
Emiliano Chamorro Vargas (11 May 1871-26 February 1966) was President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1917 to 1 January 1921 (succeeding Adolfo Diaz and preceding Diego Manuel Chamorro) and from 14 March to 11 November 1926 (succeeding Carlos Jose Solorzano and preceding Sebastian Uriza). He was a member of the Conservative Party of Nicaragua.
Biography[]
Emiliano Chamorro Vargas was born in Acoyapa, Nicaragua to the politically powerful Chamorro family, and he was the grand-nephew of Presidents Pedro Joaquin Chamorro Alfaro and Fruto Chamorro Perez. In 1893, he participated in the failed revolution to topple President Jose Santos Zelaya, and he became leader of the Conservative Party of Nicaragua following Juan Jose Estrada's 1909 deposition of Zelaya. As a reward for defeating a revolt against Adolfo Diaz, he was appointed ambassador to the United States, and he negotiated a 1914 treaty with the USA that allowed for the Americans to build the Nicaragua Canal. In 1916, he returned to Nicaragua and was elected President, and he paid off his country's creditors. He was defeated for re-election by Carlos Jose Solorzano, so he led a successful coup in 1926 in order to return to power. However, the country moved towards civil war due to the government's lack of US support, so Chamorro was forced to resign, with Sebastian Uriza becoming interim president. Chamorro would then become an ambassador to several European states, and he was behind the compromise between the Conservatives and the country's dictator, Anastasio Somoza Garcia, in 1950. He died in 1966.