In this
Spanish name
, the first or paternal
surname
is
Rios
and the second or maternal family name is
Morales
.
Juan Antonio Rios
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|
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In office
April 2, 1942 ? June 27, 1946
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Preceded by
| Jeronimo Mendez
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Succeeded by
| Alfredo Duhalde
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|
In office
May 15, 1933 ? May 15, 1937
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|
In office
September 14 ? October 3, 1932
|
President
| Bartolome Blanche Espejo
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Preceded by
| Guillermo Banados Honorato
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Succeeded by
| Absalon Valencia Zavala
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|
In office
June 17 ? July 3, 1932
|
President
| Carlos Davila Espinoza
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Preceded by
| Arturo Ruiz Maffei
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Succeeded by
| Eliseo Pena Villalon
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|
In office
May 15, 1930 ? June 6, 1932
|
Succeeded by
| Congress dissolved
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In office
1925?1930
|
In office
May 15, 1924 ? September 11, 1924
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Succeeded by
| Congress dissolved
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|
Born
| (
1888-11-10
)
November 10, 1888
Canete
,
Chile
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Died
| June 27, 1946
(1946-06-27)
(aged 57)
Santiago
,
Chile
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Cause of death
| Cancer
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Political party
| Radical
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Spouse
|
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Signature
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Juan Antonio Rios Morales
(
Latin American Spanish:
[xwan
an?tonjo
?ri.os]
; November 10, 1888 – June 27, 1946) was a
Chilean
political figure
who served as president of Chile from 1942 to 1946, during the height of
World War II
. He died in office.
Early life
[
edit
]
Rios was born at the
Huichicura
hacienda
, near the town of
Canete
, a coal-mining village in the
Arauco Province
of southern Chile. He was the youngest son of Anselmo Rios, a rich landowner, and his third wife Lucinda Morales. His father (aged 69 to his young wife's 19 at marriage) died when he was very young so he and his three brothers were raised single-handedly by his mother. He completed his primary studies at the rural school of Canete, and his secondary studies first at the
Liceo
of
Lebu
and later at the one in
Concepcion
, and continued legal studies at the courses given at the annex of his school. Rios became a lawyer in 1914 with an exposition on the creation and development of the police in Chile.
Political rise
[
edit
]
A member of the conservative wing of the
Radical Party
since his high school days, he was elected local president of the youth branch of that party and later city councillor. During the
presidential election of 1920
he campaigned for
Arturo Alessandri
, being responsible for the southern part of the country. He was rewarded by Alessandri with the appointment of
Consul-general
and
Charge d'affaires
to
Panama
. On October 21, 1921 he married
Marta Ide
, and together they had three sons: Juan, Carlos, and Fernando.
Rios returned to Chile in 1924, to run in that year's congressional elections. He was elected as
deputy
for
Arauco, Lebu and Canete,
and was reelected in 1926. After Alessandri's return to power following the
Chilean coup of 1925
, he participated of the committee charged with drafting a new constitution, that led to the approval and proclamation of the 1925 Chilean Constitution.
In the meantime, Juan Antonio Rios had become president and one of the principal leaders of the
Radical Party
. During the administration of colonel
Carlos Ibanez del Campo
he was caught between his party's opposition to the government's dictatorial administration and his personal admiration for the government's results. As party president, he participated of the
Thermal Congress
(an unelected Congress convened by President Ibanez) as a
senator
for
Arauco, Malleco, and Cautin
. After the fall of general Ibanez in 1931, Rios was expelled from his party for his cooperation with the former dictatorship.
The year 1932 was a very turbulent time politically for Rios. First, he supported the
Chilean coup of 1932
, a successful coup that toppled President
Juan Esteban Montero
, and resulted in the proclamation of the
Socialist Republic of Chile
. Then he went on to become the
Minister of the Interior
when
Carlos Davila
took over as head of state. In turn, after the resignation of Davila three months later, general
Bartolome Blanche
became president, and Rios became his
Minister of Justice
. Nonetheless, with the election of
Arturo Alessandri
in the
presidential election of 1932
and the return to institutional normality, he was politically shunned.
Rios ran as an independent in the congressional election of 1933 and was elected as
deputy
for
Arauco and Canete.
That was the beginning of his political comeback. In 1935 he was welcomed back into the Radical fold. In 1937, the
Radical Party
, the
Socialist Party
, the
Communist Party
, the
Democratic Party
, and the
Radical Socialist Party
, as well as organizations such as the
Confederacion de Trabajadores de Chile
(CTCH) trade union, the
Mapuche
movement which unified itself in the
Frente Unico Araucano
, and the
feminist
Movimiento Pro-Emancipacion de las Mujeres de Chile
(MEMCh) allied themselves in the
Popular Front
(
Spanish
:
Frente Popular
), with Rios becoming its first president. Nonetheless, Rios was defeated in the internal presidential primaries by
Pedro Aguirre Cerda
, who got the nomination and then went on to win the
presidential election of 1938
.
During the Aguirre Cerda administration, Rios was president of Chile's largest bank, the state-owned
Caja de Credito Hipotecario
, which made mortgage loans to Chilean farmers. He also sought to increase his political influence inside his party. His main political rival was
Gabriel Gonzalez Videla
, but soon he managed to have him named
ambassador
to France, leaving him free to pursue his own political advancement. At the time it was rumored that President Aguirre Cerda had also offered him an ambassadorial position, but that he had answered:
... tell the President that I thank him for his offer, but I am moving up, not down
.
1942 presidential campaign
[
edit
]
In 1941, due to his rapidly escalating illness, President Aguirre Cerda appointed his minister of the Interior,
Jeronimo Mendez
as vice-president and died soon after, on November 25, 1941. A presidential election was called for February 1, 1942. This was the opportunity Rios had been waiting for and he immediately started to campaign. Nevertheless, two days before the internal primaries, Gabriel Gonzalez Videla returned to Chile to oppose him for the nomination. The results were too close to call, so a
tribunal of honor
(electoral commission) was constituted, and Juan Antonio Rios was finally proclaimed the candidate of the left-wings' coalition. This
Democratic Alliance
(
Spanish
:
Alianza Democratica
) was formed by the
Radical Party
, the
Socialist Party
, the
Communist Party
, the
Democratic Party
, and the
Workers' Socialist Party
.
The left-wings' coalition was united against a common opponent, General
Carlos Ibanez del Campo
. Rios was a member of the conservative wing of the Radical Party and defeated Ibanez in the
1942 election
, portraying himself as a conservative anti-fascist candidate. Ibanez had the support of Chile's
Conservative party
,
Liberal Party
, National Socialist party,
Popular Socialist Vanguard
and the majority of the independents. Rios obtained 55.95% of the votes and took office on April 2, 1942.
Presidency
[
edit
]
Rios' presidency was marked from the very beginning by parliamentary instability, caused by rivalries between the different political tendencies in his cabinet, and the renewed and increased influence of Congress. The
Chilean Communist Party
opposed Rios because he had initially chosen neutrality in
World War II
and had refused to break off diplomatic relations with the
Axis Powers
, while the right-wing accused him of complacency with the left. Economically, he faced labor unrest at home, brought about in large part by a drop in
copper
prices worldwide, while at the same time, the
Chilean Socialist Party
accused him of being too soft with big business and of failing to enact
labour legislation
protecting workers' rights.
Domestic affairs
[
edit
]
Even though Rios had been elected with the support of the Communist party, he refused the direct participation of this party in the government, thus earning their opposition. Rios' option instead was to appoint "technical experts" and "personal friends" to cabinet and high-level government positions; this policy allowed him to include not only members of his own party, but also from the Conservative and Liberal opposition.
In 1943, Congress approved and Rios signed the first constitutional reform to the 1925 constitution. This reform gave constitutional rank to the Comptroller General (
Spanish
:
Contraloria General de la Republica
) and limited the power of the President with respect to public expenditures without congressional approval.
In 1944, the Radical Party itself presented to Rios a serie of propositions which he deemed unacceptable. Those included breaking-off diplomatic relations with
Francoist Spain
— diplomatic and especially economic pressure had caused him to finally break off relations with the
Axis Powers
in January 1943 — the recognition of the
USSR
and a cabinet exclusively composed of Radicals. His refusal to implement the Radical Party's propositions, and the violent repression of riots that took place on
Plaza Bulnes
in Santiago, leading to several deaths, caused the resignation of all the Radical ministers, leaving the President without a party.
These internal divisions partly explain the right-wing parties success' during the
1945 legislative elections
, which were a debacle for the Socialists and the Communists. The Radicals themselves lost a number of seats.
After his return from the
United States
, and faced with failing health, he transferred his presidential powers to his minister of the Interior
Alfredo Duhalde
(January 17, 1946) and died of cancer roughly 6 months later, on June 27.
Economic development
[
edit
]
Rios' administration ? continuing the
Aguirre Cerda
policies ? focused on the development of the steel, power and oil industries. To that effect, funds were channeled via the
Production Development Corporation
(
Spanish
:
Corporacion de Fomento de la Produccion -
CORFO
), created under the previous administration.
Thus on January 17 of 1944,
[1]
it was created the
National Electricity Company
(
Spanish
:
Empresa Nacional de Electricidad (Endesa)
); on June 19 of 1950
[2]
the National Oil Company (
Spanish
:
Empresa Nacional de Petroleos (ENAP)
); and in 1942,
[3]
the Pacific Steel Company (
Spanish
:
Compania de Aceros del Pacifico (CAP)
), which opened the
Huachipato
steelworks next to the port of
Talcahuano
.
Foreign relations
[
edit
]
Up to 1943, Chile and
Argentina
had declined to sever relations with the Axis powers, and the Chilean election was viewed by many as critical during World War II.
[4]
A bitter disagreement sprung up between the president and its supporting
Democratic Alliance
. Initially, Rios' government was committed to neutrality during the war, but the left-wing parties of his coalition were in favor of an immediate and total rupture with the Axis as well as for the recognition of the
USSR
, which they saw as their contribution to the world-struggle against fascism. Diplomatic and especially economic pressure from the
United States
finally caused him to break off relations with the
Axis Powers
on January 20, 1943; however, he only declared war on Germany and Italy, and while beginning to imprison Japanese nationals did not declare war on Japan until 1945. By doing so, he made Chile eligible for the
Lend-Lease
program, and obtained the necessary loans to help along the economic recovery, and in 1945, Chile belonged to the victorious nations and had thus gained the right to participate in the postwar international conferences.
Death
[
edit
]
President Rios returned from his
state visit
and reassumed power on December 3, 1945; but by then he was already terminally ill with
cancer
. He transferred his presidential powers on January 17, 1946, to his Minister of the Interior,
Alfredo Duhalde
, who took over as vice-president. Juan Antonio Rios spent his last days at
Villa Paidahue
, in
La Reina
, where he died on June 27, 1946, before the end of his constitutional period.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- Valencia Avaria, Luis. 1986.
Anales de la Republica: textos constitucionales de Chile y registro de los ciudadanos que han integrado los poderes ejecutivo y legislativo desde 1810
. 2ª edicion Santiago de Chile. Editorial Andres Bello.
(in Spanish)
External links
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International
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National
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Other
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