José María Silva

Who was José María Silva?

Licenciado José María Silva was a Liberal Salvadoran politician. He was twice briefly chief of state of the State of El Salvador, within the Federal Republic of Central America.

Silva was born into a well-to-do family about 1804. In 1827 he received a doctorate in law. He was a deputy to the state legislature in 1828, and its secretary in 1829.

In May 1829 he asked for a military judgment of the prisoners taken at the capitulation of Mejicanos, in the first phase of the Central American Civil War. In June 1829 he moved to Guatemala, as a commissioner of the legislature, charged along with P. Colom with personally delivering to General Francisco Morazán, commander of the victorious revolutionary armies, the decree by which Morazán was to remain in power until the establishment of new federal authorities.

Silva was again a deputy to the Salvadoran Legislature in 1834, and became president of the Legislature in October. From October 14, 1834 to April 10, 1835 he governed El Salvador, as vice-head of state, after the Honduran Joaquín Escolán y Balibrera declined the appointment as head of state. He governed again in the same capacity from February 16, 1840 to April 5, 1840.