Aniceto Arce

President of Bolivia

15 April 1824 Padcaya, United Provinces of the Río de la Plata

14 August 1906(1906-08-14) (82) Sucre, Bolivia

15 August 1888 – 11 August 1892

22nd President of Bolivia In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Arce and the second or maternal family name is Ruiz. Aniceto Arce Ruiz de Mendoza (15 April 1824, Tarija – 14 August 1906) was a Bolivian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd President of Bolivia from 1888 to1892. He also served as the 4th Vice President of Bolivia from 1880 to 1881. The Aniceto Arce Province is named after him. Arce was a native of Tarija but was educated as a lawyer and resided most of his life in Sucre, where he became one of the country's foremost silver-mining tycoons. A supporter of Linares and Constitutionalist government, he later served in Congress during the 1870s until the time of the Daza dictatorship. Unlike other capable leaders of his day, Arce did not enlist to serve when the War 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 to Chile, where he sold much of his silver, invested his profits, and sought financing for his projects. His position was that the Litoral was, for various lamentable reasons, largely indefensible. Thus, the country should cut its losses and seek an alliance with Chile rather than with Peru. 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. To this end, he founded the Conservative Party, participated as one of the principals in the 1880 Congress that toppled Hilarión Daza, and had a role in the drafting of the country's new Constitution. Moreover, he agreed to become Narciso Campero's vice-president for the crucial, nation-building 1880-84 period.