The fall of Salvadoran president Arturo Araujo (1931)

Political crisis or public debt? The perspective of Costa Rican newspapers. La Tribuna, Crítica and El Diario de Costa Rica

Abstract

There is consensus among historians that the Coup d’état against the Salvadoran President Arturo Araujo in December 1931 was one of the most relevant events in Salvadoran political history in the 20th century. However, there is no consensus on the causes of the Coup. The article does not conduct a detailed analysis of the different hypotheses offered about this event, but rather adds new elements to the discussion. A brief investigation was conducted on how some Costa Rican newspapers of the time (La Tribuna, Crítica and Diario de Costa Rica) analyzed Araujo’s fall. The results obtained seem to contradict consolidated hypotheses among historians and suggest it is necessary to conduct a more detailed study on the management of the public debt (internal and external) of the Salvadoran State as a cause of the Coup d’état against Araujo.