Guatemala endured a civil war that lasted 36 years.
In 1838 the liberal forces of Honduran leader Francisco Morazn and Guatemalan Jos Francisco Barrundia invaded Guatemala and reached San Sur, where they executed Cha Alvarez, father-in-law of Rafael Carrera, then a military commander and later the first president of Guatemala
The first civilian Guatemalan head of state in over 50 years, Estrada Cabrera overcame resistance to his regime by August 1898 and called for elections in September, which he won handily

