Francisco Javier Martínez de Zaldúa y Racines was a Colombian lawyer and politician, who was elected as President of Colombia in 1882.

Early life

Zaldúa was born in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

, Cundinamarca, on December 3, 1811. His father was don Manuel Maria Zaldúa, a prominent member of the Nueva Granada high society and a very wealthy man. He donated most of his fortune to the cause of independence and in particular to General

Antonio Nariño Antonio Amador José de Nariño y Álvarez del Casal (April 9, 1765 – December 13, 1823),Hector, M., and A. Ardila. Hombres y mujeres en las letras de Colombia. 2. Bogota: Magisterio, 2008. 25. Print. was a Colombian ideological wiktionary:p ...

. When the Spanish "Pacificador", General

Pablo Morillo Pablo Morillo y Morillo, Count of Cartagena and Marquess of La Puerta, a.k.a. ''El Pacificador'' (The Peace Maker) (5 May 1775 – 27 July 1837) was a Spanish military officer who fought in the Napoleonic Wars and in the Spanish American I ...

, made his triumphant entry in

, the Zaldúa family was attending the military parade. Zaldúa's father was so offended and outraged, that he suffered a massive heart attack and died instantly. Zaldúa studied jurisprudence and theology at the "

Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé is a Private school, private Catholic school, Catholic pre-school, primary, secondary school, and college-preparatory school, colonial of Plateresque style building, located in the Bogota, Santa Fe district of Bogotá, Cundinamarca Department, Cu ...

", where he graduated with a double mayor and obtained diplomas in Law and Divinity.

Professional career

Zaldúa was a professor of Civil Law and Canonical Law between 1837 and 1866. He later entered the judicial branch where he advanced all the way to Justice of the Supreme Court. As President of this legislative body, Zaldúa became the ''de facto'' President of the United States of Colombia for 6 days, when President Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera ceded executive power to the convention, and until the said convention elected a

Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

to serve collectively as the Colombian

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

Political career

Zaldúa initiated his political career by being elected to the City Council of

. In 1840 he was elected to the House of Representatives and, later to the Senate, both in representation of his native state of Cundinamarca. He was also appointed as Minister of Government during the administration of President

José Hilario López José Hilario López Valdés (18 February 1798, Popayán, Cauca – 27 November 1869, Campoalegre, Huila) was a Colombian politician and military officer. He was the President of Colombia between 1849 and 1853.Arismendi Posada, Ignacio; ...

. Zaldúa served as President of the

Rionegro Rionegro () is a city and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia, located in the subregion of Eastern Antioquia. The official name of the city is Ciudad Santiago de Arma de Rionegro. Rio Negro means "Black River" in Spanish, as the cit ...

Convention, a

constituent assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

that created the

United States of Colombia The United States of Colombia () was the name adopted in 1863 by the for the Granadine Confederation, after years of civil war. Colombia became a federal state itself composed of nine "sovereign states.” It comprised the present-day nat ...

, now the Republic of

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Presidency

In 1881, the presidential campaign to succeed the conservative President Rafael Núñez was taking place. Zaldúa was a man of immense prestige and reputation and José María Rojas Garrido nominated him as candidate for the presidency. The

Colombian Liberal Party The Colombian Liberal Party (; PLC) is a centre to centre-left political party in Colombia. It was founded as a classical liberal party but later developed a more social-democratic tradition, joining the Socialist International in 1999. Th ...

, which had been divided for many years, united around his name. Zaldúa was 71 years old by then. Former president Aquileo Parra led the convention's commission that went to his home to request his acceptance. Zaldúa, in his acceptance speech said: ''“In the sunset of my life, I have nothing else to offer to the liberal party, but my last days. I hereby accept this nomination as my death sentence”''. The Conservative Party abstained from the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

, and Zaldúa defeated fellow Liberal Solón Wilches. He was inaugurated on April 1, 1882.

Death

Zaldúa died in Bogotá, in the Government Palace, on December 21, 1882. He was the first Colombian President to die while in office.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaldua, Francisco Javier 1811 births 1882 deaths Politicians from Bogotá Presidential Designates of Colombia Colombian people of Basque descent Colombian Liberal Party politicians 19th-century Colombian lawyers Presidents of Colombia People from the Republic of New Granada