German Riesco
Germán Riesco Errázuriz (Rancagua, May 28, 1854 - Santiago, December 8, 1916) was a Chilean lawyer and politician, member of the Liberal Party (PL). He served as a senator of the Republic between 1900 and 1901, the year in which he was elected as president of Chile, serving until 1906.
He developed a long career as a prosecutor in the Judiciary and later in politics, when he was elected senator in 1900. In 1901 he was elected president of the Republic as a candidate of the Liberal Alliance (AL).
During his tenure, the Civil and Criminal Procedure Codes were approved, the construction of the Santiago sewer system and the trans-Andean railway through Uspallata began. In the international sphere, the definitive peace was established with Bolivia and the Pacts of May were signed with Argentina, which removed the dangers of war and established an unprecedented system of limitation of naval weapons. Economically, the Riesco government encouraged monetary issues, which caused a speculative fever known as “the resurgence", which culminated in a serious economic crisis. Poor living conditions and rising inflation led to a series of social crises, the most important being the so-called "Meat Rally".
During Riesco's period, 17 ministries succeeded each other, which caused serious administrative and political consequences. The president was criticized for his weakness of character and his inability to control the parties. After finishing his term, which many considered a failure, he retired to private activity, until his death.
Professional career
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He was the seventh child of Mauricio Riesco Droguett, former congressman, mayor, and Carlota Errázuriz Zañartu, sister of Federico Errázuriz Zañartu. Despite belonging to the traditional aristocracy, the Riesco family was in a situation of economic straits during the childhood of the future president.
He completed his secondary studies at the Santiago Council Seminary and at the National Institute where he was enrolled on February 28, 1863. After completing his school education, he entered the Law School of the University of Chile where he graduated as a lawyer on April 19, 1875.
In 1871, at the age of 17, he was a number official at the Ministry of Justice and Public Instruction. In 1880 he was appointed senior officer of that ministry and later rapporteur of the Court of Appeals of Santiago. He became a minister of the Court of Appeals in 1890 and in 1897 he became a prosecutor of the Supreme Court.
In 1898 he resigned from his position on the Supreme Court and dedicated himself to the practice of law. Banco de Chile appointed him as a director.
He was elected senator for Talca in 1900, integrating the Budget commissions and the Constitution, Legislation and Justice commissions into parliament. On December 4, he was presumably incorporated in his replacement Pedro Letelier Silva after taking office as President of the Republic, but his powers were not approved.
He was the cousin and brother-in-law of President Federico Errázuriz Echaurren, influencing him on issues of international politics, supporting a pacifist policy, and economics, with an anti-emissionist approach.
Marriage and children
In Santiago, on January 7, 1880, he married his cousin María Errázuriz Echaurren, with whom he had eight children. One of them, Germán Ignacio Riesco Errázuriz, a former congressman who became Minister of State in the governments of Juan Luis Sanfuentes Andonaegui and Gabriel González Videla.
Once elected president, Riesco decided that this should influence his family life as little as possible. He continued to live in his private residence and not in La Moneda as was customary, the mother forbidding her children to mention political matters at home.
He taught his sons not to abuse their privileged position. They could occupy the presidential box in the Municipal Theater, but buying the ticket at the window like all citizens. Riesco himself was repugnant to assert the quality of his president. On one occasion one of his sons was invited to accompany his parents for a drive up the Santa Lucía hill. At the entrance to Cerro Riesco he realized that he had no money and after a moment's hesitation he gave the order to return.
1901 Presidential Election
For the 1901 election, the governing parties agreed to call a convention. Germán Riesco proposed holding a broad convention, not limited to government parties. Although several supported his statements, some saw it as a move in favor of Ramón Barros Luco, of whom Riesco was a supporter.
The broad convention was held on March 3. Riesco participated in the first round of voting and by obtaining only 30 votes he resigned from his candidacy. The following days passed without any of the candidates, Ramón Barros Luco, Fernando Lazcano, Claudio Vicuña and Augusto Matte, getting 60% of the votes needed to be elected. On the night of the 7th, a meeting was held at Vicuña's house, agreeing to vote for Riesco.
On the 8th, after Vicuña's resignation, Riesco reached 195 votes against 95 for Lazcano. After his victory, Riesco made a speech in which he exposed his government program.
Pedro Montt was proclaimed on March 15 as the Coalition's candidate. The selection of the candidates caused a ministerial crisis, since President Errázuriz insisted on maintaining the electoral prescindence of the Executive, in the face of accusations that he would favor Riesco because he was a relative of his and liberal pressures to form a cabinet with only elements of the Alliance. The new ministry was censured two days after its constitution, although it remained in office until May 11 when a cabinet headed by Aníbal Zañartu took office, who received command of the nation with the title of vice president, due to the precarious health of Errázuriz, who would die without completing his term.
The campaign aroused many doctrinal passions. The conservative newspaper El Porvenir accused that Riesco signified the danger of the predominance of philosophical and political liberalism, which was condemned by the Catholic Church. Although the ecclesiastical authorities declared that that newspaper was not the official voice of the Church, the doctrinal campaign continued. The priest José María Caro wrote an article popularly known as "Riesquismo, is it a sin?", in which he concluded that it was not lawful for a Catholic to vote for Riesco.
The conservative Rafael Egaña, a supporter of Riesco, answered him through Electoral Freedom. For its part, the radical newspaper La Ley accused that «The friar of any brand and, especially the Jesuit, is worse a thousand times than leprosy, scabies, smallpox, the bubonic plague and the Asiatic morbid cholera. It got to the point that a priest refused to give Riesco absolution for his status as an Alliance candidate.
The result of the election was 184 votes for Riesco against 83 votes for Montt.
Thought
Riesco was a Catholic, but tolerant of other people's beliefs. He was a classical liberal, believing that free initiative served as the engine of human action and the fear of failure as a brake, without the need for the State to intervene. He wanted the dispossessed to begin to have, one of his main concerns being the promotion of savings.
He believed that democracy, imperfect as a human thing, was the "least evil" of all forms of government and the only one capable of peacefully correcting its own deficiencies.
A staunch supporter of the parliamentary regime, he criticized some of its excesses, in particular the fact that the president was burdened with all responsibilities, but without giving him the necessary elements to govern.
As an anecdote, it stands out that his paternal uncle, Miguel Riesco y Puente, was the deputy representative of Chile in the courts of Cádiz in 1811 and one of the subscribers to The Spanish Constitution of 1812, which always gave him a vision of transcendence to the facts of life in politics.
Presidency
Internal Policy
Riesco's presidency would be the high point of the Chilean political crisis. His ministerial rotation reached 17 ministries, which means an average of 3.5 months per ministry.
Riesco's first ministry represented the triumphant Liberal Alliance, with Ramón Barros Luco as Interior Minister. The clash between Juan Luis Sanfuentes, Minister of Finance, and the person in charge of Justice, Manuel Ballesteros Ríos, due to the appointment of the mayor of Coquimbo, ended with the departure of the former from the cabinet. A vote of no confidence was presented in Congress that counted with the support of the sanfuentistas and the liberal Fernando Lazcano, which caused the fall of the cabinet.
On November 18, the new ministry headed by Ismael Tocornal was sworn in. During this period the government had to face the threats of war with Argentina and the postponement of the metallic conversion.
On April 24, the Minister of Finance, Enrique Ballesteros, resigned “for personal reasons”, which caused the fall of the entire ministry. Riesco again called Barros Luco to exercise the Ministry of the Interior. The Liberal Democratic Party, unified behind Sanfuentes, made a pact with nationals and conservatives to support each other in the qualification of their candidates for Parliament. Faced with the formation of this new majority, the president decided to follow the rules of the parliamentary game and govern with the Coalition. On November 20, 1902, Elías Fernández Albano swore in Interior with a cabinet of Balmacedistas and nationals. The cabinet tried to impose a series of mayors and governors on Riesco, in order to intervene in the next elections. As the president insisted on evaluating each candidate on his own merits, the Coalition developed an obstructionist attitude, paralyzing the approval of the budget law. The results of the 1903 parliamentary election gave the Coalition an important victory.
President Riesco fell ill and on April 4, 1903, appointed Ramón Barros Luco in Interior, to replace him as vice president. On July 5, Riesco resumed, keeping Rafael Sotomayor Gaete in the Interior until then. The cabinet fell as a result of divisions within the Coalition over qualifications and the distribution of public office.
On September 1, 1903, a cabinet headed by Ricardo Matte Pérez was sworn in, without the presence of Balmacedistas. The President tried to combat the political crisis by calling on the parties to develop an ambitious government plan, but he was not listened to.
The nationals decided to break with the Coalition, causing another ministerial change, this time with Arturo Besa Navarro in Interior, who took office on October 23. When some democratic liberals went over to the Alliance, the cabinet was reconstituted on January 10, 1904, with Rafael Errázuriz Urmeneta in Interior. The definitive break of the Balmacedistas with the Coalition forced the President to resort to an administration cabinet, which he swore in on April 12 with Rafael Sotomayor at its head.
When a new alliance majority was consolidated, it formed a government on May 12 with Luis Antonio Vergara as Minister of the Interior. They presented an ambitious program of legislative, constitutional, religious and educational affairs. The disputes around the re-election of Fernando Lazcano as president of the Senate unleashed the ministerial crisis. On October 30, he assumed a ministry headed by Emilio Bello Codesido.
In January 1905, the San Jacinto College of the Brothers of the Christian Schools was denounced for the presence of homosexual acts between students and lay brothers. Liberals and radicals saw the opportunity to deal a blow to the Church and they approved a decree that closed all the schools of the congregation. The Minister of Education, Guillermo Rivera Cotapos, who had inspired the decree, presented his resignation and by not accepting his substitute, the total crisis of the ministry was unleashed.
On March 18, a cabinet led by José Rafael Balmaceda took office. The cabinet fell due to a "Byzantine and semantic conflict" between senators Federico Puga Borne and Enrique Mac Iver. On August 1, Juan Antonio Orrego took office in Interior. He resigned for the conformation of an agreement between nationals, radicals and liberals to form a presidential convention.
On October 21, the new cabinet was sworn in with Miguel Cruchaga Tocornal in Interior. This ministry had to face the meat rally, achieving the materialization of a series of achievements, such as the contribution of new electoral laws, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the law of rooms for workers, some international treaties and financing for the Arica Railroad. -La Paz.
The Coalition, now again including the liberal democrats, won the 1906 elections. A new ministry was organized on March 19 with the conservative José Ramón Gutiérrez at its head. When a conservative sector that supported Pedro Montt as the Alliance's candidate split up, the majority of the Coalition in Congress was lost.
In his last cabinet, Riesco used a "universal" formula, with representatives from all parties, with Manuel Salinas at the helm. He was sworn in on May 7 and was in charge of holding the presidential election and the consequences of the Valparaíso earthquake.
Foreign Relations
Argentina
Emilio Körner: And... can the roads be opened, Don Germán?
Riesco: I believe, General, that it is appropriate to wait a bit, because now they have become intransitable.
Disputes over the delimitation of the border between Argentina and Chile caused a profound deterioration in relations between both nations and brought them to the brink of war.
Chile had built some paths for the recognition of the disputed area, which were denounced by Argentina as being true military roads and concealed acts of possession. The problem of the presence of police in the area increased tensions, which resulted in a growing arms race and the rise of warmongering language among politicians on both sides of the mountain range.
Chilean Foreign Minister Eliodoro Yáñez showed an inflexible attitude towards Argentina. He considered it insufficient to send diplomatic claims before the Argentine territorial penetrations, so he sent a police patrol to Cerro Palique to contain them. Negotiations between Yáñez and the Argentine ambassador Epifanio Portela to resolve the issues of the paths and the police failed and Portela announced that he would use his license and would declare the negotiation unsuccessful. President Riesco decided to intervene personally, dispensing with his chancellor, signing two minutes with the Argentine ambassador in which both countries were preparing to maintain the territorial situation of 1898 and that the paths did not imply occupation of territories. The inclusion at the last minute of the issue of the withdrawal of the police produced a new crisis, since Portela said that he had joined without prior discussion.
Riesco entrusted Julio Zegers with the search for a solution, proposing to Portela a clarification, that the act referred only to territories of Última Esperanza. The Argentine ambassador refused, but he still sent the proposal to Buenos Aires and withdrew from the country. On January 7, 1902, an agreement was reached and the notes were sent.
Regarding British arbitration, President Riesco was skeptical of its application and sponsored direct negotiation. To overcome the difficulties that public opinion would present, diplomats from both countries proposed that the agreement be presented by means of Her Britannic Majesty's ruling. The proposal was echoed in Argentina, and President Riesco commissioned Augusto Matte to negotiate the transactional line, although his management did not prosper as a result of his leaking to certain circles in both nations.
Another initiative was carried out by Jorge Huneeus, who in conversation with the Italian ambassador in Chile, Orestes Savina, shared the idea of expanding the powers of the arbitrator so that he could give a judgment of fairness. Riesco gave him his acquiescence to carry out the initiative, in which the German ambassador was also involved. Argentina replied that it considered it premature and harmful to deal with the matter, and that it could be examined again once the technical commission sent by the crown had come to the disputed land.
There were also moves to stop the arms race, one by Argentine financier Ernesto Tornquist and another by the Foreign Office. They did not materialize but they served to prepare the way for the definitive agreement.
May Pacts
The change in some of the diplomats of the time paved the way for peace. Portela was replaced as ambassador in Argentina by José Antonio Terry, Eliodoro Yáñez as Chilean foreign minister by José Francisco Vergara and due to the death of Amancio Alcorta, Joaquín V. González temporarily replaced him in the Argentine foreign ministry. Riesco and Terry established a deep mutual trust and understanding, which facilitated negotiations between them. In Argentina, on his part, Bartolomé Miter fought through the pages of his newspaper La Nación the support that his country gave to the Peruvian and Bolivian demands.
On May 28, the pacts were signed. In the preliminary act, Argentina undertakes not to interfere in Chile's internal or external problems, thus renouncing to intervene in Chile's pending issues with Peru and Bolivia. Chile, for its part, affirmed that it had no intentions of territorial expansion, except those resulting from compliance with current treaties.
The general arbitration treaty stipulated that His Britannic Majesty would settle disputes of any nature between Argentina and Chile, once direct negotiations had failed.
The arms limitation treaty allowed the limitation of naval armaments, renouncing the acquisition of new ships and reducing the size of the squadrons to achieve a discreet equivalence.
Although the negotiations received criticism from the warmongers, who obstructed their approval by Congress for 51 days, public opinion greeted the pacts with glee. The exchange of ratifications took place in Chile, during the celebration of their national holidays.
1902 Arbitration Award
The British arbitral tribunal appointed to resolve the border disputes between Chile and Argentina was made up of the jurist Lord Macnaghten and the geographers Sir John Charles Ardagh and Sir Thomas H. Holdich. The court was predisposed to make a compromise solution, so when Holdich traveled to the disputed area, he had the mission of probing whether the parties would accept such a ruling. In Buenos Aires he found a favorable response, but in Santiago he collided with the inflexible position of Foreign Minister Yáñez, who demanded a resolution adjusted to the law. The problem was solved by Riesco who, disavowing his chancellor, was willing to make reasonable concessions if this implied solving the border problem.
King Edward VII entered the judgment on November 20, 1902, presenting a compromise solution. Of the 94,140 km² in dispute, 54,225 went to Chile and 39,915 to Argentina, although it was argued that Argentina kept the best arable land.
Bolivia
Around 1902 the Bolivian government, headed by General José Manuel Pando, found itself in a difficult international situation, having pending disputes with Argentina, Brazil and Peru. Being in need of solving his problems with Chile, Pando sent Félix Avelino Aramayo on a mission to Chile in order to reach an agreement. This was based on the resignation by Bolivia of any claim to a port in the Pacific, free passage of Bolivian trade and the payment by Chile of a sum of money, which would be used for the construction of a railway to transport Bolivian exports to the Pacific.
Diplomatic relations were reestablished and in December 1903 the talks concluded, Bolivia renouncing its port claims and Chile committing itself to build a railway between Arica and La Paz. The Treaty of Peace and Friendship was signed on October 20, 1904.
Government Works
In matters of justice, the Code of Civil Procedure was promulgated in 1902 (still in force, although with modifications); In 1905, he ordered the construction of the Higher Institute of Commerce of Talca, and the construction of the Palace of the Courts of Justice of Santiago began, headquarters of the Supreme Court and of the Court of Appeals of Santiago, and in 1906 the Code was promulgated of Criminal Procedure (current until 2005).
Riesco was also concerned with education, building schools for children and adults during his government, such as the Barros Arana National Boarding School (1902).
The Meat Rally
During Riesco's presidency, one of the largest social outbreaks on record in Chile took place: the so-called "meat rally." This had its origin in the rise in the price of imported meat, which, although it was not exaggerated, was the representation of an already uncontrolled inflation that made the cost of living more expensive.
To protest against the rise, workers' associations and the newspaper El Chileno called a rally on October 22, 1905. The left did not support it and the government, confident that it would not reach to serious situations, due to the moderate character of those who summoned her, she became disinterested in security.
The 22nd arrived and, to everyone's surprise, they found more than 40,000 people gathered in the protest. His first intention was to deliver a list of petitions to the president, but since he was not in La Moneda, he sent a group to look for him at his private house. Riesco received them kindly and talked with them, keeping the text to study it later.
While the crowd waited, a rumor began to spread: Riesco was not in Santiago, but on a walk on the outskirts of the city. This was the spark that set off the crowd: they tried to assault La Moneda and Riesco's house. After these failed attempts, they dedicated themselves to robbing premises and stores, killing any passerby who appeared to be of the upper class. The police could do nothing and the army had to be called, which was then in the outskirts carrying out military maneuvers. Riesco arrived on October 24, ending the revolt three days later.
500 people were injured and between 200 and 250 dead, in addition to the serious damage to public and private property caused by the protesters, signs that, without a doubt, the social issue was something that should be taken into account. account.
Tributes
In his native Rancagua, there is a bust of Riesco in the local Alameda, the work of sculptor Octavio Román, in a sector popularly known as the Paseo de los Presidentes. Likewise, one of the streets of the city bears his name (Calle Germán Riesco) , beginning at the Plaza de los Héroes and ending at Avenida Freire.
In Santiago, the long Avenida Presidente Riesco has been named in his honor; located in the communes of Las Condes and Vitacura, it runs from Andrés Bello until, after Manquehue, it forks into Cerro Altar and Nueva Presidente Riesco streets, the latter connecting to the continuation of Presidente Riesco, which finally ends in Las Tranqueras. Also in Santiago, in the Curacaví commune, there is a street called Germán Riesco, in his honor.
| Predecessor: Aníbal Zañartu Vice-Chairman | .svg){kind=small} President of the Republic of Chile 18 September 1901 - 18 September 1906 | Successor: Pedro Montt |
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