Enrique Hoyos

Enrique Hoyos (15 July 1810 – 12 November 1859) was a Salvadoran lawyer, politician, journalist and writer in the classicist and romanticist fields.

Early life Born in Ilobasco on 15 July 1810 he was the son of Doña Francisca Úrsula de Hoyos. He remained in Ilobasco under the care of Doña Carmen Ecamilla, in whose house he was born. When he was 10 years old, him and his immediate relatives moved to San Vicente, where he finished his primary education and began to study Latin.

In 1823, the Hoyos family moved to Guatemala where he continued his studies in Latin and took courses in philosophy. In 1829 he moved to Havana where he was page for Archbishop Casaus. There he began to study for the priesthood to please his aunt, doña Josefa Hoyos, who wanted him to embrace an ecclesiastical career. When he was about to receive holy orders, he wrote to his family asking them to return him to Guatemala, stating frankly and resolutely that he did not wish to be ordained. Given this, his family returned in 1831.

Literary and political career

Return to El Salvador Back in Guatemala, he began his law studies and graduated with a bachelor's degree. He interrupted his internship to move to San Vicente with his uncle José María López. In 1836, he married Lorenza Molina, from one of the first families of San Vicente. Shortly after his marriage, he moved to San Salvador, where he worked as deputy chief of the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Positions held Official Portrait of Hoyos when he was President of the Legislative Assembly. In early 1841, he became a lawyer and soon after he was appointed adviser to the Department of Cuscatlán. At that time, he dedicated himself to services alternately in the judicial and political and governmental branches. For some time he was Finance Judge, First Instance Judge of the Department of Cuscatlán, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy to the Legislature of the State. In 1845 he published his book "Apóstrofes".

By an agreement made on 21 February 1854 Hoyos was entrusted with writing the official government newspaper La Gaceta del Gobierno del Salvador en la América Central. He was later appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

He was appointed as a deputy for the National Congress that met in Tegucigalpa in 1852.

Death and legacy Deathly ill, Hoyos resigned from the position of General Finance Judge and on 21 October the president appointed Nicaraguan author Tomás Ayón to take office. On the Saturday of 12 November, at seven in the morning, he died in Cojutepeque due to his long lasting dysentery, when he was barely 49 years old. According to the obituary article in the Official Gazette, his last words were: "My only and greatest friend in my last moments has been Señor Barrios", for the help he had provided for his recovery in Cojutepeque.

The central park and a main street in Ilobasco bear his name.

In the "Guirnalda Salvadoreña, Vol 1" published in 1884 some of his poems appear, including:

Canto popular (A ella) Mi esperanza La constricción de un abogado Canción A Lorenza A Nice Soneto (Dedicated to Benemérito Colonel José A. Carvallo, who died during Malespín's War)