Agustín Cañete

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Cañete and the second or maternal family name is García.
Agustín Cañete
Minister of Justice, Religion and Public Education of Paraguay
In office
12 August 1878 – 25 November 1878
Preceded byAdolfo Saguier
Succeeded byJosé Segundo Decoud
Minister of Finance of Paraguay
In office
2 January 1885 – 29 December 1887
Preceded byJuan de la Cruz Giménez
Succeeded byHiginio Uriarte
In office
9 June 1894 – 4 June 1895
Preceded byOtoniel Peña
Succeeded byBenjamín Aceval
In office
24 February 1897 – 6 April 1898
Preceded byEmilio Aceval
Succeeded byGuillermo de los Ríos
Senator of Paraguay
In office
28 September 1899 – 1902
Minister of the Paraguayan Supreme Court of Justice
In office
1876 – 12 October 1877
President of the Paraguayan Supreme Court of Justice
In office
28 November 1878 – 1882
Preceded byJosé de Leon
In office
30 November 1882 – 24 September 1883
Succeeded byBenjamin Aceval
In office
5 October 1883 – 10 October 1883
Preceded byBenjamin Aceval
Succeeded byJosé del Rosario Miranda
National Deputy of Paraguay
In office
20 March 1877 – 10 April 1878
ConstituencyTrinidad
Personal details
Born(1844-12-31)31 December 1844
Asunción, Paraguay
Died23 December 1902(1902-12-23) (aged 57)
Asunción, Paraguay
Resting placeLa Recoleta Cemetery, Asunción
SpouseNatividad Sanchez
Parents

Agustín Cañete García (31 December 1844 – 23 December 1902) was a Paraguayan politician. He served in various presidential cabinets through a political life which spanned more than three decades. Most famously, he was Minister of Finance of Paraguay three times; in two of these instances, he resigned from the position amidst accusations of corruption.

Biography

Early life

Cañete was born in 1844 to Juan de la Cruz Cañete, an officer in the army,[1] and Ubalda García de Cañete, José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia's illegitimate daughter. Francia was the dictator of Paraguay between 1814 and his death in 1840, and though his legacy was reviled in post-Triple Alliance War Paraguay, Cañete would through his life show some pride at being the dictator's grandson, coming so far as to challenging Argentinian ex-president Domingo Sarmiento to a duel when the latter wrote a piece critical of Francia in Asunción in 1887.[2]

During his youth, he was sent to the prestigious Argentinian Colegio del Uruguay to study.[3] In the 1860s, he fought in the Triple Alliance War, being an ensign by the battle of Curupayty,[4] and a sergeant major at the end of the conflict.[5] During the key siege of Humaitá, he was colonel Martínez, the fortress's commander, 's aide.[6] In the early years after the war, he joined the Decoudista Club del Pueblo party. He served as constitutionalist in the assembly which wrote the 1870 Constitution,[7] and as congressman between the end of 1877 and 1878.[8]

Work as Minister

In 1878 he was briefly named Minister of Justice, Religion and Public Education in Higinio Uriarte's cabinet after Adolfo Saguier resigned, but a few months afterwards José Segundo Decoud was named minister in his stead when Candido Bareiro became president. A few months before this he had been named President of Paraguay's Supreme Court, a position he would occupy again in the 1880s;[9] he had already been a member of this court between 1876 and 1877.[10]

From president Bareiro's assumption of power in 1878 onwards Cañete's political relevancy grew, given that Bareiro, future president Bernardino Caballero and Cañete were allies. In 1885 he became Minister of Finance, taking the position after Juan de la Cruz Gímenez resigned, formally for health reasons, amidst various accusations of corruption. The ministry was widely known to be in bad shape administratively when Cañete took over,[11] and its reputation improved somewhat during his term. While minister, he was an important advocate for the process of land sales conducted by the government in the 1880s onwards,[12] which are a controversial topic even nowadays, as they served to concentrate land ownership rapidly and had a somewhat short-lived impact in the country’s finances; in 1887 he also was interim Minister of Foreign Affairs for some months,[13] and helped found the long-standing Colorado Party. By 1888, he was widely accused by the country's media of embezzlement.[14][15]

Bernardino Caballero's cabinet in 1886; Cañete is first from the left

Afterwards, in the 1890s, he twice again occupied the Ministry of Finance, on the first time leaving after Cecilio Báez accused him of fraud in the process of closure of the Banco Nacional del Paraguay (of which he had been director).[16] Nevertheless, he was still a strong figure amongst the Colorado Party, and in 1897 engaged in a power struggle with Segundo Decoud for the Paraguayan presidency, both of them belonging to Bernardino Caballero's wing of the Party - in the end, the Egusquicista Emilio Aceval was chosen to run, and thus elected; the choice of Aceval by the top echelons of the party made Cañete resign again from his post as minister.[17]

Later years

In 1899 he became a senator of the republic. By this time he had also become an important investor in Paraguayan businesses, having large interests in enterprises such as the yerba mate giant La Industrial Paraguaya.[18]

He died in Asunción in December of 1902.[19]

In 1909, he was mentioned by name in José Segundo Decoud's suicide note, where he was called "López's secretary";[20] given the rest of the note, this very likely stemmed from their dispute for the presidency in the 1890s.

References

Citations

  1. ^ "Ojeadas retrospectivas". Revista del Paraguay. Buenos Aires: Imp. de la Nación. 1892. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  2. ^ Prieto, Justo (1950). "Sarmiento, maestro en la vida y la muerte". Revista Universidad. Buenos Aires: Union de Universidades de América Latina.
  3. ^ Diario de sesiones de la Cámara de Diputados
  4. ^ Centurión 1895, pp. 288.
  5. ^ Villamil 1992, pp. 31.
  6. ^ Armadans 2024, pp. 8.
  7. ^ Actas de la Convención nacional constituyente del año 1870
  8. ^ Actas de las sesiones del período legislativo
  9. ^ Registro Oficial de la Republica del Paraguay - 1878
  10. ^ Registro Oficial de la Republica del Paraguay - 1877
  11. ^ Prado 2022, pp. 97.
  12. ^ Warren & Warren 2014, pp. 170.
  13. ^ Registro Oficial de la Republica del Paraguay - 1887
  14. ^ Warren 1985, pp. 66.
  15. ^ Prado 2022, pp. 96.
  16. ^ Warren 1985, pp. 96.
  17. ^ Warren 1985, pp. 103.
  18. ^ Aquino 1985, pp. 227.
  19. ^ "Agustín Cañete Q.E.P.D." [Agustín Cañete R.I.P.]. La Democracia (in Spanish). Asuncion. 1902-12-23.
  20. ^ Doratioto 2012, pp. 79.

Sources

  • Aquino, Ricardo C. (1985). La Segunda Republica Paraguaya 1869-1906. Arte Nuevo. ISBN 9789996712906.
  • Armadans, Claudio F. (2024). "Sarmiento vs. Cañete: Polémica previa al surgimiento del novecentismo". Revista Paraguay desde la Ciencias Sociales (in Spanish). 14. Universidad de Buenos Aires.
  • Centurión, Juan C. (1895). Memorias del coronel Juan Crisóstomo Centurión. J. A. Berra.
  • Decoud, Hector F. (1925). Una década de vida nacional. H. Kraus. ISBN 978-9-995-30859-9.
  • Doratioto, Francisco F. M. (2012). Relações Brasil-Paraguai: Afastamento, tensões e reaproximação (1889-1954). FUNAG. ISBN 978-85-7631-384-7.
  • Esteves, Gomes F. (1983). Historia contemporánea del Paraguay (1869-1920). NAPA. ISBN 978-9-992-55043-4.
  • Mosqueira, Silvano (1908). Semblanzas paraguayas. H. Kraus.
  • Prado, Mário L. F. (2022). O Processo de Recuperação Econômica do Paraguai após a Guerra da Tríplice Aliança (1870 - 1890). Universidade de São Paulo.
  • Villamil, Manuel P. (1992). Hija del Silencio. Editorial Don Bosco. Retrieved 2023-10-22.
  • Warren, H.G.; Warren, K.F. (2014). Paraguay and the Triple Alliance: The Postwar Decade, 1869-1878. University of Texas Press. ISBN 9781477306994. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  • Warren, H.G. (1985). Rebirth of the Paraguayan Republic: The First Colorado Era, 1878-1904. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 9780822976370.
  • Zubizarreta, Carlos (1961). Cien vidas paraguayas. Nizza. ISBN 978-9-995-30281-8.