José María Cañas

He moved to Costa Rica in 1842 along with General Francisco Morazán,{{cite book |last=Woodard Jr. |first=Ralph Lee |date=2012 |title=Rafael Carrera and the Emergence of the Republic of Guatemala, 1821–1871 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-RwNAQAAQBAJ&q=Jos%C3%A9+Mar%C3%ADa+Ca%C3%B1as&pg=PA506 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |page=506 |isbn=978-0820343600 |access-date=September 14, 2015}} where he married Guadalupe Mora Porras, sister of President Juan Rafael Mora Porras.{{cite book |last=Cader |first=Jaime |date=2011 |title=Salvadoran Roots |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T4nF2eHOVpcC&q=Jos%C3%A9+Mar%C3%ADa+Ca%C3%B1as&pg=PA64 |publisher=iUniverse |page=64 |isbn=978-1462043866 |access-date=September 14, 2015}}

He was Costa Rica's Customs Administrator in 1844 and also became State General in 1847. He was named Secretary of War during Juan Rafael Mora Porras's presidency in 1849 and eventually became Governor and Commander of Puntarenas in 1850.{{cite book |last=Gagini |first=Carlos |date=2006 |title=El erizo: novela histórica |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MwRhJNcqM_MC&q=Jos%C3%A9+Mar%C3%ADa+Ca%C3%B1as&pg=PA43 |publisher=Universidad Estatal a Distancia (EUNED) |pages=12–49 |isbn=996831417X |access-date=September 14, 2015}} Named as a general in 1856, he commandeered the Costa Rican Army during the third and most important part of the campaign against filibuster William Walker. He was known as an affable and kind person amongst his troops.

Cañas was also responsible for the development of Costa Rica's Pacific Ocean port, Puntarenas, where he served as commander for several years. In 1855, Cañas imported 32 Chinese laborers to Puntarenas near the Nicoya Peninsula, employing many of them as laborers on his estates.{{cite book |last=Hayes |first=Anne |date=2013 |title=Female Prostitution in Costa Rica: Historical Perspectives, 1880-1930 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YRraAAAAQBAJ&q=Jos%C3%A9+Mar%C3%ADa+Ca%C3%B1as&pg=PA186 |publisher=Routledge |page=186 |isbn=978-1135525750 |access-date=September 14, 2015}} A benevolent patron to these workers, Cañas's memory is, to this day, held in high remark by many of their descendants. Years after Cañas's death, his children were still well received in Puntarenas by members of the thriving Chinese-Costa Rican community.

In representation of Costa Rica he signed the Cañas-Jerez Treaty, the Cañas-Martínez Treaty and the Cañas-Jerez Treaty that dealt with the demarcation of the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua{{cite book |date=2007 |title=Reports of International Arbitral Awards, Volume 28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0VJyj_D4K6wC&q=Jos%C3%A9+Mar%C3%ADa+Ca%C3%B1as&pg=PA201 |publisher=United Nations |page=201 |isbn=978-9210330992 |access-date=September 14, 2015}}{{cite book |last=Robb |first=Carol A. R. |date=1999 |title=International Environmental Law Reports, Volume 1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lPfl8R6LPkQC&q=Jos%C3%A9+Mar%C3%ADa+Ca%C3%B1as&pg=PA551 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=551 |isbn=0521650348 |access-date=September 14, 2015}} and U. S. President Grover Cleveland also validated the treaty.{{cite book |title=Historia de la historiografía costarricense, 1821-1940, Volume 9 |year = 2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=smong0ahWtIC&q=Jos%C3%A9+Mar%C3%ADa+Ca%C3%B1as&pg=PA72 |publisher=Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica |page=72 |isbn = 9789977676395|access-date=September 14, 2015}}

In 1859, when his brother-in-law was deposed, he emigrated back to El Salvador with him. The following year they returned to Costa Rica seeking the restoration of Mora Porras in the presidency. The expedition failed and they both died in Puntarenas after being captured by troops now controlled by President José María Montealegre, and those troops who were once Cañas's, threatened to shoot and kill him.{{cite book |date=2002 |title=Nuestros gobernantes: verdades del pasado para comprender el futuro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2BhSGpxwMcC&q=Jos%C3%A9+Mar%C3%ADa+Ca%C3%B1as&pg=PP79 |publisher=Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica |isbn=9977677018 |access-date=September 14, 2015}} Juan Rafael Mora Porras was executed by firing squad on September 30; Cañas was killed using the same method on October 2, 1860.{{cite book |last=Quesada Alvarado |first=Angela |date=1995 |title=Recordando la historia de mi pueblo San Ramón |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5JU0m-E_vTwC&q=Jos%C3%A9+Mar%C3%ADa+Ca%C3%B1as&pg=PA61 |publisher=EUNED |pages=53–62 |isbn=9977648476 |access-date=September 14, 2015}}

Cañas was the last prominent Costa Rican leader to face the death penalty as the victim of political persecution. Two decades after the execution of Cañas, President Tomás Guardia, who had served under his command in 1856, abolished the death penalty.

Several years after Cañas' execution his widow and their children returned to Costa Rica. The family thrived and was welcomed once again into the country's highest spheres. Cañas' only surviving son, Rafael Cañas Mora, served in the Costa Rican congress and was a successful businessman. Other Cañas descendants include Dr. Luciano Beéche Cañas, a Costa Rican doctor; Rafael Beéche Cañas, founder of the tuna fishing industry in Costa Rica; Eduardo Beéche Titzck, former governor of the state of Puntarenas; Arturo Beéche Bravo, author, educator and royal historian; Alberto Cañas Escalante,{{cite news|url=http://www.prensalibre.cr/pl/suceso/9771-conmemoran-bicentenario-del-nacimiento-de-jose-maria-canas.html |title=Conmemoran bicentenario del nacimiento de José María Cañas |date=September 21, 2009 |publisher=prensalibre.cr |access-date=September 14, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924081239/http://www.prensalibre.cr/pl/suceso/9771-conmemoran-bicentenario-del-nacimiento-de-jose-maria-canas.html |archive-date=September 24, 2009 }} author, intellectual and politician; Marta Castegnaro Cañas, newspaper columnist and historian.

Cañas is considered a national hero{{cite book |last=Marín Cañas |first=José |date=2006 |title=Valses nobles y sentimentales |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=izwCeOo6JZsC&q=Jos%C3%A9+Mar%C3%ADa+Ca%C3%B1as&pg=PA180 |publisher=EUNED |page=180 |isbn=9968314048 |access-date=September 14, 2015}} and there is a monument bust of him in Parque Cañas, a park which was named for him in 1956 and the dedication ceremony was attended by his great-grandson Alberto Cañas Escalante, the centennial of the Filibuster War,{{cite book |last=Díaz Arias |first=David |date=2006 |title=Historia del 11 de abril: Juan Santamaría entre el pasado y el presente ... |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFHTy3A0LiAC&q=Jos%C3%A9+Mar%C3%ADa+Ca%C3%B1as&pg=PA44 |publisher=Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica |pages=44–45 |isbn=996893657X |access-date=September 14, 2015}} in Puntarenas in front of the railroad Ferrocarril Eléctrico al Pacífico.

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Category:Military history of Costa Rica

Category:1809 births

Category:1860 deaths

Category:People from Cuscatlán Department

Category:Salvadoran emigrants to Costa Rica

Category:Government ministers of Costa Rica

Category:People executed by Costa Rica by firing squad

Category:Executed Costa Rican people