Eduardo López de Romaña

Eduardo López de Romaña

Eduardo López de Romaña Alvizuri (born March 19, 1847 in Arequipa , † May 26, 1912 in Yura ) was a Peruvian politician and President of Peru from 1899 to 1903.

Life

López de Romaña was born in Arequipa into a regional aristocratic family. He studied in Europe and worked there as an engineer . After returning to Peru in 1874, he worked in agriculture and engineering. He tried unsuccessfully to plan a railway line through the Amazon jungle.

López de Romaña belonged to the Partido Civil ; he came to the presidency at the head of an alliance of the Partido Civil and Partido Demócrata . Originally, the candidacy was put forward to his brother Alejandro, who, however, renounced in favor of Eduardos. He won the election of 1899 with 97% of the vote. His defeated opponents included Manuel Candamo and Guillermo Billinghurst .

At the time, Carlos de Piérola , the brother of the leader of the Democrats, was chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, while the Civilista leader Manuel Candamo presided over the Senate.

Presidency

However, the Democratic Party soon became the leading opposition force. López de Romaña formed his cabinet almost entirely from Civilista members, which angered the Democrats and led to ongoing arguments in parliament .

Under López de Romaña the development of Peruvian agriculture as well as the mining and other industries was promoted. Laws on mining , trade and the waters were enacted. The "Nueva Compañia" was founded, which was responsible for collecting state taxes. In 1901 the National Agricultural University of La Molina was created as a joint institution of the government and a Belgian missionary society.

Supporters of the former president Andrés Avelino Cáceres carried out several coup attempts , but López de Romaña managed to stay in office until the end of the regular period in 1903.

The term "aristocratic republic" was coined during his term in office and referred to the period in which the Partido Civil dominated Peruvian politics; this era lasted until the end of Augusto B. Leguia's second term .

López de Romaña died in Lima in 1912.

Web links

Commons : Eduardo López de Romaña  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Texts from six speeches before the Peruvian Parliament (Spanish)