Origen, permanencia y significado de La Chalana y su impacto en el movimiento estudiantil de la Huelga de Dolores en la Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala de 1898 a 1926

Abstract

Guatemala begins the 20th century with a government that lasted for 22 years. Manuel Estrada Cabrera remained in office with fraudulent elections and with a system that controlled and repressed people. Estrada Cabrera is the main character of Mister President, a novel written by Miguel Ángel Asturias, a Guatemalan writer who won the Nobel Price to Literature in 1967. Asturias was also a student at the National University and one of the authors of the war anthem called La Chalana. The National University lacked from autonomy and was part of the national education system. Nevertheless, students were restless and since Estrada Cabrera took office in 1898, they compelled so the national schools were opened. Schools were closed by Reyna Barrios, because the state lacked from budget. It was the origin of political carnival demonstrations named Huelga de Dolores, full of satire and creativity. The Huelga de Dolores was allowed to perform from 1898 to 1903. The Huelga started again in 1921 when the Chabela image was created. During 1922 a very select group of writer’s students, in a secret way, wrote the Chalana, an anthem with political content. The anthem was a response of the José María Orellana repression, who was a minister during the Estrada Cabrera time. It was a period when students recovered their fight against the dictatorship that deposed Estrada Cabrera, but now with another one, they felt hopeless. It is necessary to remind that President Carlos Herrera, the one who replaced Estrada, suffered a coup d´état by the military on December 5th, 1921. On this paper we are going to study the Chalana origin, its historical context, its meaning and its permanent legacy to the National University students. We offer new data. We hope to give more knowledge and a historical support to all the members of the University of Guatemala. The Chalana is a historic document and a protest that still is in full force now, unfortunately for Guatemalans.