Aniceto Maple
Aniceto Arce Ruiz de Mendoza (Tarija, United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, April 17, 1824-Sucre, Republic of Bolivia, August 14, 1906) was a lawyer, businessman and Bolivian politician. He held the presidency of Bolivia from August 15, 1888 to August 11, 1892 and the vice-presidency from May 31, 1880 to March 11, 1881.
Biography
Aniceto Arce was born in Tarija, on April 17, 1824. Belonging to a modest family, he was the son of Diego de Arce and Francisca Ruiz de Mendoza. He completed his primary and secondary studies at the Junín de Sucre College, and law at the Universidad Mayor, Real y Pontificia de San Francisco Xavier de Chuquisaca. He very young he toured the country. In 1850, at the age of 27, he was elected deputy; Persecuted by President Manuel Isidoro Belzu, he went into exile in Copiapó (Chile) where he became interested in mining work. Once José María Linares rose to power by taking office as president of Bolivia in January 1857, Arce was appointed rector of the Pichincha National College in Potosí. A year earlier, in 1856, he had begun work in the Huanchaca silver mines that would make him the country's first millionaire.
During the government of general and president José María de Achá he was Bolivia's minister in Argentina and Paraguay (1863). During the War of the Pacific, convinced of the adverse outcome for the country, he headed the pacifist party. His position was that the Littoral was for various reasons indefensible. Thus, the country should reduce its losses and seek an alliance with Chile. He participated from the Congress to overthrow Hilarión Daza and had a fundamental role in the drafting of the country's new Constitution, agreeing to be vice president of Narciso Campero in the crucial period of nation building 1880-1884. His differences in the resolution of the war with Chile led to his exile from Bolivia in 1881, settling in Paris. Finally, the name of Arce is acquitted and he is allowed to return to the country in 1883. Immediately, he intervenes again in politics at the head of the Constitutional Party, which became the Conservative Party when it merged with the Democratic Party, and which proposed the primacy of the law, periodic elections and a regime in favor of business elites. In 1885 he was appointed minister of his country in Chile and, in 1886, minister in Spain and France. Many authors consider that his dubious action in the War of the Pacific together with Narciso Campero was a betrayal of his homeland. Therefore, he was the main person responsible for the loss of the Litoral department and the access to the sea.
President of Bolivia
He was elected President of Bolivia for the period 1888-1892. Finished this he retired to private life and his business. He returned to active politics in 1904 to compete as a candidate for the first magistracy with his opponent Ismael Montes. He died two years later.
His tenure was characterized by a strong and constructive government. He understood that the essential thing was to link the various regions and communicate the country with the outside world. In this way he had highways built between Sucre and Potosí, Sucre and Cochabamba and Oruro, and Cochabamba to Beni and, above all, the railway between the Chilean border and Oruro, which linked the country and its products with the world; On the other hand, his plans to take him to La Paz and Sucre were not carried out, in part, due to internal opposition. In addition to other diverse public works, he created the Military College of the Army, carries out the electrification of some cities and promulgates modern banking and investment laws. In foreign policy, Arce tried unsuccessfully to have the strip of coastline seized by Chile returned to Bolivia or to cede the territories of Tacna and Arica. He is remembered for his energetic character and his firm stance in favor of a civil and democratic order (this earned him the nickname "the iron Bolivian"), and for having laid the foundations for the operation of a system of modern political parties in the country.
Exploration began in the Caupolicán region (formerly one of the provinces of Beni that extended to the department of Pando) present-day Franz Tamayo province, where the rubber riches were discovered.
Aniceto Arce died in Sucre, Bolivia on August 14, 1906 at the age of 82.
Administrative acts and legacy
- The construction of the first railway lines.
- The domination of silver in the economy.
- The opening of the phone in Bolivia.
- The Uyuni City Foundation.
- The creation of several banks, National Mortgage, Mortgage Credit, National of Bolivia.
- The implementation of paved roads.
- The exploration of the region of Caupolican, where wealth was discovered.
- The Military College was founded.
Authors such as José Mesa, Teresa Gisbert and Carlos Mesa Gisbert consider that Aniceto Arce did not order the entry into action of the forces commanded by Narciso Campero during the Pacific War because he was in collusion with Chilean mining businessmen, who had commercial interests on the Bolivian Pacific coast, which had been occupied by Chile after the military actions of March 1879.
Anecdotal information
D. Aniceto Arce appears in the book Chuquisaca, or La Plata Perulera by the Spanish writer Ciro Bayo, who with the help of the then-retired president of Bolivia manages to establish a nursery school for the children of the wealthier classes of Sucre, including the grandchildren of the former president