Manuel Enrique Araujo

Life & Legacy

Manuel Enrique Araujo Rodríguez (12 October 1865 – 9 February 1913) was a Salvadoran politician and physician. He served as the 21st President of El Salvador from 1 March 1911 until his death on 9 February 1913 from injuries sustained in an assassination attempt. Araujo is the only Salvadoran president to have been assassinated while in office.
Araujo studied medicine at the University of El Salvador and in Europe. He practiced medicine during the 1890s and 1900s, specializing in surgery. From 1880 to 1889, Araujo served as the mayor of San Salvador. In 1907, he was elected as Fernando Figueroa's vice president, serving from 1907 to 1911. Figueroa selected Araujo to succeed him, and in the 1911 presidential election, Araujo won with a large majority of the vote.
Araujo was inaugurated on 1 March 1911. Araujo, a pragmatic liberal, sought to portray himself as a populist and implemented several social and economic reforms. In 1912, he established the National Guard which he utilized to repress opposition to his government and support allied landowners. Araujo strongly criticized the 1912 United States' military intervention in Nicaragua.
On 4 February 1913, Araujo was attacked by three men in San Salvador with machetes and a revolver. He survived the initial attack but died to his injuries five days later on 9 February. The motives for his assassination were never determined, but the Salvadoran government believed that former vice president Prudencio Alfaro had ordered the assassination. Araujo was succeeded as president by Carlos Meléndez, who eventually formed a political dynasty that ruled El Salvador until 1927.