Ramón Barros Luco (; June 9, 1835 – September 20, 1919) was

President of Chile The president of Chile (), officially the president of the Republic of Chile (), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Chile. The president is responsible for both Government of Chile, government administration and s ...

between 1910 and 1915. Barros Luco was born in 1835 in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, Barros Luco was son of Ramón Luis Barros Fernández and Dolores Luco Fernández de Leiva. He graduated from Law School in 1858. He died in

in 1919. He was elected representative for the city of Casablanca in 1861, and from then on occupied a seat in the

Lower House A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

, being elected representative for Caldera (1867–70), Curicó (1870–73), Valparaíso (1873–76, and 1888–91), as well as for Santiago, during four separate terms, between 1876 and 1894. Later, he was elected senator for Linares (1900–06). In his position as President of the House of Deputies in 1891, he endorsed the move to dismiss the then President of the Republic, José Manuel Balmaceda, a move drawn up by the Congress. In addition, he lent his support to the uprising of the National Army, whose movements he oversaw, (alongside Waldo Silva, vice-president of the Senate), until they took their place in the government in

Iquique Iquique () is a port List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the At ...

. The revolution having succeeded, he resumed his functions as a parliamentarian, performing as a minister on several occasions, whenever the situation called for, "someone who posed no threat to anybody". In 1910, given the existing tensions between liberals and nationals in the debate over a common candidate, he was chosen as the representative for both parties. His career to date assured both parties that, if he were to be elected, their interests would remain unharmed.

Government

The philosophy of Barros Luco's government can be summarised with the following phrase, well known in Chile, "99% of problems solve themselves, and the remaining 1% have no solution" ("El 99% de los problemas se resuelven solos y el 1% restante no tiene solución"). He applied this maxim to his administration, which would be consumed by the machinations of the parliament at large, the propensity of which was to delay or hinder the government under any pretense, including the most trivial claim of a minor deputy. However, Barros Luco cannot be accused of mere acceptance and reluctance to act, as he possessed a plan to counter the aforementioned political strategy of accusations and delays, and subsequent frequent change of ministers, known as the ''" rotativa"''. His policy was as follows: anytime a deputy placed an accusation against a minister leading to said minister's downfall, the accusing deputy would be called upon to head the new cabinet. His hopes were dashed however, as this "rotary" system arrived at a total of 15 ministers, the first of whom lasted only 18 days in office, and the last of whom failed even to appear before Congress, the previous minister having resigned only days before the handover of government. Some deputies, led by the liberal Manuel Rivas Vicuña, tried to correct the parliamentary vices, with the support of Pres. Barros Luco. In 1912 he approved a modification to the system of parliamentary debate (in particular the system to finish debates), however if a large enough group opposed a motion or accused a minister, parliament could still be severely delayed. Meanwhile, the corruption amongst the political parties had reached alarming levels, in answer to which laws against

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

were approved in 1914 and 1915, in addition to a reform of the municipal system, which managed to eliminate the falsification of results, allowing for greater transparency. However this reform brought with it an unexpected negative side effect: an increase in electoral bribery. Barros Luco also focused his efforts on public works; during his term of office he initiated the construction of the port of

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

, in addition to the construction of roads, bridges, drinking water and sewers. Also, the national School of Engineering, Museum of History, National Archives, School of Aviation and the

Arica Arica ( ; ) is a commune and a port city with a population of 222,619 in the Arica Province of northern Chile's Arica y Parinacota Region. It is Chile's northernmost city, being located only south of the border with Peru. The city is the ca ...

La Paz La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...

railway were built during his tenure as president. However, the large majority of works during his time represented the completion of projects begun by Pedro Montt Montt, fulfilling a promise of Montt's, "like the tale of a child with an egg. Another started the work, and no one will know in the end to whom the credit is due. They will end up by paying graditude to the one who has had the least to do with the project" (Pres. Montt was reputed to have complained thus as he laid the

cornerstone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

of the National Library of Chile).

Foreign policy

On the international scene, on 25 May 1915, he signed the ABC Pact. This pact, signed between the so-called " ABC Powers" (Argentina, Brazil and Chile), was a means to combat the influence of the United States in the region, as well as to establish an equilibrium and channels of communication between the three signatories. The official name of the pact was the Non-Aggression, Consultation and Arbitration pact. During his government the First World War broke out, with Chile adopting a neutral position. While this position would bring initial economic benefits, in the long term the consequences were dire; although the price of salitre (

sodium nitrate Sodium nitrate is the chemical compound with the chemical formula, formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt (chemistry), salt is also known as Chile saltpeter (large deposits of which were historically mined in Chile) to distinguish it from ordi ...

) had risen due to European demand, the limitation of salitre exports to Germany would mean that, apart from losing a valuable market, Chile would also lose their natural monopoly as a result of the development of synthetic salitre. This would spell the beginning of the end of the salitre industry in Chile.

Namesake sandwich

Barros Luco used to eat a particular sandwich often, which became known as a '' Barros Luco''. The sandwich is made with a slab of steak or multiple slices of beef with melted cheese, prepared on the grill and served hot. It is available today in most restaurants throughout Chile.

References

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