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Carlos Antúnez González (30 December 1847 – 27 October 1897) was a Chilean politician who served as Deputy from Lontué from 1879 to 1882, Senator from Colchagua from 1885 to 1891 including as President of the Senate in 1887, and Minister of War and Navy from 1884 to 1885 under President Domingo Santa María.

Early life
Carrera was born on 24 October 1814 in the Candelaria barrio of Guatemala City towards the end of the Spanish colonial period. He was of humble origin, a mestizo and illiterate. He first worked as a farmhand. He enlisted in the army during the civil war, which lasted from 1826 to 1829. In 1835, he left the army and moved to Mataquescuintla where he married Petrona García and worked as a swineherd.

Rise to power
By 1837, rural masses were voicing numerous grievances against the liberal government of Guatemala. Inexperienced in republican politics, the liberal leaders did not foresee the power of popular resistance and refused to change course. A cholera epidemic added to the frustration over grievances, led to panic, and helped Carrera rally the peasants into armed resistance. Strongly supported by the Church, Carrera became de facto ruler of much of Guatemala and led a large uprising of Indians and poor peasants of mixed race in the east and south of the country, an area known as The Mountain. The movement was strongly pro-Catholic and eager to restore many of the colonial religious institutions and traditions that the liberals had abandoned. Francisco Morazán repeatedly drove Carrera's forces out of cities and towns, but Carrera's followers would retake places as soon as Morazán's army left. For almost a decade, he was content being a military commander and enjoyed the respect of his followers.

Even though they distrusted and despised him, the conservative criollos from the Aycinena Clan, decided to support Carrera in the hope of regaining the power and privileges that they had lost in 1829 after Morazán's invasion of Guatemala. Under the leadership of Juan José de Aycinena y Piñol the conservatives aimed to regain their place as Guatemala's elite from which the liberals had expelled them.