Tomás Frías Ametller (21 December 1805 – 10 May 1884) was a Bolivian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th President of Bolivia twice nonconsecutively from 1872 to 1873 and from 1874 to 1876. Having graduated as a lawyer and worked as a merchant, he soon decided to enter the world of politics. His long political career began in 1831, when he was elected to represent Potosí in the Chamber of Deputies. This was followed by his first diplomatic posting when he was sent to France in Bolivia's first ever foreign delegation.
Of his many ministerial positions, the first Frías held was that of Minister of Public Instruction. Throughout the tenure of this first position, Frías carried out wide and sweeping reforms in Bolivian education, establishing statutes and promulgating decrees that played a major role in the country for well over a century. In the following decades, he was to hold several more high positions, namely during the administration of José María Linares. It was during Linares' presidency that Frías worked to solve the anarchic state of Bolivia's fiscal framework. Having been exiled in 1849, he was again forced outside Bolivia when Mariano Melgarejo seized power in 1864. Several years later, in 1870, he moved to La Paz, coincidentally around the same time the revolution that ousted Melgarejo erupted. After the caudillo was dethroned, Frías was elected to the National Assembly of 1871, witnessing the violent closure of said apparatus by President Agustín Morales in 1872.
Only a few days after the forceful closure of the Assembly, Morales was assassinated. That day, Frías was appointed president of the Council of State. According to the Constitution, and with the approval of Congress, Frías became president, hastily calling elections and refusing to remain in power any longer than necessary. Adolfo Ballivián would win the 1873 general election, after which Frías resumed his position as President of the Council of State.
His first term was mostly devoted to the organization, supervision, and scrutiny of the general election of 1873. His brief first term saw few government acts, the Lindsay-Corral Agreement with Chile being one of few. After the death of President Ballivián on 14 February 1874, Frías was constitutionally obliged, in his role as President of the Council of State, to complete the remainder of the constitutional term. During his second term, the Boundary Treaty of 1874 between Chile and Bolivia was signed, supposedly ending the border conflict between the two nations. The violation of the treaty in 1879 would have serious consequences for Bolivia, sparking the War of the Pacific.
While his first term proved to be efficient and stable, though short, his second proved to be the opposite. Facing several military rebellions and conspiracies, the largest and most destabilizing one being led by General Quintín Quevedo and Casimiro Corral, he was unable to maintain stability. Weakened by the constant revolts, Frías was eventually ousted by his former Minister of War, Hilarión Daza. The former president was to remain exiled for the rest of his life, spending his last years in France and Italy. Considered a man of high integrity and a true servant of the state, Frías has been referred to as the "Bolivian Washington".
Early life and family Tomás Frías was born to a wealthy land-owning family in Potosí on 21 December 1805. He was baptized on 25 January 1806 in the Church of Santiago Apóstol, Potosí. He was raised on the family hacienda in Tarapaya, municipality of Mondragón (36 km from Potosí). He was the son of José María de Frías y González and Alejandra de Ametller y Loma.
While he was in Chile, he married Raimunda Ballivián Guerra—a niece of Pedro José de Guerra—on 10 November 1849 in the city of Valparaíso. She was the daughter of José María Ballivián de los Barrios and María Josefa de Guerra Bustamante. The couple had three children, although only their eldest son, Carlos Frías Ballivián, survived childhood. Raimunda died on 7 September 1853 while they were in Bolivia. Frías never remarried. Carlos married Emilia Yanguas Astete on 10 Dicember 1870 in the Church of San Agustín, La Paz. The couple had at least twelve children.
His brother-in-law of the prominent politician Manuel Molina Zamudio, who married Carmen Frías Ametller on 13 March 1833 in the Church of San Miguel, Sucre. They are the ancestors of María Luisa Sánchez Bustamante Calvo, Carmen Sánchez Bustamante Calvo, and Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Sánchez Bustamante.
Political career
First political, diplomatic, and ministerial positions (1831–1848) He became lawyer on 13 July 1826, graduating from the University of San Francisco Xavier. However, Frías dedicated himself to commerce, establishing a route from Potosí to Cobija. For two years, he occupied himself with his enterprise until the mutiny against Antonio José de Sucre on 18 April 1828. Frías would accompany the Grand Marshal of Ayacucho during the latter's custody, earning the appreciation of the President. When Sucre left the country, it was the liberator himself that advised Frías to leave his commercial enterprise and enter the world of politics.
In 1831, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, representing Potosí. This was the first of many political positions that Frías would hold throughout his long career. 1837, Andrés de Santa Cruz assigned Frías as an official to the first foreign delegation in Bolivia's history, which was sent to France. However, in 1841, he became gravely ill, afflicted with a liver condition, and was permitted to take leave in Europe to receive treatment. Finally, in 1843, Frías returned and was named Minister of Public Instruction and Foreign Affairs by President José Ballivián. In 1844, he succeeded his brother-in-law, Manuel Molina, as Minister of Finance.
Reformation of Bolivia's education system (1845–1846)
The decrees promulgated by Ballivián, drafted by Frías, constitute one of the most important body of laws regarding Bolivian education. Roberto Zapata, a bolivian educator, remarks on this, stating: "There were no methods or plans in education. The best-oriented was Tomás Frías, who provided a true statute of instruction with the Organic Decree of the Universities, proposing the division of the Republic into three university districts, with the authority to direct and inspect education at all its levels".
Frías's decrees designed the entire School System of Bolivia in three stages: university education, schools of sciences and arts (secondary), and primary schools. In addition to these stages, Frías considered private teaching lyceums for certain branches of sciences and arts and also envisioned the foundation of state-sponsored schools, which remained only on paper. Frías's decrees brought unity to Bolivia's educational action through the three established stages, including university. These decrees placed great importance on morality, religion, and compliance with laws, which condition justice and good citizen conduct. The so-called Plan Frías distinguished and separated the professional function of university faculties from the humanistic cultural function of colleges or secondary education, which had previously been mixed.
The Organic Decree of Universities, dated 25 August 1845, aimed to remedy the "chaos and contradictions in the legal norms" and established the following provisions: Article 1— The universities are responsible for the direction and supervision of the general education of the country. Article 2— The university is the assembly or corporation of professors, directors, and officials dedicated to teaching in the faculties, colleges, lyceums, institutions, boarding schools, and public or private schools of the district. Article 3— Bolivia is divided into three districts corresponding to the three Universities: Sucre, which includes the Department of Chuquisaca, Potosí, Tarija, and the Province of Litoral. La Paz, corresponding to Oruro and Beni, and Cochabamba with Santa Cruz. Article 8— The University will consist of five faculties: theology, law and political science, medicine, mathematical sciences, physics, and the faculty of humanities and philosophy.
According to the Statute of the Base of Education, part of the decree of 25 August 1845, Frías promulgated the following: Article 33— All classes of all grades will have as their basis: the precepts of the Catholic Religion; fidelity to the Republic and its Constitution, which preserves the unity of Bolivia and the guiding principles of social order; obedience to the statutes of the University and the laws governing Public Instruction. Article 45— The University Council is composed of ten members, selected from the heads of colleges, deans, and professors of the faculties. The decree issued on 15 October 1845, titled "Method of Teaching," organized secondary schools. Among the bases of the decree, it is established that instruction in higher professional studies should be separated from the subjects taught in secondary schools, following the decree of 25 August of the same year, because the school teaches preparatory subjects for professions. The decree stated the following:Article 19: The teaching in the schools will include: Spanish, Latin, and French; English and German languages; Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and rectilinear trigonometry; Geography and history; Elements of natural history and physics; Religion. Philosophy and ancillary subjects: drawing, singing, music, according to available resources. The teaching of the Spanish and Latin languages and religion will be as extensive as possible, while the other subjects will be only elementary. According to Article 2, there will be six courses for the study of these subjects; the content will be expanded in higher-level courses, and students will be required to carry out exercises and analyses.—Article 15: The teachers will meet once a week at the home of the rector to report on their observations and the state of the classes, improvements possible in teaching methods and procedures, and the measures to be adopted for discipline. The agreements and results will be recorded in the book kept by the rector.
Administrations of Velasco, Belzu, and Córdova (1848–1857) His work in the Ministry of Public Instruction had profound effects in the country, making his most important reforms in 1845 and 1846. When José Miguel de Velasco seized power in 1848, Frías retired to private life, and was later exiled, in 1849, by the government of Manuel Isidoro Belzu because he refused to collaborate with his government. Although allowed to return, Belzu distanced Frías from La Paz. For years, Frías would live in Corocoro, where he dedicated himself to mining and began developing plans as to how best exploit and channel Bolivia's mineral-rich lands.
In 1853, Frías was targeted by the belcista newspapers because of his past refusal to collaborate with Belzu. As such, although not officially exiled, he left the country yet again. Throughout the Belzu administration, Frías would constantly clash with the President and his supporters. This did not mean Frías was critical of the regime but. Rather, he formed part of a moderate opposition that included linaristas and ballivianistas. In fact, he supported Belzu in 1853, when tensions with Peru were high. In 1855, he returned to the country after the election of Jorge Córdova, being appointed as a magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice. In that capacity, he was part of the council which articulated the Civil Code of 1855. Moreover, Córdova appointed him Prefect of Potosí, however, only temporarily since the country was engulfed in a political crisis as a result of the controversial general election of 1855. Under the command of General Dámaso Bilbao la Vieja, the troops of the rebellious General Gregorio Pérez were crushed, securing Córdova's presidency.
Linares administration (1857–1861)