José María Guerrero de Arcos

The Battle of Espíritu Santo.

In early 1839, due to ideological differences, Nicaragua and Honduras invaded El Salvador, still part of the Federal Republic of Central America. On 5 April, the invading troops were defeated by General Francisco Morazán, and immediately afterwards, he advanced into Honduras in an attempt to overthrow the government of Juan Francisco de Molina.[4] Molina, seeing that the troops were nearing Comayagua, resigned, and on 13 April 1839 minister Felipe Neri Medina formed a council of ministers and assumed leadership.[5] Medina would very quickly resign due to the immense pressure caused by Morazán's counter invasion, and so did the minister after him, Juan José Alvarado, and so Guerrero would take leadership on 27 April of the same year.[6]

Due to the planned insurgency, the lawyer Justo José de Herrera was appointed to appear as the diplomatic representative of Honduras, before the Salvadoran government lead by Antonio José Cañas and thus hold talks to avoid an imminent war that would end with disastrous losses for both governments. The "Peace Treaty" would be signed on 5 June 1839, by the representatives of both states, minister José Miguel Montoya of El Salvador and Justo José de Herrera of Honduras. Among the agreements were the commitment to pay compensation and attend the Central American Diet of Santa Ana, in order to strengthen peace on 15 August of the same year. On 10 August Guerrero had handed over power to minister Mariano Garrigó and had returned to Nicaragua.

In November, already in the administration of the state, Guerrero, asked the United States of America to mediate between the Nicaragua-England conflict; Subsequently, on 20 January 1848, English ships disembarked troops in the San Juan River and advanced on Lake Nicaragua, with the purpose of controlling the entirety of Nicaragua. Given this, Guerrero and the Legislative Assembly maneuvered with political skill and approved the ratification of an Anglo-Nicaraguan Agreement in Cuba preserving Nicaraguan sovereignty over the Great Lake of Nicaragua.

On 1 January 1849 Guerrero was forced to resign due to health problems, and he appointed Senator Toribio Terán as Supreme Director. On 8 March parliament appointed Benito Rosales as the new Supreme Director, who would oversee the 1849 elections, which were won by Norberto Ramírez, who took office on 1 April of the same year. Ramírez would be the only Supreme Director to serve out their full term.[8]