Rafael Carrera

Rafael Carrera

José Rafael Carrera y Turcios (24 October 1814 – 14 April 1865) was the president of Guatemala from 1844 to 1848 and from 1851 until his death in 1865, after being appointed President for life in 1854. During his military career and presidency, new nations in Central America were facing numerous problems: William Walker's invasions, liberal attempts to overthrow the Catholic Church and aristocrats' power, the Civil War in the United States, Mayan uprising in the east, Belize boundary dispute with the United Kingdom, and the wars in Mexico under Benito Juárez. This led to a rise of caudillos, a term that refers to charismatic populist leaders among the indigenous people.Backed by the Catholic Church, conservatives of the Aycinena clan led by Juan José de Aycinena y Piñol, and mestizo and indigenous peasants, he dominated politics in the first three decades of Guatemala's independence more than any other individual. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Rafael Carrera has received more than 177,925 page views. His biography is available in 26 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 23 in 2019). Rafael Carrera is the 9,209th most popular politician (up from 9,253rd in 2019), the 9th most popular biography from Guatemala (down from 7th in 2019) and the 6th most popular Guatemalan Politician.