10 Facts About Jorge Montt

Jorge Montt led the 1891 Chilean Civil War against President Jose Manuel Balmaceda to become provisional leader and eventually president in 1891.

Admiral Jorge Montt had been the head of this revolutionary committee, and he acted as president of the provisional government when the administration of the country changed hands after the victory of the Congressional party.

An election was held, and Admiral Jorge Montt was duly chosen by a nearly unanimous vote to be chief magistrate for the remaining time of the constitutional term of five years, till September 18,1896.

Admiral Jorge Montt took the view that it was politic and just to let bygones be bygones, and he acted conscientiously by this principle in all administrative measures in connection with the supporters of the late President Balmaceda.

President Jorge Montt next turned his attention towards the question of how to best repair the damage caused to the country by eight months of civil warfare.

President Jorge Montt then took in hand the question of a reform of the currency, the abolition of nonconvertible paper money, and the re-establishment of a gold monetary standard for the republic.

Great opposition was raised by the representatives of the debtor class in congress to the suppression of the nonconvertible paper money, but in the end President Jorge Montt carried the day, and on February 11,1895 a measure finally became law establishing a gold currency as the only tender in Chile.

President Jorge Montt had now fulfilled his term of office, and on September 18,1896 he handed over the presidential power to his successor, Federico Errazuriz Echaurren, who had been duly elected in the month of June previously.

Jorge Montt served as commander of the Chilean Navy from 1897 until his retirement in 1913.

Jorge Montt then served as mayor of Valparaiso from 1915 to 1918.