Arce, Aniceto (1824–1906)

Aniceto Arce (b. 17 April 1824; d. 14 August 1906), president of Bolivia (1888–1892). Born in Tarija to an important merchant family, Arce was the largest shareholder of the Huanchaca Company, the most prosperous silver mining company in late-nineteenth-century Bolivia. He became one of the leaders of the Conservative (or Constitutionalist) Party and one of the most effective presidents of Bolivia during the period of hegemony of the Conservative oligarchy (1884–1899). He helped capitalize the Huanchaca Company through close association with the sources of Chilean capital. During the War of the Pacific (1879–1884), Arce favored a peace treaty with Chile, but he was exiled. His competition with Gregorio Pacheco in the 1884 elections, in which both candidates tried to outspend the other, signaled a new oligarchical electoral style. When Arce became president in 1888, he sponsored the building of a rail network that tied the Bolivian silver mines to the Pacific coast. He also improved the road system, reformed the military, and fostered the exploration of the Chaco frontier. According to a controversial biography by Ramiro Condarco Morales, Arce attempted to reform the hacienda labor system and bring Bolivia into the industrial age rather than, as other authors asserted, exploit the country for his personal profit. He died in Sucre.

See alsoBolivia, Political Parties: Constitutionalist Party .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The most recent and sympathetic biography is Ramiro Condarco Morales, Aniceto Arce (1985). See also Alipio Valencia Vega, Aniceto Arce (1982). An excellent history of the Huanchaca Company and Arce's role in silver mining is Antonio Mitre, Los patriarcas de la plata: Estructura socioeconómica de la minería boliviana an el siglo XIX (1981). Herbert S. Klein, Bolivia: The Evolution of a Multi-Ethnic Society (1982) deals with many facets of Arce's life and influence.

Additional Bibliography

Condarco Morales, Ramiro. Aniceto Arce: Artífice de la extensión de la revolución industrial en Bolivia, 2nd ed. La Paz, Bolivia: Fondo Editorial de los Diputados, 2002.

                                    Erick D. Langer