Carlos Meléndez (politician)

Carlos Meléndez Ramírez (1 February 1861 – 8 October 1919) was a Salvadoran politician and businessman who served as the president of El Salvador from 1913 to 1914 and again from 1915 to 1918. Meléndez's presidencies were a part of the broader Meléndez–Quiñónez dynasty that ruled El Salvador from 1913 to 1927.

Meléndez entered politics during the presidency of Divisional General Francisco Menéndez. He participated in the presidential elections of 1895, 1903, and 1907, but lost every contest. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador on five occasions during the 1900s and 1910s and became its president in 1913. That year, President Manuel Enrique Araujo was assassinated and Meléndez succeeded him as provisional president. He resigned in August 1914 to be eligible to run in the 1915 presidential election, which he won.

Meléndez was inaugurated as president on 1 March 1915. As president, Meléndez kept El Salvador neutral during World War I, in part due to his opposition to the United States' foreign policy in Nicaragua. Meléndez also promoted the "Meléndez Doctrine" that recognized the Gulf of Fonseca as a condominium between El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. He resigned from the presidency in August 1918 due to illness and was succeeded by his brother-in-law Vice President Alfonso Quiñónez Molina. Meléndez's brother, Jorge, succeeded Quiñónez after winning the 1919 election. Meléndez died in New York City in October 1919 and was buried in El Salvador the following month.