Minister of National Defense (El Salvador) explained

Post:	Minister of National Defense
Body:	ElSalvador
Native Name:	Ministro de Defensa Nacional
Incumbent:	René Francis Merino Monroy
Incumbentsince:	1 June 2019
Department:	Ministry of National Defense
Appointer:	President of El Salvador
First:	Cruz Ulloa

The Minister of National Defense of El Salvador (Spanish; Castilian: Ministro de Defensa Nacional de El Salvador) is a Salvadoran cabinet minister who serves as the head of the Ministry of National Defense of El Salvador. The position of Minister of National Defense is typically held by an officer of the Armed Forces of El Salvador.

List of ministers

The following table lists all the individuals who held the office of Minister of National Defense.^[1]

Minister of National Defense			Assumed office	Left office	Time in office	Branch/political party	President
1		Cruz Ulloa	29 March 1856	30 April 1856		Conservative		Rafael Campo
Office vacant (30 April 1856 – 1 February 1858)
2		Ignacio Gómez	1 February 1858	24 February 1858		Conservative		Miguel Santín del Castillo
3		Cayetano Bosque	24 February 1858	21 November 1858		Conservative
4		José Trinidad Cabañas	26 November 1858	5 February 1859		Liberal/Army
Office vacant (5 February 1859 – 20 December 1859)
5		José Félix Quirós	20 December 1859	6 June 1860		Independent		Gerardo Barrios
Office vacant (6 June 1860 – 5 March 1861)
6		Eugenio Aguilar	5 March 1861	24 March 1863		Liberal		Gerardo Barrios
Office vacant (24 March 1863 – 27 October 1863)
7		Juan Delgado y San Juan	27 October 1863	2 February 1865		Conservative		Francisco Dueñas
Office vacant (2 February 1865 – 1 February 1871)
8		Rafael Zaldívar	1 February 1871	12 April 1871		Liberal		Francisco Dueñas
Office vacant (12 April 1871 – 2 January 1877)
9		Fabio Morán	2 January 1877	30 November 1877		Army		Rafael Zaldívar
Office vacant (30 November 1877 – 1 January 1884)
10		Adán Mora	1 January 1884	14 May 1885		Army		Rafael Zaldívar
Office vacant (14 May 1885 – 2 June 1887)
11		Carlos Ezeta	2 June 1887	15 August 1888		Liberal/Army		Francisco Menéndez
12		Pedro José Escalón	18 August 1888	20 October 1889		Conservative/Army
Office vacant (20 October 1889 – 1 January 1891)
13		Antonio Ezeta	1 January 1891	31 March 1891		Liberal/Army		Carlos Ezeta
14		Valentín Amaya	31 March 1891	23 January 1892		Army
15		Domingo Angulo	24 January 1892	14 November 1892		Liberal
14		Valentín Amaya	1 January 1893	10 June 1894		Army
Office vacant (10 June 1894 – 4 March 1897)
16		Juan Francisco Castro	4 March 1897	27 September 1897		Liberal		Rafael Antonio Gutiérrez
17		Rafael Severo López	28 September 1897	13 November 1898		Liberal
18		Tomás Regalado Romero	14 November 1898	12 September 1900		Army/Liberal		Himself
Office vacant (12 September 1900 – 7 January 1901)
18		Tomás Regalado Romero	7 January 1901	1 March 1903		Army/Liberal		Himself
19		Fernando Figueroa	1 March 1903	10 September 1907		Army/Liberal		Pedro José Escalón
								Himself
Office vacant (10 September 1907 – 1 March 1911)
20		José María Peralta Lagos	1 March 1911	14 February 1913		Army		Manuel Enrique Araujo
21		Francisco Martínez Suárez	14 February 1913	8 July 1913		Independent		Carlos Meléndez
22		Alfonso Quiñónez Molina	8 July 1913	29 August 1914		National Democratic Party
23		Pío Romero Bosque	29 August 1914	1 March 1915		National Democratic Party		Alfonso Quiñónez Molina
24		Luis Alonso Barahona	1 March 1915	20 October 1915		Army		Carlos Meléndez
25		Enrique Córdova	20 October 1915	1 March 1919		National Democratic Party
23		Pío Romero Bosque	1 March 1919	1 March 1927		National Democratic Party		Jorge Meléndez
								Alfonso Quiñónez Molina
26		Alberto Gómez Zárate	1 March 1927	19 May 1930		National Democratic Party		Pío Romero Bosque
27		Pío Romero Bosque Molina	20 May 1930	1 March 1931		National Democratic Party
28		Maximiliano Hernández Martínez	1 March 1931	1 December 1931		Army/National Republican Party		Arturo Araujo
29		Salvador López Rochac	1 December 1931	2 December 1931		Labor Party
–		Osmín Aguirre y Salinas	2 December 1931	4 December 1931		Army		Civic Directory
–		Joaquín Valdés	4 December 1931	2 April 1934		Army		Maximiliano Hernández Martínez
–		Andrés Ignacio Menéndez	3 April 1934	28 August 1934		Army/National Pro Patria Party
–		Maximiliano Hernández Martínez	28 August 1934	1 March 1935		Army/National Pro Patria Party		Andrés Ignacio Menéndez
30		Andrés Ignacio Menéndez	1 March 1935	9 May 1944		Army/National Pro Patria Party		Maximiliano Hernández Martínez
–		Fidel Cristino Garay	9 May 1944	20 October 1944		Army/National Pro Patria Party		Andrés Ignacio Menéndez
–		Salvador Peña Trejo	21 October 1944	1 March 1945		Army		Osmín Aguirre y Salinas
31		Salvador Castaneda Castro	1 March 1945	31 March 1945		Army/Unification Social Democratic Party		Himself
31		Mauro Espínola Castro	31 March 1945	14 December 1948		Army		Salvador Castaneda Castro
–		Fidel Rodríguez Quintanilla	14 December 1948	14 September 1950		Army
32		Óscar Adán Bolaños	14 September 1950	10 December 1953		Army		Óscar Osorio
33		Marco Antonio Molina	10 December 1953	14 September 1956		Army
34		Adán Parada	14 September 1956	20 October 1960		Army		José María Lemus
–		Alonso Castillo Navarrete	20 October 1960	25 January 1961		Army		Junta of Government
–		Armando Molina Mena	26 January 1961	9 May 1961		Army		Civic-Military Directory
–		Óscar Rodríguez Simó	9 May 1961	18 November 1961		Army
–		Mariano Castro Morán	18 November 1961	24 January 1962		Army
–		Armando Díaz Liévano	24 January 1962	1 July 1962		Army
								Eusebio Rodolfo Cordón Cea
35		Marco Aurelio Zacapa	1 July 1962	1 July 1967		Army/National Conciliation Party		Julio Adalberto Rivera Carballo
36		Fidel Torres	1 July 1967	1 July 1972		Army/National Conciliation Party		Fidel Sánchez Hernández
37		Carlos Humberto Romero	1 July 1972	1 July 1977		Army/National Conciliation Party		Arturo Armando Molina
38		Federico Castillo Yanes	1 July 1977	15 October 1979		Army/National Conciliation Party		Carlos Humberto Romero
–		José Guillermo García	15 October 1979	19 April 1983		Army		Revolutionary Government Junta
								Álvaro Magaña
39		Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova	19 April 1983	1 June 1989		Army
								José Napoleón Duarte
40		Rafael Humberto Larios López	1 June 1989	31 August 1990		Army
								Alfredo Cristiani
41		René Emilio Ponce	31 August 1990	1 July 1993		Army
42		Humberto Corado Figueroa	1 July 1993	31 December 1995		Army
								Armando Calderón Sol
43		Jaime Mauricio Guzmán Morales	31 December 1995	31 December 1998		Army
44		Juan Antonio Martínez Várela	31 December 1998	1 June 2004		Air Force
								Francisco Flores Pérez
45		Otto Alejandro Romero Orellana	1 June 2004	31 December 2007		Army		Antonio Saca
46		Jorge Alberto Molina Contreras	31 December 2007	1 June 2009		Army
47		David Munguía Payés	1 June 2009	23 November 2011		Army		Mauricio Funes
48		José Atilio Benítez Parada	23 November 2011	12 July 2013		Army
47		David Munguía Payés	12 July 2013	1 June 2019		Army
								Salvador Sánchez Cerén
49		René Francis Merino Monroy	1 June 2019	Incumbent		Navy		Nayib Bukele

See also

• President of El Salvador

Notes and References

1. Web site: EXMINISTROS DE DEFENSA. Ministerio de la Defensa Nacional. 4 September 2020. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20190603042514/https://www.fuerzaarmada.mil.sv/?page_id=737. 3 June 2019.