El Salvador Travel Guide

The most serious challenge to the nascent government of El Salvador came in 1833 with the indigenous uprising led by Anastasio Aquino . Ostensibly a protest against the practice of forced conscription among hacienda workers, the month-long rebellion was also a response to the instabilities in society generated by the new state of independence. In particular it focused resistance against a new decree stating that all land not in use should be converted into private property. The hacienda owners expanded their estates, while the indigenous and other groups living on subsistence agriculture found that much of the land needed for slash and burn cultivation had been transferred into private hands.

A worker on an indigo plantation near Santiago Nonualco, Aquino rebelled following the arrest and detention - and presumed conscription - of his brother by the hacienda owner. He and his followers, the so-called " Army of Liberation ", attacked army posts, releasing and arming the forced conscripts and sacked haciendas; according to legend the spoils from these were distributed among the poor. The well-disciplined forces of the rebellion were successful in early confrontations with government troops and at one stage looked capable of advancing on, and taking, San Salvador. Instead, Aquino chose to march on the nearby cities of Zacatecoluca and San Vicente, giving the government time to marshall its forces. On February 16 Aquino arrived in San Vicente and had himself crowned " Emperor of the Nonualcos " with a crown taken from the statue of San José in the Iglesia Nuestra Señora del Pilar.

He then returned to Santiago Nonualco where, on February 28, he was defeated by the resurgent government forces. Finally captured on April 23, Aquino was executed in San Vicente in July. His head was put on public display, a primitive act in accordance with the status of "primitive rebel" which the government accorded him.