Exposición Centroamericana

1897 Central American Expo

Exposición Centroamericana proceedings
Native name	Exposición Centroamericana de 1897
Date	1897 (1897)
Location	Central American Expo, "30 de Junio" Boulevard, Guatemala City,  Guatemala
Organised by	Guatemalan government
Participants	40.000

The Exposición Centroamericana -Central American Expo- was and industrial and cultural exposition that took place in Guatemala in 1897 and which was approved on 8 March 1894 by the National Assembly by Decree 253 by a suggestion made by president general José María Reina Barrios, at a time when both coffee - only Guatemalan export at the time- and silver international prices were at an all-time high. Its main goal was to showcase the Interoceanic railroad between Iztapa on the Pacific coast and Puerto Barrios on the Atlantic, a project that was well ahead by January 1897, but that was left unfinished when Guatemala went into a deep crisis due to both coffee and silver international prices plummeting after the government had built numerous public buildings and palaces in Guatemala City, simultaneously with the railroad projects. As a result, the Expo failed dramatically, the Guatemalan economic crisis gave rise to several rebellions -mainly the ones in the Highlands and the one on the Eastern Side and president Reina Barrios was eventually assassinated on 8 February 1898.

The Expo was inspired on the Fourth Universal Expo in Paris, which took place in 1889.

According to the official decree, the government explained that "thanks to the beneficial peace that the country had reached, it is time for Guatemala to showcase its advances in agriculture and those works children of the intelligence and ingenuity of our fellow countrymen in an Expo that will be a Peace Feast where Guatemala will render its best accomplishments".

According to plan, the Exposición Centroamericana would be open to the public on 15 March 1897 and it would take place along "30 June" Boulevard which was under construction outside Guatemala City at the time. The Expo was to be installed in seventeen main buildings of different sizes, from a main hall for Central American and California pavilions to small buildings for restaurant and administrative offices.

The Expo goals, according to the Guatemalan government were: "gather diverse goods to by them; learn about what one does not know anything about; improve what it is already known; share with others what is made in Guatemala; awake and stimulate human labor; tighten universal fraternity; and showcase Guatemala with dignity, by means of a grand celebration of civilization and culture."