The coup was staged by pro-Axis sympathizers in the Salvadoran Army against President General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez.

However, under pressure from the United States, the primary coffee buyer of El Salvador, he was forced to abandon his sympathies and agreed to align himself alongside the Allies after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

[2] Likewise, German and Italian residents in El Salvador were expropriated of their lands and sent to internment camps in the United States.

[7] The coup started on Palm Sunday and most senior military and government officials were either at home or attending church.

[8] The Salvadoran Air Force joined the conspirators and bombed the city of Santa Ana while the army attacked civilians and overthrew the local government.