Juan Ramón Munés
{{short description|Salvadoran military officer}}
{{use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{use American English|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = Lieutenant colonel
| name = Juan Ramón Munés
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = 15 April 1903
| birth_place = Santa Ana, El Salvador
| death_date = {{death date and age|1968|02|18|1903|04|15|df=y}}
| death_place =
| allegiance = El Salvador
| branch = Salvadoran Army
| serviceyears = 1924–1951
| commands = Salvadoran Aviation Corps
| rank = Lieutenant colonel
| battles = 1931 Salvadoran coup d'état
{{lang|es|La Matanza}}
}}
Juan Ramón Munés (15 April 1903 – 18 February 1968) was a Salvadoran military officer and one of the first Salvadoran pilots. He was a member of the Civic Directory, a military junta established after the 1931 Salvadoran coup d'état. He commanded the Salvadoran Aviation Corps (air force) from 1931 to 1944.
Biography
Juan Ramón Munés was born on 15 April 1903 in Santa Ana, El Salvador.{{cite book|last1=Leistenschneider|first1=María|last2=Leistenschneider|first2=Freddy|date=1980|title=Gobernantes de El Salvador: Biografías|trans-title=Governors of El Salvador: Biographies|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/589275475/Gobernantes-de-El-Salvador|language=es|publisher=Ministry of the Interior|oclc=7876291|access-date=10 March 2025|name-list-style=amp|page=189}} His parents were Juan Munés and María Mateu.{{cite web|url=https://www.fas.gob.sv/jefa/excomandantes/munes.html|title=Teniente Coronel Juan Ramón Munés|trans-title=Lieutenant Colonel Juan Ramón Munés|language=es|access-date=10 March 2025|work=Salvadoran Air Force|first1=Douglas A.|last1=Cornejo Escobar|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702135010/https://www.fas.gob.sv/jefa/excomandantes/munes.html|archive-date=2 July 2022|url-status=live}}
File:Enrico Massi's 1923 plane crash in El Salvador.jpg involved in the 1923 accident where Munés survived but Enrico Massi died]]
In 1923, Munés and Ricardo Aberle became the first students of El Salvador's aviation school taught by Italian aviator Enrico Massi.{{cite web|url=http://www.fas.gob.sv/historiadiv.html|title=Orígenes de la Aviación Nacional|trans-title=Origins of the National Aviation|language=es|access-date=10 March 2025|work=Salvadoran Air Force|first1=Douglas A.|last1=Cornejo Escobar|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910022801/http://www.fas.gob.sv/historiadiv.html|archive-date=10 September 2024|url-status=live}} On 4 October 1923, Massi was instructing Munés in a Caudron G.3 when their aircraft crashed into a farm in Soyapango at 11:30 a.m. after a mechanical failure.{{cite web|url=https://guanacos.com/los-hermanos-massi/|title=Los Hermanos Massi: Pioneros en Cine y Aviación en El Salvador|trans-title=The Massi Brothers: Pioneers of Film and Aviation in El Salvador|language=es|access-date=10 March 2025|work=Guanacos|first1=Rodrigo|last1=Portán}} Munés survived the crash but Massi was killed.{{cite web|url=http://archive.laprensa.com.sv/20030119/revista_dominical/rdo02.asp|title=Revista Dominical|trans-title=Dominical Magazine|language=es|access-date=10 March 2025|work=La Prensa|first1=Morena|last1=Azucena|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110528051531/http://archive.laprensa.com.sv/20030119/revista_dominical/rdo02.asp|archive-date=28 May 2011|url-status=dead}}
Munés and Aberle graduated on 12 July 1924 and Salvadoran president Alfonso Quiñónez Molina attended the ceremony. On 27 August 1924, Munés became a pilot in the Salvadoran Army with the rank of sublieutenant. On 16 October 1924, Munés was appointed as a pilot instructor and the chief of pilots of the Salvadoran Aviation Corps (air force). On 15 September 1925, Quiñónez sent a delegation of pilots (including Munés) to Guatemala to deliver a "fraternal greeting" ("{{lang|es|fraternal saludo}}") to the Guatemalan government; Guatemalan president José María Orellana awarded Munés the Medal of Gold for his participation in the visit. On 1 January 1929, Munés represented the Salvadoran government at the inauguration of Nicaraguan president José María Moncada. At some time between 1924 and 1932, Munés flew an aircraft over {{convert|5000|m|ft|sp=us}} over the Pacific Ocean, then a record in Central American aviation.
File:Civic Directory of 1931 (El Salvador).jpg, of which Munés was a member; he is the furthest-most right in the image]]
On 2 December 1931, the Salvadoran military overthrew President Arturo Araujo and established the Civic Directory to govern the country. The military junta consisted of twelve members; Munés represented military aviation in the junta. The Civic Directory dissolved on 4 December and appointed Brigadier General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez as provisional president. On 8 December 1931, the high command of the Armed Forces of El Salvador (FAES) promoted Munés to serve as the chief of the Salvadoran Aviation Corps. In January 1932, during {{lang|es|La Matanza}} (the massacre of communist and Indigenous rebels following a failed rebellion), Munés ordered the Salvadoran Aviation Corps to carry out reconnaissance and bombing missions of Communist Party positions across the departments of Ahuachapán, La Libertad, Santa Ana, and Sonsonate. {{lang|es|La Matanza}} was the Salvadoran Aviation Corps' first combat engagement.
By 1939, Munés was promoted to captain major. On 6 April 1944, Munés became the Director of the Army Instruction. On 15 December 1944, the Legislative Assembly promoted him to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Munés retired from military service in 1951. He served as the governor of La Libertad in 1951.
Munés died on 18 February 1968. In 1983, the Salvadoran government issued a post stamp that depicted Munés and a Salvadoran Air Force biplane.{{cite web|url=https://collectprime.com/item/juan-ramon-munes-air-force-el-salvador-stamp-5fbddcfb49d30c8f94dc68bf|title=Juan Ramon Munes, Air Force, El Salvador|language=en|access-date=10 March 2025|work=Collect Prime}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{S-start}}
{{S-mil}}
{{S-bef|before=José Trabanino}}
{{S-title|title=Commander of the Salvadoran Aviation Corps|years=1931–1944}}
{{S-aft|after=Herman Barón}}
{{S-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Munes, Juan Ramon}}
Category:People from Santa Ana, El Salvador