Tomás Villalba y Albin (9 December 1805 – 12 July 1886) was a Uruguayan politician who served as interim

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

for five days (15 February to 20 February 1865), at the end of the

Uruguayan War The Uruguayan War (10 August 1864 – 20 February 1865) was fought between Uruguay's governing Blanco Party and an alliance consisting of the Empire of Brazil and the Uruguayan Colorado Party, covertly supported by Argentina. Since its i ...

, which had begun on 10 August 1864. The war was fought between the governing Blanco Party and the Colorado Party, with the latter supported openly by the

Empire of Brazil The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and (until 1828) Uruguay. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom Pe ...

and covertly by the Argentine president,

Bartolomé Mitre Bartolomé Mitre Martínez (26 June 1821 – 19 January 1906) was an Argentine statesman, soldier and author. He was President of Argentina from 1862 to 1868 and the first president of unified Argentina. Mitre is known as the most versatile ...

. The Uruguayan War was part an almost continuous struggle between the Blanco and Colorado factions since Uruguayan independence in 1828, and was closely linked to a wider regional conflict involving Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay which culminated in the Paraguayan War (also known as the War of the Triple Alliance). The Colorado leader Venancio Flores started a rebellion in 1863 to overthrow Blanco President Bernardo Berro, who led a coalition Colorado–Blanco government. After a series of battles, the Colorados and the Brazilian army controlled most of the country, with the Blancos left in control of just the capital,

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

. On March 1, 1864, President Berro stepped down and was replaced by a hard-line senator,

Atanasio Aguirre Atanasio de la Cruz Aguirre (2 June 1801 – 28 September 1875) was acting President of Uruguay from 1864 to 1865. Background Aguirre was a member of the National Party. He served as the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Uruguay in ...

. On 2 February 1865, the Brazilian navy began a blockade of Montevideo, but temporarily relaxed it to allow foreigners to be evacuated to Buenos Aires. The relaxation of the blockade was extended to the middle of February to allow the Uruguayan Senate to elect a new

President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for e ...

. Anastasio Aquirre's term ended on 15 February, whereupon the Senate elected the moderate Tomás Villalba to replace him. Villalba immediately asked for a contingent of foreign troops, from Britain, France, Italy and Spain, to land in Montevideo as a means of preventing the more radical members of the Blanco Party from attempting to overthrow Villalba. The new president reached an agreement with Flores and a peace accord was signed on 20 February, which included a general amnesty for Blancos and Colorados. Villalba stepped down to allow Flores to become interim president, prior to new elections. Before assuming the national presidency, Villalba had been the President of the

Senate of Uruguay The Chamber of Senators of Uruguay (''Cámara de Senadores de Uruguay''), or Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly of Uruguay (''Asamblea General del Uruguay''). It has 30 members, elected for a five-year term by proportional repr ...

from 24 April 1863 until 15 February 1865. Previously, Villalba had also served as the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from 29 March 1860 to 22 June 1861, in the second government of President Berro, prior to which he appears to have served as Accountant General in 1858. After stepping down from the presidency, Villalba published a report on 18 March 1865, about the Uruguayan banking industry, followed by a decree on 23 March 1865, which created banking regulations for the first time in Uruguayan history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villalba, Tomas 1805 births 1886 deaths National Party (Uruguay) politicians Ministers of Economics and Finance of Uruguay Presidents of Uruguay Presidents of the Senate of Uruguay