Fernando Figueroa was born on 4 March 1849 in either Ilobasco or San Vicente, El Salvador.

[4][5] Figueroa came out of retirement in 1890 when President General Carlos Ezeta reappointed him as Governor of San Vicente.

[6] On 1 March 1900, he was appointed as Minister of National Defense by President General Tomás Regalado.

[1][6] In 1907, he led El Salvador in a war against Honduras, Nicaragua, and Salvadoran rebels, which were led by José Santos Zelaya, the President of Nicaragua, General Manuel Rivas, a leader of the Revolution of the 44, and Prudencio Alfaro, the former Vice President of El Salvador from 1895 to 1898.

[8][9][10] The invasion violated the 1907 Central American Treaty of Peace and Amity which had been signed on 22 April 1907.