Chamorro Vargas, Emiliano (1871–1966)

Nicaraguan soldier and right-wing politician, president 1917–21 and in 1926. Following the withdrawal of US troops from Nicaragua in 1925, Chamorro seized power in a coup. However, US refusal of diplomatic recognition and its threat to send gunboats persuaded him to flee from office. In 1950, having failed to achieve political influence for the Conservatives, Chamorro signed a Pact of the Generals with his Liberal Party opponent, President Anastasio Somoza García, under which the Conservatives were promised a share of government posts.

A conservative military leader, Chamorro joined the successful revolt, in 1909, against the Liberal dictator José Santos Zelaya. He reluctantly accepted the country's occupation by the US Marines and, as minister in Washington 1913–16, signed the August 1914 Bryan–Chamorro Treaty that granted the USA, for $3 million, an option to construct an inter-oceanic canal through Nicaragua.