Eliodoro Villazón

Eliodoro Villazón Montaño
27th President of Bolivia
In office 12 August 1909 – 14 August 1913
Vice President	Macario Pinilla Vargas (1st) Juan Misael Saracho (2nd)
Preceded by	Ismael Montes
Succeeded by	Ismael Montes
Vice President of Bolivia
In office 14 August 1904 – 12 August 1909 (1st Vice President) Serving with Valentín Abecia Ayllón
President	Ismael Montes
Preceded by	Lucio Pérez Velasco
Succeeded by	Macario Pinilla Vargas
Foreign Minister of Bolivia
In office 1900–1900
President	José Manuel Pando
Preceded by	Fernando Eloy Guachalla
Succeeded by	Demetrio Calvimonte
In office 1902–1903
President	José Manuel Pando
Preceded by	Federico Díez de Medina
Succeeded by	Claudio Pinilla
Personal details
Born	Eliodoro Villazón Montaño 22 January 1848 Sacaba, Bolivia
Died	12 September 1939(1939-09-12) (aged 91) Cochabamba, Bolivia
Political party	Liberal Party
Spouse	Enriqueta Torrico Gonzales
Occupation	Lawyer politician

Eliodoro Villazón Montaño (22 January 1848 in Sacaba – 12 September 1939) was a member of the Liberal party and President of Bolivia, between 1909 and 1913.

Biography

A native of Sacaba, Cochabamba Department, he was a lawyer by trade but early in his life entered politics and held a number of offices through various administrations. As a Liberal, he was Minister of Foreign Relations under José Manuel Pando (1899–1904) and Vice-President to Ismael Montes (1904–1909).

Elected President in 1909, he benefited from the lingering popularity of, and good will to, the successful first Montes administration. Villazón was a measured, competent man and his term was relatively calm and prosperous, at least from the optic of the propertied elites that participated in national life in accordance to the prevailing, largely oligarchic, order. In 1912, his administration accrued a budgetary surplus. High-capacity mining exports and a rubber boom in the remote northern lowlands fed the economic apogee, which would later prove to be short-lived.

In 1913, Ismael Montes decided to again run for president and, having won the elections, received the presidential sash from the same man to whom he had turned it over in 1909, Eliodoro Villazón. The now former-president was named Bolivian ambassador to various countries after leaving office, and died in Cochabamba on September 12, 1939, at age 91.

Sources

• Mesa José de; Gisbert, Teresa; and Carlos D. Mesa, "Historia De Bolivia", 3rd edition. pp. 505–509.