Testament of General Francisco Morazán

SAN JOSE DE COSTA RICA: SEPTEMBER 15, 1842. DAY OF THE ANNIVERSARY OF INDEPENDENCE, WHICH I HAVE SOUGHT TO PRESERVE.

IN THE NAME OF THE AUTHOR OF THE UNIVERSE IN WHOSE RELIGION I DIE.

«I declare: That all the interests that I and my wife possessed have been spent in giving Costa Rica a Government of Laws, as well as eighteen thousand pesos and their interests, which I owe to General Pedro Bermúdez.

I declare: That I do not deserve death, because I have committed no more fault than giving freedom to Costa Rica and seeking peace for the Republic. Therefore, my death is an assassination, all the more aggravating because I have not been judged or heard. I have only fulfilled the mandates of the Assembly, in line with my desire to reorganize the Republic.

I protest that the gathering of soldiers who today cause my death was made solely to defend the department of El Guanacaste, belonging to the State, which was threatened, according to communications from the Commander of said department, by forces from the State of Nicaragua. If it was within my intentions to use some of these forces afterward to pacify the Republic, it would only be with those who voluntarily wished to march, for such an undertaking is never carried out with forced men.

I declare: That the assassination is accompanied by the broken promise given to me by Commissioner Espinach, from Cartago, to save my life.

I declare: That my love for Central America dies with me. I encourage the youth, who are called to give life to this country that I leave with regret, as it is in a state of anarchy, and I desire that they imitate my example of dying with firmness rather than leaving it abandoned to the disorder in which it unfortunately finds itself today.

I declare: That I have no enemies, and I bear no grudge against my assassins as I take it to the grave. I forgive them and wish them the greatest possible good.

I die with the feeling of having caused some harm to my country, although with the just desire to seek its well-being. And this feeling is heightened because when I had rectified my political opinions in the course of the revolution and believed I was fulfilling the good that I had promised to make up for those shortcomings, my life is unjustly taken away.

The disorder in which I write, having been given only three hours, made me forget that I have accounts with Mr. M. Bennet’s company, as a result of the cutting of timber on the North coast, in which I consider I have reached a sum of ten to twelve thousand pesos that belong to my wife as compensation for the losses she has suffered in her assets belonging to the Jupuara estate, and I also have other debts known to Mr. Cruz Lozano.

I want this will to be printed in the part that relates to my death and public affairs.

(F) Francisco Morazán.

Warning: – «As the attorney for the executrix, I hereby publish this will in its entirety, not only the clauses that the testator ordered to be printed, with the understanding that at the moment General Morazán goes to the scaffold, I entrust his son Francisco and Mr. Mariano Montealegre to inform his executrix to have his ashes transferred to this city, as it is the town that has shown him the greatest kindness, and this clause was not included in his will because he dictated it amidst the turmoil. – San Salvador: March 31, 1843. Cruz Lozano.»

Morazán requested to be allowed to address a circular to the Governments of the other States of Central America, and he was heard and judged. It was not granted to him.

Dr. Rafael Heliodoro Valle affirms that General Morazán dictated his will to his 15-year-old son Francisco, and as the son became intensely emotional when he began to write, shedding copious tears, General Morazán strongly reprimanded him and took the pen to continue writing the document, in which the traces of tears shed by his son Francisco could be seen many years later. For this reason, the will is written in two different types of handwriting. He wrote the will at Las Almaceas Barracks in San José, Costa Rica.

Upon affixing his signature, he stands up and reads again: «I declare that my love for Central America dies with me…»

«I want my ashes to rest on the soil of El Salvador, whose people have shown me such devotion.»

Contribution Casa Morazán