A lawyer with no military background, he modernised the country's industry and transportation infrastructure, via granting concessions to the American-owned United Fruit Company, whose influence on the government was deeply unpopular among the population.

Estrada Cabrera ruled as a dictator who used increasingly brutal methods to assert his authority, including armed strike-breaking, and he effectively controlled general elections.

He retained power for 22 years through controlled elections in 1904, 1910, and 1916, and was eventually removed from office when the national assembly declared him mentally incompetent, and he was jailed for corruption.

[4] The first Guatemalan head of state from civilian life in over 50 years, Estrada Cabrera overcame resistance to his regime by August 1898 and called for September elections, which he won handily.

This was demonstrated on the night of the death of Reina Barrios when he stood in front of the ministers meeting in the government palace to choose a successor, and said: "Gentlemen, let me please sign this decree.

His first decree was a general amnesty and the second was to reopen all the elementary schools closed by Reyna Barrios, both administrative and political measures aimed at winning over public opinion.

As a member of the Liberal Party, he sought to encourage development of the nation's infrastructure of highways, railroads, and sea ports for the sake of expanding the export economy.

When Estrada Cabrera assumed the presidency, there had been repeated efforts to construct a railroad from the major port of Puerto Barrios to the capital, Guatemala City.

[12] Cabrera signed a contract with UFC's Minor Cooper Keith in 1904 that gave the company tax-exemptions, land grants, and control of all railroads on the Atlantic side.

At eight in the morning of today, when Mr. President of the Republic, Manuel Estrada Cabrera, left his home in his chariot and was on his way to the south of the city on the laudable mission to inspect the construction work that for the good of civilization and progress he ordered, a dynamite loaded mine activated by an electrical device, made a horrible explosion on the 7th.

The Echeverría brothers and their confederates were members of the elite class and had studied abroad, but when they returned to Guatemala, they objected to the government's extreme abuse of power and determined on assassinating the president.

[19] On the day planned for the attack, April 29, the president was traveling in the capital in his chariot along with his 13-year-old son, Joaquin, and his Chief of Staff, general José María Orellana.

[23] At last, after several days of uncertainty, Rufina Roca de Monzón gave them shelter in the second floor of her home, # 29 Judío Place in Guatemala City, but a spy learned about it.

[25] By 1908, Santo Domingo Church members had modified the path of its centennial and traditional Good Friday procession, such that now it passed in front of Estrada Cabrera's house on the 7th S. Avenue in Guatemala City.

[26] On April 20, 1908, during the official reception of the new United States Ambassador in the National Palace, Military Academy cadet Víctor Manuel Vega, in revenge for what happened to his classmates and teachers, shot Estrada Cabrera point blank, but only managed to hurt him on his pinky finger.

On November 8, 1912, Francisco Estrada, who had just returned to Guatemala from Europe[30] where he was learning agricultural technology in Paris, found himself in a 4000 dollar debt after courting a French lady older than himself.

In 1920, prince Wilhelm of Sweden visited Guatemala and made a very objective description of both Guatemalan society and Estrada Cabrera government in his book Between two continents, notes from a journey in Central America, 1920.

Guatemala was placed in a tough spot, after the previous president known as Jose Maria Reyna Barrios (1854-1898) started to introduce a new type of paper currency.

Universal suffrage was the rule, but presidential elections were a farce as only the President himself was allowed to figure on the ballot papers and opposition was forbidden as any rival candidate was looked after by the police, and detained at best if not killed outright.

[42] The president's ministers were simply his advisors and the state revenues had made its way to the presidential pocket: following the rule established by his predecessors managed to lay aside a fortune of 150 million, in spite of earning only US$1000 a year.

The President chose the ministers from among his most faithful adherents, and they had no voice whatsoever in the final decision of affairs; and Congress was not much better, as no laws were ever passed without previous approval from the highest quarter.

The Diario de Centro América, a semi-official newspaper owned in part by President Estrada Cabrera, spent more than two months issuing two numbers a day reporting on the damage, but after a while, started criticizing the central government after the slow and inefficient recovery efforts.

[48] El Guatemalteco, the official newspaper, showed the impact of the disaster: its regular publication was interrupted from 22 December 1917 to 21 January 1918; when it reappeared, it was in a much smaller format.

[e] Additionally, Cobos Batres was able to inflame the nationality sentiment of conservative leaders José Azmitia, Tácito Molina, Eduardo Camacho, Julio Bianchi and Emilio Escamilla into forming a Central America Unionist party and oppose the strong regime of Estrada Cabrera.

Since then, Estrada Cabrera publicly admitted his willingness to accept the international opinion on opening spaces for political rivals, but kept arresting Unionist sympathizers.

On 11 March 1920, the new party organized a large demonstration against the government, but the army fired into the crowd, fomenting more resentment and anger which further united the Guatemalan people against the President.

[55] It was unusual at the time to see The United States turn their back on Estrada Cabrera, for U.S. representation would usually act as a “kingmaker,” as put in the words of James R Handysource?.

The U.S. requested that the Estrada Government restrict the large German-Guatemalan population, which held several assets connected to coffee as explained by Ralph Lee Woodward.

[32] He extended roads, and the long-delayed railway from the Atlantic coast to Guatemala City was completed in 1908, although his achievements were overshadowed by growing repression and blatant graft, including bribes for the president.

Estrada Cabrera was immortalized in the dictator novel El Señor Presidente (1946), written by Nobel laureate Miguel Ángel Asturias.