José Napoleón Duarte

José Napoleón Duarte Fuentes (1925–1990) was born on November 23 1925 in San Salvador in El Salvador. From 1980 till 1982 he led the civil-military Revolutionary Government Junta that took power in a 1979 coup d'état. He served as President of El Salvador between June 1 1984 and June 1 1989.

Career

While still a student in May 1944 he was a part of the protests that brought down the 9 year old regime of then President General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez. Other military regimes followed, and in 1945 he crossed the border into Guatemala to join the opposition in exile. His father then got him into the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, United States, even though he spoke no English at the time. In 1948, having worked washing plates and laundry in order to support himself through his studies, he graduated in engineering before returning to an El Salvador now in transition to democracy. He married Inés Durán, with whom he had 4 children, got a job in his father's construction firm, and at the same time began teaching.

Related Topics:
1944 - Maximiliano Hernández Martínez - 1945 - Guatemala - Exile - University of Notre Dame - Indiana - United States - English - 1948 - Engineering - Democracy

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In 1960 he became a founder member and Secretary General of the Christian Democrat Party (PDC), a party searching for the middle ground between the extreme right and the extreme left, but even in a formation called The United Democratic party (PUD) with other similar political parties they failed to gain a seat in that years' National Congress elections. After boycotting the 1962 presidential elections he became Mayor of San Salvador in March 1964 at the same time as the PDC gained 14 of the 52 seats in the National Congress, making it the largest party within the opposition. Supporting emergent sectors of the economy, and a redistribution of wealth within the restraints of a modern economy, he easily won the next 2 election for mayor in March 1966 and March 1968. After leaving office in 1970 he set up his own estate agency until standing in the February 20 1972 Presidential election under a political grouping called the United National Opposition (UNO). He lost by 10,000 votes to Arturo Armando Molina. On March 25 there was an attempted coup d'état, after which Duarte was imprisoned for conspiracy, where he was tortured including having 3 fingers of his left hand mutilated. He was condemned to death for high treason, but international pressure forced Molina to concede him exile, which he obtained in Venezuela. He obtained a job as an engineering advisor, became involved as a private investor in various construction projects. he was also given posts in the international Christian Democratic movement. In 1974 he returned to El Salvador where he was promptly arrested and returned to Venezuela.

Related Topics:
1960 - Christian Democrat Party - National Congress - Elections - Boycotting - 1962 - Mayor - San Salvador - 1964 - 1966 - 1968 - 1970 - February 20 - 1972 - Arturo Armando Molina - March 25 - Coup d'état - Treason - Venezuela - 1974 - El Salvador

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