Dictators League

Dictators League, a myth concerning four Central American dictators that was popularized during 1936 and 1937 by the growing hysteria over the rise of fascism in Europe. Rumors spread by exile movements and the press in Mexico, Costa Rica, and the United States presumed an alliance among the regimes of generals Jorge Ubico in Guatemala (1931–1944), Maximiliano Hernández Martínez in El Salvador (1931–1944), Tiburcio Carías Andino in Honduras (1933–1949), and Anastasio Somoza García in Nicaragua (1937–1956). The similarities of the methods used by these personalistic caudillos and their prompt recognition of the Spanish regime of Generalíssimo Francisco Franco alarmed U.S. opinion-makers and journalists. In fact, the dominance and actions of the Central American dictators reflected each country's domestic political situation, all the results of the global depression.

The dictators were rivals who contested supremacy in the isthmus for many years. The only cooperation among them was a mutual tolerance stemming from belated recognition that none was capable of overthrowing the others—a standoff that resulted in a tacit accord to stop aiding exiles from neighboring nations.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kenneth J. Grieb, "The Myth of a Central American Dictators' League," in Journal of Latin American Studies 10, no. 2 (1978): 329-345; and Guatemalan Caudillo: The Regime of Jorge Ubico, Guatemala, 1931–1944 (1979).

Additional Bibliography

Holden, Robert H. Armies Without Nations: Public Violence and State Formation in Central America, 1821–1960. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Little-Siebold, Todd R. Guatemala and the Dream of a Nation: National Policy and Regional Practice in the Liberal Era, 1871–1945. Ph.D. diss., Tulane University, 1995.

Schmitz, David F. Thank God They're on Our Side: The United States and Right-wing Dictatorships, 1921–1965. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999.

                                        Kenneth J. Grieb