Campero, Narciso (1813–1896)

Narciso Campero (b. 29 October 1813; d. 12 August 1896), president of Bolivia (1880–1884). Campero was born in Tojo in the department of Tarija. Near the beginning of his military career, he fought in the battle of Ingavi in November 1841. He attended military school in Paris in 1845. From 1859 to 1879 Campero served in military, diplomatic, and administrative posts, usually under Liberal presidents. When the War of the Pacific began in 1879, he was appointed general of the Fifth Division. Because of their confidence in Campero, the Bolivian directors of the Huanchaca Silver Company sent provisions to the Fifth Division. When the inhabitants of La Paz overthrew President Hilarión Daza on 27 December 1879, they named Campero as their new leader. Following the advice of the silver barons, Campero gradually removed Bolivia from the war by 1884. Meanwhile, to legitimize his new government, Campero called a constituent assembly, which met in 1880. The delegates not only confirmed Campero as president but also approved a new constitution for Bolivia that remained in force until 1938. By cooperating with the mining oligarchy, Campero brought an end to unstable caudillo rule and, through the Constitution of 1880, allowed a small elite of mine owners to open Bolivia to the industrial world.

See alsoMining: Modern .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Julio Díaz Arguedas, Los generales de Bolivia (rasgos biográficos) 1825–1925 (1929), pp. 247-261.

Herbert S. Klein, Parties and Political Change in Bolivia, 1880–1952 (1969), pp. 14, 18.

                                      Erwin P. Grieshaber