Nataniel Aguirre | |
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| Born | Nataniel Aguirre González (sometimes his second surname is represented as: González-Prada or González de Prada) (1843-10-10)October 10, 1843 Cochabamba,Bolivia |
| Died | September 11, 1888(1888-09-11) (aged 44) Montevideo,Uruguay |
| Occupation | Writer, politician, diplomat, lawyer |
| Genre | Novel |
| Notable works | Juan de la Rosa |
| Spouse | Margarita Achá |
| Children | 9 |
| Relatives | Miguel María de Aguirre (Father) María Manuela González de Prada (Mother) |
Nataniel Aguirre (Cochabamba, Bolivia, October 10, 1843 –Montevideo, Uruguay, September 11, 1888), was a Bolivian lawyer, diplomat, politician, writer, and historian.Menéndez y Pelayo considers his novelJuan de la Rosa the best 19th century novel in Spanish America.[1]
Born in the Hacienda de Huayllani, in thedepartment of Cochabamba, the fourth of five children, he was the son of the financier and Bolivian politician Miguel María de Aguirre and María Manuela González de Prada, who died when he was only three years old.
He finished high school inSucre in 1857 and shortly afterwards met Margarita de Achá, daughter of the presidentJosé María de Achá. Aguirre adored her and dedicated a poem to her, and married her on March 30, 1864 after graduating law school. They had nine children, one of which,José, also became a writer and politician.
Aguirre studied law at theUniversidad Mayor de San Simón, graduating in 1864.[2] When he was a student; in 1862 he foundedEl Independiente, where he wrote for one column.
In 1864 he was named secretary of the Bolivian Delegation inLima. The González Prada family, relatives of Aguirre on his mother's side, introduced him to intellectual and political circles in Peru.
That year he wrote a play calledVisionarios y mártires, about two characters, the Peruvian patriots Manuel Ubalde and Gabriel Aguilar, who in 1805 had conceived inCuzco the idea of independence of the homeland.
The following year he returned to Bolivia to contribute to the forces of his father-in-law, who had been overthrown by the military coup ofMariano Melgarejo.
After the violent death of the dictatorAgustín Morales, he participated in the Constituent Assembly of 1871, and joined in the debates between the unitarians, the encabezados led by Evaristo del Valle, and the federalists of Lucas Mendoza de la Tapia; after some hesitation, the tendency that appeared most just to Aguirre, were the ideas of the liberals. He was the representative forChapare Province (whose 1872 constitution he helped write), member of the President's Council of StateTomás Frías (1872), and prefect of Cochabamba (1879). In 1879 he left for theWar of the Pacific and led the squadronVanguardia. He directed the Convention of 1880, which ratifiedNarciso Campero as the constitutional president. He was named first Minister of War and then Minister of Foreign Relations. In this position he negotiated in 1884 the Pact of Truce between Bolivia and Chile of 1884 withChile even though he was personally in favor of continuing the war.[3]
He defended the necessity of a large agrarian reform and supported the indigenous people. He once said: “Hagamos del pobre indio un ciudadano como nosotros” (We will make the poor Indian a citizen like us). In 1885, the same year of the foundation of the Liberal Party, he was made the leader for it in Cochabamba.
Member of theGeneración de 1880, among whose works stood out wereRepresalia del Héroe,Biografía de Francisco Burdett O'Connor,Bolivia en la Guerra del Pacífico and the novel that was made famous,Juan de la Rosa. This novel —originally published with the titleCochabamba. Memoirs of the Last Soldier of the Independence Movement and whose authorship was doubted—,[4] is, according to critics and experts, one of the fundamentals ofBolivian literature.[2] He also wrote plays and poems.
He died inMontevideo, on the way to Brazil, where the government ofGregorio Pacheco had sent him as plenipotentiary minister to the court ofPedro II. His remains were repatriated to Cochabamba, where they are buried now in the mausoleum of the public cemetery.[citation needed]
