Nicolás de Piérola

José Nicolás Baltasar " El Califa " Fernández de Piérola y Villena ( born January 5, 1839 in Arequipa, Peru, † June 23, 1913 in Lima) was a Peruvian politician and two-time President of the Republic of Peru.

Biography

The son of the professor and editor Nicolas de Piérola studied post-school at the Collegio de Santo Toribio de Lima and was in 1860 admitted to the bar. However, he then took no legal work on, but founded the magazine El Progreso Catolico before he became in 1864 editor of the newspaper El Tiempo, in which he supported the government of President Juan Antonio Pezet.

He began his political career in January 1869 as Finance Minister in the government of José Balta and held that post until 1871.

In 1872 he was leader of a rebellion in Moquegua, which was however defeated by the then promoted to colonel of the battalion commander Andrés Avelino Cáceres Zepita.

In May 1877, he undertook an unsuccessful coup attempt against President Mariano Ignacio Prado, in the course of which it came under the command of Lieutenant Commander Manuel María Carrasco to the hijacking of the ironclad Huascar by a group of rebels on May 6, 1877.

On December 23, 1879, he was the successor of the Prado for the first time President and held this office until 12 March 1881. War minister in his government was later interim president Miguel Iglesias. However, the instability caused by his office complicated the situation of the allied against the Chilean armed forces in the few months earlier broken saltpeter. During the tenure of President Remigio Morales Bermúdez led by de Piérola Democratic Party was opposed to repressive measures.

After the First Vice-President Pedro Alejandrino del Solar in April 1894 dissolved the two chambers of Congress and elections convened, called for an alliance of Civil fashionistas and the Democratic Party, including the now exiled de Piérola democratic and direct elections. When the Second Vice President Justiniano Borgoño rejected this and also put down a number of local authorities, the opposition candidates decided not to participate in the ballot, which was then essentially contested by the supporters of the Partido Constitucional.

The Office of the President exercised de Piérola again on 8 September 1895 to 8 September in 1899 after he won the presidential elections organized by Manuel Candamo. Vice President during his reign was Guillermo Billinghurst, who was turned on its behalf in the mediation efforts by the border disputes with Chile. His presidency was supported by the Partido Civil, in which he had begun his political career. Then he handed over the presidency of Eduardo López de Romaña, who won the presidential election with 97 percent of the vote.

After the death of Manuel Candamo and the interim presidency of Serapio Calderón he applied in 1904 as the candidate of the Democratic Party in the elections proclaimed by Calderón. The Partido Civil nominated José Pardo y Barreda as candidates, the son of former President Manuel Pardo, who was supported mainly by the so-called " Young Turks " in his party. De Piérola took but a week before the election, citing " lack of guarantees" his candidacy.

Even after his retirement from the office of president de Piérola had great influence within the Democratic Party. On 29 May 1909, a group of supporters of his Democratic Party to penetrate the government palace and there to demand the resignation of President Augusto B. Leguía y Salcedo. Among the invaders were the brother and sons Piérolas. Since Leguía refused to resign, he was kidnapped by the group and taken before the Simon Bolivar monument in Lima. There, too, he was not after the demands, and the police had to the President under use of force to free; at the battle more than 100 people died.