Eduardo Lopez de Romana

José Gabriel Eduardo Octavio López de Romaña y Alvizuri (Arequipa, March 19, 1847 - Yura, May 26, 1912) was a Peruvian engineer, businessman and politician, who held the Constitutional Presidency of Peru from 1899 to 1903. He was the first Peruvian president with a civil engineering profession. With him began the stage called the Aristocratic Republic, which would last until 1919.

A member of a prominent Arequipa family with colonial roots, he was educated in England and specialized in building bridges for railways. He worked in India and in Brazil. He returned to Peru and settled in Arequipa, where he provided his services for the benefit of the community. He provided drinking water service to his hometown. He was the owner of vast farms in the Tambo Valley. He participated in the defense during the war with Chile. During the second government of Nicolás de Piérola, he was appointed head of the brand new Ministry of Development and Public Works, in 1896. He became mayor of Arequipa in 1897. Appointed candidate for the presidency representing the civil-democratic alliance, he triumphed in the elections of 1899.

During his government the development of agriculture, mining and industry continued; he promoted the colonization of the inter-Andean valleys and the eastern regions; he promulgated the Mining Code in 1901, the Commercial Code and the Water Code in 1902; created the Estanco de la Sal to finance the recovery of the provinces of Tacna and Arica in Chilean power; and faced the problems derived from the Chileanization policy in said territories, which sought to perpetuate the occupation. He completed his term without much trouble, after which he withdrew into private life.

Biography

He was the son of Juan Manuel López de Romaña and Fernández Pascua and María Josefa Alvizuri and Bustamante, members of the Arequipa aristocracy of colonial origin. His father worked in agriculture and owned huge farms in the coastal valleys and farms in the mountainous countryside. Grandson of Manuel Fernando López de Romaña (son of Manuel Felipe López de Pando and Joaquina Águeda de Romaña y de los Tueros), who was baptized on May 30, 1777, in the Church of San Pedro de Romaña, in Valle de Trucios (in Basque Turtzioz), a municipality in the province of Vizcaya, in the Basque Country (Spain); He emigrated to America at the age of 19, and married in Arequipa on June 2, 1813 in El Sagrario, Doña María Josefa Fernández de Pascua and Portu Jiménez Lancho, born on December 25, 1792, the only daughter of Captain General Don Juan Fernández de Pascua and Doña Catalina de Portu y Jiménez-Lancho, a relative by the latter surname, Jiménez-Lancho, of the Marquises of Torre Tagle.^{[citation required]}

He began his studies at the San Jerónimo seminary in his hometown, under the rectorate of the priest Sors. He later traveled with his two brothers to England to study at the famous Stonyhurst College, run by the Catholic nobility of Great Britain. He pursued a degree in applied sciences at King's College London, where he obtained a bachelor's degree (1868). Upon graduating as a civil engineer, he specialized in the design and laying of iron bridges for the passage of railways and carried out professional practices under the orders of engineer M. Lee Smith. He traveled to India, to supervise the bridge over the River Ravee in Silvertown, at the request of the Great Office of the Northern Railway of Punjab, which cemented his prestige and elevated him at an early age in a comfortable financial situation. from 1872 he was enrolled in the Institute of Civil Engineers in London.

He later went to America as an engineer for the Public Works Construction Company for the construction of the railway from Madeira to Mamoré, in the Brazilian jungle, on the border with Bolivia. It was a great project devised by the American colonel Church, which had to unite the navigable points of the Madeira, separated by rapids and waterfalls. This was intended to open extensive rubber plantations to communication and colonize the valleys of Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia. The project, supported by Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, lasted eighteen months of sacrificial labor in the jungle and, ultimately, due to illnesses, river accidents, and attacks by the local natives, the expedition was decimated. López de Romaña fortunately saved his life, although he was unable to complete the task entrusted to him.

With the money received, Romaña traveled around Europe, further improving his profession. He returned to Peru in March 1874, after 15 years of absence, and settled in his native Arequipa.

On March 20, 1877, he married Josefa de Castresana, from whom Eduardo, Carlos and Hortensia were born.

He dedicated himself to the gas lighting works in Arequipa, as an engineer and manager. He negotiated with President Manuel Pardo to obtain 33,000 soles on account of a debt that the government had with the Municipality of Arequipa, a shareholder in the work. He withdrew from it when technical and financial difficulties led to the failure of the project. The blockade of the port of Mollendo, during the Pacific War, contributed a lot to this, since it prevented the introduction of coal. The pipes from the failed work were later used to supply water to the city, which would be completed in 1895.

He later turned to agriculture, to dedicate himself to the production of sugar cane in the valleys of Tambo, where he had numerous farms, his family's heritage. But his attempt to create a modern industry failed due to the entrenching of the old colonial structures of exploitation, and in part, due to the fact that the modern steam machinery that he had imported was stolen and dismantled in the same port of Mollendo.. To his works to modernize his haciendas, he added the construction of the Cachuyo dam, to protect the lands of the valley from the torrential mouth of the river.

When during the War of the Pacific, the Chilean advance into his territory took place, he enlisted in the defense with the rank of colonel and as general commander of the Civic Militias of the Tambo Valley (where he had his farms). Three battalions of 1,500 men were under his command, of which only two hundred were properly armed. Romaña prevented the entry of the Chilean invaders in 1880, forcing them to withdraw through Mollendo, but not before setting the port on fire. Then in 1882 the Chileans tried to enter the valley through Mejía, but they were repelled again by Romaña, this time with the support of the hussars of Junín. Finally Arequipa was taken by the enemy and the Romaña family took refuge in Tacna, where Eduardo's wife died.

Photograph by Eduardo López de Romaña.

After the conflict, Romaña returned to Arequipa, where he was president of the Liberal Club, director of the Sociedad de Beneficencia Pública de Arequipa (1889-95 and 1897) and an engineer assigned to the local municipality. Among his public works, the bridge stood out Grau, which he endowed with an ingenious inverted arch to provide security, the culmination of the water and sewerage works, the Tingo bridge and, finally, the electric light work, all between 1885 and 1899. He was also a promoter of the Society of Artisans, founder of schools and clubs, and ended up elected President of the Patriotic Board of Arequipa.

After the triumph of the coalitionist (democratic-civilist) revolution headed by Nicolás de Piérola, in 1895, Romaña was elected deputy for Arequipa and held the first vice-presidency of its Chamber. When the Ministry of Development was created in January 1896, he was appointed as its first head, and although he was only there for a short period (from January 26 to August 9 of that year), he gave it an organization and the appropriate programs to put it on going. The function of this ministry was to promote irrigation, roads, mining extractions, and even industry.

In 1897 he was elected mayor of the city of Arequipa, a position he held in a remarkable way, carrying out urban and road works. He returned to the Congress of the Republic in 1898 this time as a senator and a year later, when Piérola's government came to an end, he was elected candidate for the presidency of the Republic by the civil-democratic alliance.

1899 Presidential Election

In 1899, when Piérola's constitutional government came to an end, presidential elections were called. President Piérola, after a notable government, did not grant official support to any candidate; His party, the Democrats, initially wanted to launch the candidacy of Alejandro López de Romaña, who had been Prime Minister and Minister of Government. But Alejandro rejected the offer and recommended that the designated be his brother Eduardo López de Romaña.The Democrats then divided into two camps that proposed their respective candidates:

• One of them, the majority, joined the Civil Party and launched the candidacy of Eduardo López de Romaña. It is to be known that this, although he had been a minister of promotion of the pierolist government, was not a party activist; he was, therefore, an independent, without political passions; this and his quality as a leading professional and a man of vast culture, was what led both Democrats and civilists to accept his candidacy. As a candidate for the first vice president was veteran Isaac Alzamora, leader of civilism. Thus the political alliance that gave rise to the National Coalition, the same that succeeded in the revolution of 1894-95, and which had ruled with Piérola.
• The other side, minority, that of the "official" Democrats, appointed Guillermo Billinghurst as a candidate.

In the elections, direct voting was applied for the first time in Peruvian history, with López de Romaña emerging as the winner.

Presidency of the Republic (1899-1903)

Eduardo López de Romaña towards 1900.

Eduardo López de Romaña took command of the Republic on September 8, 1899. Carlos de Piérola, brother of the Democratic leader, was president of the Chamber of Deputies, while Manuel Candamo, a civilian leader, presided over the Senate. This division responded to the predominance of the democrats in the Chamber of Deputies, and of the civilistas in the Senators; however, the differences quickly translated into the move from the Democrats to the opposition.

López de Romaña made up his cabinet almost exclusively with civilistas, to which the Democratic majority in the Chamber of Deputies responded by censuring them. There were heated parliamentary controversies about the obligation to resign or not on the part of the censured ministers.

This struggle between the two most important parties was not only taking place in Congress, but also in the field of municipal elections: in 1901 the candidacy of civilista Federico Elguera triumphed in Lima, managing to defeat none other than former president Nicolás de Piérola, who in a moment of pessimism announced his retirement from politics.

During his tenure, López de Romaña faced several uprisings by supporters of former President Andrés A. Cáceres. Wandering parties of montoneros, among whom was the Huanuqueño Augusto Durand, created disturbances in the provinces. The latter founded a new political party in 1901: the Liberal Party.

Important works and events

Economic aspect

Reverse of a Peruvian pound of gold.

In order to achieve the economic strength of the nation, the following measures were taken:

• Regarding the monetary problem, the consolidation of the healthy currency regime was sought through the definitive implementation of the Gold Pattern. This was consolidated by law promulgated on December 14, 1901, by which it was established that the monetary unit in the Republic was represented by the Peruvian Golden Libra, which was to be a disc of 22 millimeters in diameter with an alloy composed of 11 parts of gold with a total weight of 988 milligrams.
• With regard to tax collection, the government decided to negotiate with a new company to replace the Tax Collector's Society, as the latter, when urgently requested a loan, made difficulties and raised beneficial conditions. In this regard, the Congress passed a law on 13 December 1899, authorizing the Executive to carry out a contract of tax collection in alcohol consumption, tobacco, registration stamps, tarpaulin, dispossession and opium stake products; also included the sale of sealed paper and mining taxes. The People’s Bank offered to organize a new company and thus arose the National Collection Society, which was authorized to give effect to the taxes mentioned. The government held with it a 60,000-pound loan and extended until 30 July 1906 its contract for tax collection.

Colonizing politics

The colonizing action in the jungle, which was in the middle of the peak of rubber exploitation, resolutely had the support of the government. Thus, the voyages of the following explorers occurred:

• Colonel Pedro Portillo, who, between 1901 and 1904, explored the region of the Pichis River, the Pongo de Manseriche, the Perené River Basin, also sailing through the Marañón, Amazonas, Yavarí, Putumayo, Napo and the lower part of the Tigre, Morona, Pastaza and Ucayali rivers. He made the Atlas of the Loreto Department and became a burning defender of Peruvian sovereignty on the north-eastern border, establishing the Tarapacá, Arica and Tacna police stations in the Putumayo region. All this action was performed by Portillo as Prefect of Loreto.
• Lieutenant Numa Pompilio León, who at the front of the boat Iquitos traveled from Iquitos to Puerto Bermúdez to establish a post service.
• Manuel Antonio Mesones Muro, who in 1902 exploded from Etén to Puerto Meléndez, laying the foundations for the Olmos-río Marañón road.
• Jorge Von Hassel, who built the pier of Iquitos and traveled the rivers Pachitea and Pichis, being also a projectist of the railway from Piura to the Pongo de Manseriche. In 1901, he traveled through the Amazon and the Marañón; in 1902, he explored the river Napo and in 1903 he traveled the river Curaray affluent of the Napo.
• Joaquín Capelo, who in 1901 pointed out the border limits of the department of Loreto and sought to lay the foundations of military defense in the region of the Amazon on the basis of a military apostore that would be established in Puerto Bermúdez. Capelo was obsessed with granting the Peruvian Amazon not only a defensive system but preserving its resources, because it was amused that there was the economic future of the country. That is why he formed a Superior Court in Iquitos and requested that a provision be made in the budget of 1902 for the acquisition of two vapours and two boats for the service of the Eastern rivers.

He also promoted the colonization of inter-Andean valleys that had been forgotten until then.

International look

In the image, Eduardo López de Romaña in a military magazine, 1902.

In this field, the government tried to solve border problems with neighboring countries.

• With Bolivia, there were conflicting situations on the border north of Lago Titicaca to Brazil, a jungle area that was convulsed by the rise of the rubber, although there were also problems on the southern border of the lake, to Chile. On September 23, 1902 the Peruvian plenipotentiary Minister Felipe de Osma and the Bolivian Foreign Minister Eliodoro Villazón signed a treaty of direct demarcation of the Peruvian-Bolivian border between the Suches River and the border with Chile. The area of greater conflict, located north of the Suches River to the border with Brazil, was subject to arbitration by the President of the Argentine Republic.
• With Chile there was a tense situation following the violent "chilenization" campaign that the country unleashed on the Peruvian population in Tacna and Arica, to which they had captives since the Pacific War of 1879-1883. The plebiscite to be held, as stipulated in the Treaty of Ancon, was extended indefinitely. The Chilean government shut down primary schools in Tacna and Arica, and expelled its teachers, forcing Peruvian children and young people to attend Chilean schools. It expelled the Peruvian priests from those provinces, as well as anyone who considered dangerous. The Peruvians were banned from meeting and from raising the national flag on the paternal anniversary days. He expelled the Peruvian workers from the port of Arica, boycotted the Peruvian businesses and industries and in many cases came to the personal attack and murder against the Peruvians residing in those provinces. At the beginning of these events, President Romaña broke relations with Chile in 1901, which were re-established in 1905, to re-interrupt in 1909.
• With Ecuador, incidents occurred on the border, owing to the persistence of that country in wanting to occupy legitimately Peruvian territories. In 1903 armed clashes occurred in the Napo, in the region of Angoteros. This incident revived the need to reach an agreement, agreeing, already in 1904, to continue the arbitral proceedings before the King of Spain.

Other works

• It repealed the law prohibiting aliens from having property in Peru and abolished the colonial heritage of so-called "dead hands". This facilitated the expansion of land properties and paved the way for the entry of foreign capitals.
• It promoted agricultural development, for which it founded the National School of Agriculture (now Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina) with the support of Belgian experts. He began his work in 1902 and the first agronomists graduated in 1906.
• Another work favoured agriculture was the promulgation, on 25 February 1902, of a new Water Code, which regulated irrigation in proportion to the size of the properties.
• A new Mining Code (1900) and another Trade Code (1902).
• The large-scale copper industry began in 1901 with the organization of the American company Cerro de Pasco Mining Co. for the exploitation of the mines in that area. Simultaneously it was organized the Cerro de Pasco Railway Co., also American, for the construction of the railway from La Oroya to Cerro de Pasco.
• The Mine Engineers Corps was created for the systematic study of the country ' s resources.
• The urban progress of the capital, driven by Mayor Federico Elguera, continued. Electric lighting was established in all the streets of the city (1902), as well as wireless telegraphy (1903). Projects of urban and transurban electric trams, which would be implemented in the following governments, continued.
• In 1901 the Organic Law on Instruction was enacted, which established the French model in education. This device only lasted nine months. In 1902 another organic law of education was given, this time under the American model.
• The Juvenile Correctional School was established.
• An anonymous company, the Salinera Company of Peru, was created to take the administration of the salt income branch under the form of a stake. In this way, the salt pool created in the previous government was effectively implemented to finance the recovery of Tacna and Arica.
• The contract was renewed to the French military mission of Colonel Paul Clement, which was added by Colonel Eduardo Dogny, who took over from the direction of the Chorrillos Military School.

After his term ended, Romaña retired from politics. He lived in his native Arequipa until his death, which took place in the Yura spa.

Offspring

In 1877 he married María Josefa de Castresana y García de la Arena with whom he had three children: Eduardo, Carlos and Hortensia López de Romaña Castresana. In his second marriage, he married his sister-in-law Julia de Castresana y García de la Arena (1888), who gave him six other children: Juan, Luis, Catalina, Julia, Fernando and Francisco. Both wives were daughters of Don Manuel de Castresana and de Hoyos, married to Mrs. Natalia García de la Arena y Cáceres.

Family tree