El Salvador
In
The United Kingdom and Ireland

Celebrating the Independence

After signing the "Act of Independence" an original copy of it was sent to all the provinces and city councils of Central America so that the independence from Spain was proclaimed

On Friday the 14th of September, 1821 the documents with the news of the separation of Central America from the Spanish Kingdom arrived in Guatemala from Chiapas. The documents were immediately taken to the political head Brigadier Gabino Gainza, and it was he who went to the city council to spread the news.To his surprise, there, Mr. Jose Antonio Larrave also had such documents and so a meeting was schedule for eight in the morning of the following day.

On Saturday the 15th of September, 1821 an open forum took place at the Royal Palace; 50 people gather inside the halls to take part of the event, though thousands of citizens gathered in the waiting room, plaza and patio awaiting the news. Once the meeting with the principles authorities was set up, they proceed to read the documents and later, the opinion of the assistants was heard. When the authorities left, the people removed the picture of King Fernando VII, from the wall. They also removed the statue of Carlos III from the plaza and withdrew all monarchy related pictures.

After the signing of the Act of Independence in the "Capitania General of Guatemala", original copies were sent to the provinces and the main city councils to announce the independence.

Once the document reached the provinces and was read, they rang the bells to summon the people so that one person would read the Act to the public.

The copy of the Act of Independence arrived at the province of El Salvador, via afternoon post, at 9:30 pm, on a Friday the 21st of September, 1821. The news spread quickly between the popular masses, where several of the caudillos of 1811 and 1814 were the ones in charge of the propaganda between the inhabitants who reflected a generalized rejoicing.

The document was first received by the political head of San Salvador, the Dominican, Mr. Pedro Barriere. Later that day, the Mayor (1o Constitucional) Mr. Casimiro Garcia Valdeavellano, call upon all the citizens to gather at the parochial church (Church "El Rosario"). A high school student by the name of Jose Crisanto Salazar, gave reading to the appraised document.

On the following day (16th of September,1821) at around 10am in the morning another extraordinary session by the city council of San Salvador was celebrated; on it the political chief Mr. Pedro Barriere took the oath of fidelity to the Independence and sworn members of the city council, corporations and employees. The corresponding proclamation was realized. On the 30th of September, 1821 a Mass of Thanks was celebrated.

After the events of the 14th and 15th of September, 1821 there were different repercussions in other Central American provinces, especially on the most distant from Guatemala. Although there was a great joy in San Salvador due to this events, this was not the case in other provinces were civil servants were believed threatened.