On 25 May 1926, El Imparcial -a private newspaper- had published a news flash: Martial law enacted which referred to executive decree 916, in which President Orellana had suspended the individual guarantees contained in the Constitution; the main reason for such decision was that "insidious and unpatriotic activities of certain elements" tended "to disrupt the peace and development of the country", which, at once, made it impossible to solve the national economic problem.

[1] The story took a sudden turn on Sunday September 26, when, at 0:15 pm, Orellana died during a vacation trip to Antigua Guatemala; he was in a room at Hotel Manchén.

"A violent angina attack ended the life of our illustrious president," explained Diario de Centro America in a special edition that day.

Chacón defeated Ubico thanks in part to the strong campaign that journalist Clemente Marroquín Rojas made against the latter in his column called Desnudando al ídolo.

Beginning in December, 1930 the following events occurred in a rapid succession:[4][5][6] Chacón died in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States on 9 April 1931 at age 57 as a consequence of his stroke.