Antonio Arenas

Antonio Arenas

Antonio Arenas Merino (born July 13, 1808 in Lima ; † December 27, 1891 ibid), lawyer, military and politician, was President of Peru from 1885 to 1886 . The presidency was dominated by the revolt of the Andrés A. Cáceres camp .

Life

Early years

Arenas was born in Lima. He was a lawyer and a politician. As rector of the Convictorio de San Carlos , he introduced the doctrine of criminal law.

In October 1858, the Peruvian constitution, which had been enacted two years earlier, was reformed and the former president Ramón Castilla came back into office. Antonio Arenas was then appointed chairman of the Constitutional Commission of the Peruvian Congress , who later also held the post of spokesman for the Supreme Court. As a member of the Lima Province, he was also one of the authors of the 1860 Constitution.

In 1868 Arenas ran for president. Even if he had the support of the incumbent President José Balta , he was only beaten third, while the actual decision took place between Manuel Toribio Ureta and Manuel Pardo .

Saltpeter War

On March 1, 1884, Arenas became president of a new constituent assembly. This nominated Miguel Iglesias as Presidente Regenerador de la República .

Arenas took part in the Arica peace negotiations with Aurelio García y García as Minister Plenipotentiary . The Peruvian side proposed an arbitration award by the United States in which the national borders would remain intact and no reparations should be paid. For their part, the Chilean delegates demanded the cession of the Bolivian Pacific access and Tarapacá, as well as a payment of 24 million pesos to the Chilean government. President Miguel Iglesias convened a National Assembly which, after heated debate, approved the Ancón Treaty . This was ratified in Lima on March 8, 1884.

Presidency

The supporters of Andrés A. Cáceres fought against this decision and occupied parts of the capital. After President Iglesias resigned, the Diplomatic Corps stepped in to negotiate. It was decided to give Arenas the power of government with the task of organizing elections. He also presided over the government and served as foreign minister.

Three days after taking office, the government announced the new elections on December 6, 1885. Andrés A. Cáceres stood as a candidate for the Partido Constitucionalista and won. On June 2, 1886, he took office.

Web links

Commons : Antonio Arenas  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Proclamation to take over the government and texts of two speeches before the Peruvian Congress (Spanish)