16 Facts About Aniceto Arce

Aniceto Arce Ruiz de Mendoza was a Bolivian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd president of Bolivia from 1888 to 1892.

Aniceto Arce served as the fourth vice president of Bolivia from 1880 to 1881 under Narciso Campero.

Aniceto Arce was born to Diego Antonio Arce and Josefa Ruiz de Mendoza, both members of the colonial elite within the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata.

Aniceto Arce was a supporter of Jose Maria Linares and his Constitutionalist government, even backing the President when he proclaimed himself dictator.

Unlike other capable leaders of his day, Aniceto Arce did not enlist to serve when the War of the Pacific developed in 1879.

Aniceto Arce believed that the Litoral was, for various lamentable reasons, largely indefensible.

Aniceto Arce was married to Amalia Argandona Revilla, the sister of Francisco Argandona Revilla, Prince of La Glorieta.

Aniceto Arce was one of the wealthiest men in Bolivia and became a business partner of Arce.

Aniceto Arce, as explained, favored a "realistic" policy of recognition that Bolivia had indeed lost its access to the Pacific, and that the best that could be done was to reach a modus vivendi with Santiago, even if this meant abandoning the hitherto sacrosanct alliance with Lima.

Aniceto Arce promptly entered his name as Conservative Party candidate in the 1884 general elections, the first under the new Constoitution and since 1873.

Aniceto Arce promulgated a modern new set of banking and investment laws.

Aniceto Arce completed his term and in 1892 passed the baton to another Conservative, his understudy and vice-president Mariano Baptista.

Aniceto Arce retired from politics after the end of his term, although he served as an unofficial but very important adviser to the Conservative Presidents Baptista and Severo Fernandez.

Aniceto Arce was forcefully returned to the political limelight at the turn of the century when he suffered political prosecution at the hands of the Liberal Party, which had at long last seized power in the Civil War of 1899.

Surprisingly, the elderly Aniceto Arce was nonetheless allowed to present himself as candidate for president at the 1904 general elections.

Aniceto Arce is best remembered for his assertive temperament and firm stance in favor of a civilian democratic order and for having laid the foundation for the functioning of a modern party system in the country.