Salamanca, Daniel (1868–1935)

Daniel Salamanca (b. 8 July 1868; d. 17 July 1935), president of Bolivia (1931–1934). Blamed for Bolivia's defeat by Paraguay in the Chaco War (1932–1935), Salamanca may be the most controversial figure of twentieth-century Bolivian history. A wealthy Cochabamba landowner and eloquent congressional deputy and senator for thirty years, he served as secretary of treasury in the cabinet of President José Manuel Pando (1899–1904). In 1914 he broke with the conservative Liberal Party and helped found the Republican Party, only to break away again in 1921 to form the Genuine Republican Party. Hailed as the "new messiah" and hombre símbolo (human symbol) because of his fierce nationalism and scrupulous integrity in an era of political corruption, Salamanca was the establishment's popular choice for president in March 1931. However, his economic austerity, political repression of the opposition (particularly leftists and Communists), and failed Chaco policy soon left him one of the most unpopular of Bolivian presidents. In November 1934, while he was visiting the Chaco command in Villa Montes, the military seized and deposed him.

See alsoChaco War .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Julio Díaz Arguedas, Como fue derrocado el hombre símbolo, Salamanca (1957).

David Alvéstegui, Salamanca, su gravitación sobre el destino de Bolivia, 4 vols. (1962).

Herbert S. Klein, Parties and Political Change in Bolivia, 1880–1952 (1969).

Augusto Céspedes, Salamanca: O el metafísico del fracaso (1973).

Additional Bibliography

Farcau, Bruce W. The Chaco War: Bolivia and Paraguay, 1932–1935. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996.

Pereira Fiorilo, Juan. Historia secreta de la guerra del Chaco: Bolivia frente al P. La Paz: H. Cámara de Diputados, Federación de Entidades Empresariales Privadas de Cochabamba, 1999.

                                Waltraud Queiser Morales