in western El Salvador and ordered the army to put down the revolt. He organized several of his military officers to accomplish specific tasks to crush the rebellion. General José Tomás Calderón was tasked with evicting rebels from western El Salvador, Colonel Osmín Aguirre y Salinas was to arrest communist leader Farabundo Martí, Colonel Salvador Ochoa had to recapture Santa Tecla, and Major Saturnino Cortez had to recapture Tacuba. After 72 hours, the rebellion was crushed. The specific number of victims is unknown, but estimates range from 10,000 to 40,000 for the entire rebellion. American historian Thomas Anderson says there were no more than 10,000 killed. He does accept that the military killed people without a judgement and that they were usually killed by a firing squad after being compelled to dig their own graves. Usually they only needed to be Indian, usually male, from the town, and listed as voters of the Communist party in that town. The leaders of the rebellion were all executed: Feliciano Ama was lynched by the Army while the communist leaders were executed by firing squad. After the conflict, survivors attempted to flee to Guatemala. In response, Guatemalan President and dictator Jorge Ubico ordered the Guatemalan-Salvadoran border to be closed and handed over anyone who attempted to cross to the Salvadoran army. As resolution of the conflict, the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador issued Legislative Decree No. 121 on 11 July 1932, which granted unconditional amnesty to anyone who committed crimes of any nature in order to "restore order, repress, persecute, punish and capture those accused of the crime of rebellion of this year." Authoritarian presidency Hernández Martínez's policies had various effects on the country's cultural, political, and economic life. By centralizing government, he participated in almost all decision-making, directing almost every single one of his government's activities. He distanced the military, except himself, from the civil administration of the country, resulting in military officers being a minority within his cabinet. The salaries for government officials and for the military were extremely low, compared to previous times. This discouraged military personnel from being involved in government, despite the fact that a demand for higher wages was one of the reasons the military toppled Araujo's government in 1931. However, he always preferred to have military protection, and transferred the presidential office and his family residence to the then Normal School for Boys, next to the