Severo Fernández Alonso Caballero (15 August 1849 in Sucre – 12 August 1925) was a Bolivian lawyer and politician who served as the 24th president of Bolivia from 1896 to 1899 and as the tenth vice president of Bolivia from 1892 to 1896. He is best remembered as the last president of the 15-year period of Conservative Party hegemony (1884–99).
Political career
Son of Ángel Fernández and Casimira Caballero, he studied law at the Universidad Mayor, Real y Pontificia de San Francisco Xavier de Chuquisaca and dedicated himself fully to his profession. As a lawyer, he worked closely with the big mining companies and made his fortune, especially with silver tycoons like Gregorio Pacheco, Aniceto Arce, and Francisco Argandoña.
He worked as a journalist for El Regime Legal and El País de Sucre, where he distinguished himself as an excellent writer and propagandist. He was Minister of the Interior for Aniceto Arce and Minister of War for Mariano Baptista. He was also the Vice President of the Baptista government, and, in that capacity, presided over the National Congress.
President of Bolivia
Embittered liberals and administration
Representing the Conservative Party, he defeated the Liberals in the 1896 general elections and became president on August 28 of that year. He was then 47 years old. The liberals boycott the result of the elections and would oppose him in every possible occasion. One such detractor was congressman Atanasio de Urioste Velasco, who would write a popular pamphlet called La política afeminada de Severo Fernández Alonso, in which he called the government weak and soft, among many other insults directed at Fernández.
A disgruntled Liberal Party had become increasingly frustrated during the many years of Conservative dominance, often attained by electoral fraud. After 1894, led by the combative José Manuel Pando, a former military hero in the War of the Pacific, the Liberals' calls for anti-government rebellions became more strident, but they were always neutralized by a loyal military establishment.
During his government, an engineering school was founded in Sucre, began construction of the first telegraph line to the east, built the suspension bridge over the Pilcomayo, completed the Sucre Government Palace, and founded Puerto Alonso. Throughout Fernández's presidency, the center of power in the country shifted to La Paz, where the Liberals had a lot of support. Thus, by 1898, only the mining cities of Sucre and Potosí remained loyal to the Conservatives and the government.
Civil War of 1898-1899
Prelude and the "Radicatory Law"
Fernández wanted to settle the decade-long debate regarding what city was officially the Bolivian capital. Up until 1880, the seat of executive power was wherever the current president resided. Hence, Congress met, between 1825 and 1900, on twenty-nine occasions in Sucre, twenty in La Paz, seven in Oruro, two in Cochabamba and one in Tapacarí. Officially, the capital of Bolivia was Sucre since the presidency of Antonio José de Sucre, remaining as such over the years due to the lack of resources to build a new capital and the influence of its aristocracy. However, by the 1880s, conservative presidents chose to settle in Sucre, making it the de facto capital of the country.
On October 31, 1898, the deputies of Sucre proposed to definitively install the executive capital in Sucre, known as the "Radicatory Law". However, their La Paz counterparts proposed that the Congress should move to Cochabamba (a neutral place), a proposition which was rejected. The liberals seemed to initially accept the plan to make Sucre the official capital. The liberals had don so strategically since if they vetoed they would provoke the inhabitants of the capital, however, if it was approved they could convince the people and the garrison of La Paz (under the orders of Colonel José Manuel Pando) to mount an insurrection. On November 6, there was a massive riot in La Paz which demanded called for federalism and for their city to be the capital. On November 14, a Federal Committee was created and chaired by Colonel Pando while its deputies defended their cause in Congress. Three days later, the "Radicatory Law" was approved, with Sucre as the capital and seat of executive power. On November19, it was officially promulgated.
In response, on December 12, with the people of La Paz in their favor, a Federal Board of Liberals and some authorities who switched sides (the Prefect and Commander General Serapio Reyes Ortiz and the Minister of Instruction Macario Pinilla) was formed. Pando's liberals allied themselves with Pablo Zárate Willka, cacique of the Altiplano.