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José de la Riva-Agüero y Osma Marquis of Aulestia Marquis of Casa Dávila | |
|---|---|
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| Prime Minister of Peru | |
| In office November 24, 1933 – May 18, 1934 | |
| President | Oscar Benavides |
| Preceded by | Jorge Prado Ugarteche [es] |
| Succeeded by | Alberto Rey de Castro |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 26, 1885 Lima, Peru |
| Died | October 25, 1944 (aged 59) Lima, Peru |
| Party | Democratic National Party, Peruvian Fascist Brotherhood |
| Alma mater | University of San Marcos |
| Occupation | Writer, historian and politician |
José de la Riva-Agüero y Osma, 6th Marquess of Montealegre de Aulestia and 5th of Casa-Dávila (26 February 1885 – 25 October 1944) was aPeruvianlawyer,historian,writer,essayist andpolitician who served asPrime Minister of Peru,Minister of Justice andMayor of Lima. He was a leading member of the so-calledGeneration of 900 (also known as theArielist generation), a conservative ideological movement of the early 20th century that also included other important member of Peruvian society, such asVíctor Andrés Belaúnde,Francisco García Calderón Rey,Óscar Miró Quesada de la Guerra andJosé Gálvez Barrenechea.
He was a notablepolygraph and his works included treatises onlaw,literary history, thehistory of Peru,legal philosophy and religious thought, many of which have had great impact and fundamental influence on the development ofPeruvian culture. His thought followed a changing trajectory, evolving from a youthfulliberalism to a severeconservatism rooted inChristianity. He did not marry or leave an inheritance, bequeathing most of his fortune (made up ofagricultural estates and works of art) to thePontifical Catholic University of Peru, thus becoming the main benefactor of the institution, which created theRiva-Agüero Institute three years after his death.
Riva-Agüero was born inLima, the only child of José Carlos de la Riva-Agüero y Riglos and María de los Dolores de Osma y Sancho-Dávila, 5th Marquise of Montealegre de Aulestia. He was a grandson ofJosé de la Riva-Agüero y Looz and apatrilineal descendant ofJosé de la Riva-Agüero y Sánchez-Boquete, firstPresident of Peru, and thePrincess Caroline-Arnoldine de Looz-Corswarem.
He was educated atRecoleta Sacred Heart School and theUniversity of San Marcos, where he readphilosophy,human sciences andlaw. While at San Marcos, he gained a reputation for academic excellence andpolitical activism, and was part of the so-calledGeneration of 1900. He received aBachelor of Arts degree and aDoctorate degree in human sciences in 1905 and 1910, respectively, and a Bachelor of Arts in law in 1911. Riva-Agüero wrote his dissertation on "History in Peru" (La Historia en el Perú),[1] the earliest work ofhistoriography to be written in Latin America. Eventually, he became alecturer of history of Peru at San Marcos in 1910.
In 1911, he published an article defending the issuance of anamnesty law for thepolitical prisoners involved in the 1909coup d'état attempt againstAugusto Leguía. Leguía'sMinister of the Interior, Juan de Dios Salazar, ordered his arrest, which immediately provoked bitter universityprotests anddemonstrations that resulted in violentpolitical repression by theNational Gendarmerie. This event was the first confrontation between university students andpolice forces in thehistory of Peru. A few days after his imprisonment, he was released due to political pressure and the Minister resigned from his office.
After a long journey throughSpain, where he didresearch in several archives and gave lectures inSeville, Riva-Agüero co-founded the moderateDemocratic National Party in 1915 and supported the presidential candidature of theCivilistaJosé Pardo y Barreda in the April 1915 election.[2]
Around this time, he started a letter-writing relationship with his cousin, historian and journalistÁlvaro Alcalá-Galiano y Osma, whom he would have met in 1913.[3]
Immediately after Leguía's 1919 coup against Pardo, he wrote amanifesto and went into voluntary exile inEurope. During his first years in exile Riva-Agüero lived inMadrid, then he moved toParis and later toRome, where spent the most part of the eleven years of the Leguía's Government. When his mother died in 1926, hesucceeded her as Marquis of Montealegre de Aulestia and was legallyadopted by her maternal aunt Rosa Julia, 4th Marquise of Casa-Dávila, who later inherited him thetitle and a large fortune. In exile, Riva-Agüero abandoned his moderate views and came into contact with the works ofCatholic rightist authors such asJacques Bainville andCharles Maurras and soon became a disciple of their ideas.[citation needed] Riva-Agüero would live in Europe until 1930.[4]
Riva-Agüero was a member of theSovereign Military Order of Malta.[5]
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Riva-Agüero returned to Peru in August 1930 when amilitary coup led byCommanderLuis Miguel Sánchez Cerro overthrewLeguía's regime. In June 1931, he was elected as Director of the Institute of History at University of San Marcos, but resigned after just one month due to differences with the student government. Although he initially refused to take up any seat in the1931 Constituent Assembly or otherwise participate in Sánchez Cerro's interimjunta, he supported the Commander's presidential candidature in the1931 general election. In May that same year, he had been appointedMayor of Lima by theSamanez Ocampo's provisional government. As Mayor, he especially patronized cultural activities, but also had to deal with the 1931 telephone strike.
After Sánchez Cerro'sassassination in 1933, the Assembly proclaimedGeneralÓscar R. Benavides President of the Republic. In November 1933, Benavides appointed Riva-AgüeroPrime Minister andMinister of Justice. He appointed Commander A. Henriod to head the Ministry of Interior and advocated a policy of repression against the leftist APRA and the Communist Party.
His political beliefs changed during his life, evolving from liberalism at his youth to a staunch conservatism rooted in Christianity. In theBiographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890, he was listed as one of the leading figures of thefar right in Peru.[6]
After his spell as Prime Minister Riva-Agüero moved further to theright. He launched his own hard-line CatholicAcción Patriótica movement after the model ofAction Française and before long he had changed the name of this group to the Peruvian Fascist Brotherhood.[2][7] He personally declared his support forItalian fascism andFalangism although it has been argued that politically he was more of a very elitist Catholic rightist who also supportedHispanidad.[8][verify] In his obituary speech to his colleague of his generationJosé María de la Jara y Ureta [es], he said that the failure of his political group was due to supporting certain "generous abstractions", such as freedom and democracy.[4] Initially Riva-Agüero gained a strong following for his new endeavour but before long his newfoundextremism, combined with his increasingly odd personal behaviour, began to lose him his credibility. He became stronglyanti-Semitic and soon took to praisingAdolf Hitler, losing him some support.[2] Meanwhile, he started insisting that followers called him the Marquis of Aulestia, a title that had been in the family but had long since fell into disuse and which had little currency in a republic such as Peru, and his generally arrogant demeanour cost him more support.[2] His persona was further damaged when he even took to occasional bouts of publictransvestism at functions.[2] He and the Peruvian Fascist Brotherhood finally drifted into obscurity in 1942 when Peru officially became one of theAllies although he continued to write articles in defence of theAxis powers until his death.[2][7]
The most prominent fascist movement in Peru was the Union Revolucionaria (UR), which used the fascist salute and developed a party militia called the Black Shirts. The UR, modeling themselves after Mussolini's Italy, were anti-democratic, populist, and nationalist, but after a failed bid in the 1936 elections the party gradually lost support. Following its demise, the Peruvian Fascist Brotherhood became the major outlet of Peruvian fascism, led by the former prime minister Jose de la Riva-Aguero y Osma. While the group initially received some support, it quickly faded after Peru entered the war on the side of the Allies.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jorge Prado y Ugarteche | Prime Minister of Peru 1933–1934 | Succeeded by Alberto Rey de Castro y Romaña |
