successively as minister of public instruction, of justice, and of the interior. When President Jos Mara Reina Barrios was assassinated in 1898, Estrada Cabrera was appointed provisional president and then elected president. He served his first term respecting the constitution but then had it changed in order to ensure his repeated reelections. Estrada Cabrera's strong rule gave Guatemala internal peace and some economic improvement. He attracted investment in the nation by the United Fruit Company, built a few schools, increased agricultural production, and improved sanitation. At the same time, he plundered the treasury, kept the Indians in a state of peonage, and extinguished the few political liberties the Guatemalans had won in previous years. Finally, an armed revolt in 1920 led to his downfall. Stripped of his plundered fortune, he died ignominiously in jail.