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Miguel Antonio Caro
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Miguel Antonio Caro Tobar was a Colombian scholar, poet, journalist, philosopher, orator, philologist, lawyer and politician.
Biographic data
Miguel Antonio Caro was born in Bogota on November 10, 1845, and he died in the same city on August 5, 1909.Arismendi Posada, Ignacio; Gobernantes Colombianos, trans. Colombian Presidents; Interprint Editors Ltd., Italgraf, Segunda Edicion; Page 152; Bogota, Colombia; 1983
Early life
His father Jose Eusebio Caro and Mariano Ospina Rodriguez were the founders of the Colombian Conservative Party.Arismendi Posada, Ignacio; Gobernantes Colombianos, trans. Colombian Presidents; Interprint Editors Ltd., Italgraf, Segunda Edicion; Page 74; Bogota, Colombia; 1983 His fathers criticisms of President Jose Hilario Lopez led to his exile to New York City.Staff report . Miguel Antonio Caro Dead. New York Times
Caro did not attend college or University. Nevertheless, as autodidact, he was very well versed in economics, world history and literature, social science, jurisprudence, linguistics and philology. He was also well known as great orator, debater and poet. Also, as a scholar, he translated several of the works of Virgilio from Latin. He was appointed as Director of the National Library, elected as MP, and founder of the Academia Colombiana de la Lengua.Arismendi Posada, Ignacio; Gobernantes Colombianos, trans. Colombian Presidents; Interprint Editors Ltd., Italgraf, Segunda Edicion; Page 136; Bogota, Colombia; 1983
Political career
Caro, as philosopher, scholar and orator played a decisive and important role in the preparation, composition and enactment of the new Constitution of 1886. This significant achievement gave him an enormous prestige in the political realm.Arismendi Posada, Ignacio; Gobernantes Colombianos, trans. Colombian Presidents; Interprint Editors Ltd., Italgraf, Segunda Edicion; Page 134; Bogota, Colombia; 1983
During the presidential election of 1892, the Colombian Conservative Party was divide in two movements: traditionalists and nationalists. The nationalists nominated Rafael Nunez as candidate for President and Caro as Vice-President. The traditionalists nominated Marcelino Velez and Jose Joaquin Ortiz. The Colombian Liberal Party did not participate. Obviously, the conservatives won, and the nationalists outnumbered the traditionalist. Thus, Nunez and Caro were elected for the 1892-1898 presidential term.Arismendi Posada, Ignacio; Gobernantes Colombianos, trans. Colombian Presidents; Interprint Editors Ltd., Italgraf, Segunda Edicion; Page 135; Bogota, Colombia; 1983
The Presidency
Nunez had expressed his clear desire not to be inaugurated, but rather to retire to his native city of Cartagena. Nevertheless, Caro insisted that Nunez had to be inaugurated as President before retiring. Thus, Nunez accepted and was inaugurated in Cartagena and immediately after he resigned. Therefore, Caro, as Vice-President, began acting as President.
Caro never used the title of President, but rather the one of Vice President of Colombia in charge of the Executive Office. Although he was the legitimate and constitutional President of Colombia, he did so to show respect to his mentor Rafael Nunez, whose illness forced him to cede day-to-day power.Arismendi Posada, Ignacio; Gobernantes Colombianos, trans. Colombian Presidents; Interprint Editors Ltd., Italgraf, Segunda Edicion; Page 137; Bogota, Colombia; 1983
Due to the vehement animadversion and tenacious opposition from the liberals and traditionalists conservatives towards his government, Caro imposed a severe censorship law against the opposition. On August 4, 1983, by decree and invoking the law 61 of 1888, known as the ley de los caballos (law of the horses), he muzzled the opposition newspapers and curtailed the freedom of the press. In a subsequent decree, Caro shut down the mayor opposition and liberal newspapers El Redactor and El Contenporaneo, and expelled out of the country its directors Santiago Perez and Modesto Garces. Other opposition leaders and activists were incarcerated.
During the six years as President of Colombia, Caro had to crush three coup d'etat attempts by the liberals.
On January 22, 1894, the liberal party launched a mayor offensive against the government of President Caro. The Colombian Liberal Party, with its principal leaders spelled out of the country or detained, its newspapers closed and the freedom of the press and freedom of association suspended, the liberal party found no other alternative but to engage in civil war. This revolt rapidly extended throughout the country, mainly in the states of Boyaca, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Bolivar (Bolivar Department), Tolima and Santander (Norte de Santander Department). Even though the rebels had been aided by foreign countries, they were promptly defeated by the armies of President Caro. On March 15, 1895, the civil war came to an end at the battle of Enciso, in Santander.Arismendi Posada, Ignacio; Gobernantes Colombianos, trans. Colombian Presidents; Interprint Editors Ltd., Italgraf, Segunda Edicion; Page 137; Bogota, Colombia; 1983
Almost a year later, on January of 1896, the conservative group of the traditionalist sent to Caro a very stern admonition, known as the Manifesto of the 21, expressing their discontent and disapproval of the affairs of his administration. The manifestos main signatory was Carlos Martinez Silva and twenty other prominent dignitaries and political leaders. They urged Caro to lift martial law, reinstate civil liberties and to have a magnanimous approach towards the liberals.
Caro was so disillusioned and offended by the Manifesto of the 21, that he resigned to the presidency on March 12, 1896. Caro appointed General Guillermo Quintero Calderon to replace, and he retired to his family retreat in Sopo. General Quintero Calderon designated Abraham Moreno, of the opposition group, as Minister of Government. This infuriated Caro, and he retook his office of the presidency on March 17, 1896.Arismendi Posada, Ignacio; Gobernantes Colombianos, trans. Colombian Presidents; Interprint Editors Ltd., Italgraf, Segunda Edicion; Page 138; Bogota, Colombia; 1983
Bibliography
The 1893 Bogotazo: Artisans and Public Violence in Late Nineteenth-Century Bogota. D Sowell - Journal of Latin American Studies, 1989
Limits of Power: Elections Under the Conservative Hegemony in Colombia, 1886-1930. E Posada-Carbo - The Hispanic American Historical Review, 1997
Rodriguez-Garcia, Jose Maria "The Regime of Translation in Miguel Antonio Caro's Colombia." diacritics - Volume 34, Number 3/4, Fall-Winter 2004, pp. 143-175
The Political Economy of the Colombian Presidential Election of 1897. CW Bergquist - The Hispanic American Historical Review, 1976
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Miguel Antonio Caro
