Aniceto Arce | |
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| 22nd President of Bolivia | |
| In office 15 August 1888 – 11 August 1892 | |
| Vice President | José Manuel del Carpio Serapio Reyes Ortiz |
| Preceded by | Gregorio Pacheco |
| Succeeded by | Mariano Baptista |
| 4th Vice President of Bolivia | |
First Vice President | |
| In office 31 May 1880 – 11 March 1881 Serving with Belisario Salinas | |
| President | Narciso Campero |
| Preceded by | Mariano Enrique Calvo |
| Succeeded by | Mariano Baptista |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 18 October 1862 – 22 December 1862 | |
| President | José María de Achá |
| Preceded by | Rudecindo Carvajal |
| Succeeded by | Melchor Urquidi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Aniceto Arce Ruiz de Mendoza (1824-04-15)15 April 1824 Padcaya,United Provinces of the Río de la Plata(now Bolivia) |
| Died | 14 August 1906(1906-08-14) (aged 82) Sucre, Bolivia |
| Political party | Conservative Constitutional |
| Spouse | Amalia Argandoña Revilla |
| Parent(s) | Diego Antonio Arce Josefa Ruiz de Mendoza |
| Education | University of Saint Francis Xavier |
| Signature | .svg) |
Aniceto Arce Ruiz de Mendoza (15 April 1824, inTarija – 14 August 1906) was a Bolivianlawyer and politician who served as the 22ndpresident of Bolivia from 1888 to 1892.[1][2] He also served as the fourthvice president of Bolivia from 1880 to 1881 underNarciso Campero. TheAniceto Arce Province is named after him.
He was born to Diego Antonio Arce and Josefa Ruiz de Mendoza, both members of the colonial elite within theViceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. Arce was a native ofTarija but was educated as a lawyer and resided most of his life inSucre, where he became one of the country's foremost silver-mining tycoons.[3]
Arce was a supporter ofJosé María Linares and his Constitutionalist government, even backing the President when he proclaimed himself dictator.[4] During the Linares regime Arce began his career in Congress during, a role which he would occupy until the 1870s, whenHilarión Daza seized power.
Unlike other capable leaders of his day, Arce did not enlist to serve when theWar of the Pacific developed in 1879. Indeed, his became one of the most accommodationist voices in the political spectrum, perhaps as a result of his extensive business connections toChile, where he sold much of his silver, invested his profits, and sought financing for his projects.[5] Arce believed that the Litoral was, for various lamentable reasons, largely indefensible. Thus, the country should cut its losses and seek an alliance withChile rather than withPeru.[2][3][6]
Despite this minority position, what rang more clearly in the ears of most Bolivians was Arce's steadfast call for the establishment of a conservative democratic order, with the primacy of law, regular elections, and rule by enlightened pro-business elites such as himself.[4][7] To this end, he founded theConservative Party, and participated as a candidate in the 1880 Congress that toppled General Daza, and had a role in the drafting of the country's new Constitution.[8] Moreover, he agreed to becomeNarciso Campero's vice-president for the crucial, nation-building 1880-84 period.[9]
Arce was married to Amalia Argandoña Revilla, the sister ofFrancisco Argandoña Revilla, Prince of La Glorieta. He was one of the wealthiest men in Bolivia and became a business partner of Arce. Arce would actually encourage Argandoña's marriage toClotilde de Urioste Velasco,[10] who the member of a powerful family from Sucre and sister of one of Arce's staunchest detractors,Atanasio de Urioste Velasco. Paradoxically, Urioste would save the life of Arce when a mob surrounded the Cathedral of Sucre and had the intention to lynch the president. Urioste disguised Arce as a priest at took him into his own home. All this despite the fact that they had completely opposite political views.[11]
Arce's pro-Chile stance clashed with those of the patriotic President and retired General, who favored rearmament and a sustained diplomatic offensive againstChile, perhaps leading to a mediation of the conflict and if not, to a reinsertions of Bolivian troops in Peru's aid.[2][5] Arce, as explained, favored a "realistic" policy of recognition thatBolivia had indeed lost its access to the Pacific, and that the best that could be done was to reach amodus vivendi withSantiago (which had the upper hand), even if this meant abandoning the hitherto sacrosanct alliance with Lima.[3][6] President Campero took this to be a sign of treason and, in 1881, expelled Arce, his own vice-president until then, from Bolivia.[4]
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Eventually, Arce's name was cleared and he was allowed to return to the country. He promptly entered his name asConservative Party candidate in the 1884 general elections, the first under the new Constoitution and since 1873. Arce was widely expected to win too, but very narrowly lost to the "dark-horse" candidateGregorio Pacheco,[7] a man even wealthier than Arce and the country's chief philanthropist, who ran on a platform of apolitical "efficient administration."[4] Being privileged silver miners from the South who shared a conservative, pro-business philosophy, the two reached an understanding, with Pacheco agreeing to become president in exchange for making Arce his vice-president and pledging himself to support the Conservative party candidate in the 1884 elections.[5]
As had been agreed upon, Pacheco supported Arce in the 1888 elections. It is thus that Arce, the Conservative Party caudillo, at long last became president in August 1888, at the age of 64.[3] Even more so than Pacheco, Arce ruled repressively, but also consolidated many advances, including the completion of the first intra-Bolivian railway (leading from the Chilean border toOruro) and the electrification of a number of Bolivian cities. He also promulgated a modern new set of banking and investment laws.[12]
Unabashedly pro-capitalist, devoted to practically unrestricted free entrepreneurship in the English tradition, and pro-insertion into the international economy under the aegis of foreign investment, he faced many pro-Liberal rebellions but somehow managed to hold on to power by the force of his assertive personality.[5] He completed his term and in 1892 passed the baton to another Conservative, his understudy and vice-presidentMariano Baptista.
Arce retired from politics after the end of his term, although he served as an unofficial but very important adviser to the Conservative Presidents Baptista (1892–1896) andSevero Fernández (1896–99). He was forcefully returned to the political limelight at the turn of the century when he suffered political prosecution at the hands of the Liberal Party, which had at long last seized power in theCivil War of 1899.[3][5]
Surprisingly, the elderly Arce was nonetheless allowed to present himself as candidate for president at the 1904 general elections. Presumably because he was 80 years old, unpopular, and therefore quite beatable. Finding the party he founded demoralized, vilified, and acephalous, the combative Arce accepted the difficult challenge of running against the officially supported, popular Liberal candidateIsmael Montes.[4] He was trounced, losing by a wide margin—the largest in Bolivian electoral history up to that point.[3]
The former president then finally retired completely from politics, withdrawing to his vast rural estate, where he died two years later in 1906, at the age of 82. He is best remembered for his assertive temperament and firm stance in favor of a civilian democratic (although oligarchic) order and for having laid the foundation for the functioning of a modern party system in the country.[3]
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