José Francisco Morazán (1792-1842) was a Central American general and statesman. He was the last president of the Central American Federation and its best-known defender.

Francisco Morazán was born presumably in or near Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Oct. 3, 1792. The environment afforded scant opportunity for education or employment; hence, Morazán was largely self-taught and his early experience limited.

After Central America won independence, Morazán aligned himself with Liberals and became their most successful military commander in armed conflicts with Conservatives. A succession of local victories in Honduras brought him to San Salvador, capital of neighboring El Salvador, in support of Liberal exiles organized to repossess the governments of the federal republic and the state of Guatemala. At the head of the Liberal forces, in April 1829 Morazán took Guatemala City, capital of the state and of the federation. He exiled...