Ismael Montes

Ismael Montes Gamboa (5 October 1861 – 16 October 1933) was a Bolivian general and political figure who served as the 26th president of Bolivia twice nonconsecutively from 1904 to 1909 and from 1913 to 1917. He was a member of the Liberal Party. During his first term, the Treaty of Peace and Friendship with Chile was signed on 20 October 1904.

Montes was born on 5 October 1861, in the city of La Paz, Bolivia. He belonged to a wealthy land-owning family. Montes was the son of General Clodomiro Montes and Tomasa Gamboa.

In 1878, he continued his higher studies by entering the Faculty of Law of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA), but due to the occupation by the Chilean army of the Bolivian town of Antofagasta on 14 February 1879, Montes decided to leave his studies and enlist as a private in the Murillo Regiment, then belonging to the "Bolivian Legion". In 1880, Montes' regiment was ordered to participate in the Battle of Alto de la Alianza, the last great battle between Bolivia and Chile in the War of the Pacific, in which he participated and barely survived, finishing the battle seriously wounded. Incidentally, he was captured by the Chilean army and remained as a prisoner for the remainder of the war.^{[citation needed]}

Upon his return to Bolivia, due to his heroism during the battle, Montes was directly promoted to the rank of captain by the government. Once Bolivia's participation in the war came to an end in 1880, Montes began working as an instructor in the Bolivian army. However, in 1884, Montes decided to retire from the army to continue with his law studies at the UMSA, which he had left at the beginning of the war. He graduated with a law degree on 12 June 1886.

In 1890, at the age of twenty-nine, Montes was elected as a Deputy representing the Liberal Party (Bolivia), however, his ideology collided with the prevailing conservatism of the time. Montes was elected as the head of Civil Law at the faculty of law in the UMSA.^{[citation needed]}

As a deputy, Montes was known for his elegant and eloquent personality, making him a perfect partner to the vociferous and mercurial Atanasio de Urioste Velasco, another staunch liberal of the time. The two remained friends and allies until the end of their lives.

Conservative President Severo 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 31 October 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 done so strategically since if they had vetoed it they would have provoked the inhabitants of the capital, and they knew that 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 6 November there was a massive riot in La Paz: rioters demanded federalism and that their city be made the capital. On 14 November, 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, making Sucre the official capital and seat of executive power. On 19 November, the new status of the city was officially promulgated.