José Manuel Pando

Pando was born in the town of Luribay on December 27, 1848. His parents were Manuel Pando and Petrona Solares. He studied at the Colegio Seminario de La Paz and continued his studies at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA) where he studied medicine, but only reached the sixth year before he abandoned it for a career in politics.[1]

At the age of twenty-three, Pando fought alongside the people of La Paz to overthrow the government of Mariano Melgarejo on January 15, 1871, after which he was incorporated into the Bolivian Army.[1][2]

After overthrowing Melgarejo, Bolivian President Agustín Morales appointed Pando as his personal aide-de-camp in 1871. Pando and Morales had an excellent relationship which allowed for the former's career in the army to be propelled to new heights. However, on November 27, 1872, when Morales was assassinated by his nephew and also aide-de-camp, Federico Lafaye, a heartbroken Pando resigned from the position of assistant to the President of Bolivia.[1][3]

In 1876, after Hilarión Daza's deposition of President Tomas Frías, Pando retired to private life in his Luribay hacienda. However, the outbreak of the War of the Pacific called him back to arms.[2][4]

During the War of the Pacific, Pando contributed to the Bolivian Army when, in the midst of the war, he took steps to bring artillery pieces from the United States, a task that General Daza had entrusted to him.[5] Pando fought in the Battle of Alto de la Alianza on May 26, 1880, where he was seriously wounded in the left arm and taken prisoner by the Chileans. He would be taken prisoner to Santiago in Chile. Upon his return to Bolivia, Pando led an artillery regiment until 1884.[1]

Pando was one of the great explorers of Bolivia during the 19th century. Pando's explorations provided a large deal of knowledge and helped in the integration of Northern Bolivia, then known as the National Territory of Colonies (then a largely unknown and obscure part of the country).[6][7] Today, this territory is composed of the departments of La Paz, Beni and Pando, the latter bears his last name in honor of his expeditions there. Several of his expeditions to the region took place around the Madidi, Madre de Dios, and Mamoré rivers, collective studies were made on the subject and published by the University of La Plata, in Argentina.[7] Furthermore, Pando's exploration greatly contributed to Bolivia's cartography, providing crucial knowledge about uncharted lands in the Amazon Rainforest.[8]

He entered as a member of the Liberal Party in 1884, a party of which he started leading after replacing General Eliodoro Camacho in 1894. He was head of the Liberal Party of Bolivia until the end of his presidency. Over the years, Pando became one of the greatest landowners of Bolivia, benefiting from the laws of 1874 and 1880.[2][4]

As head of the Liberal Party, Pando was a candidate for the presidency of the republic in the 1896 general elections, being defeated by the Conservative Party and its leader, Severo Fernández Alonso. That same year, he assumed the position of senator for the Department of Chuquisaca.[3]

Pablo Zárate "Willka", the fearsome Aymara soldier that was crucial in the overthrow of the Conservatives in 1899.

Pando would be the leader of the Federalists when they rose up against the government in 1898, obtaining the support of the Aymaras of the country and of Colonel Pablo Zárate Willca, known as the "Fearsome Willka".[9] Thus, the Bolivian Civil War of 1898-1899 began. After four months of fighting, he triumphed over the conservative forces of President Fernández in the Battle of the Segundo Crucero.[10] A Federal Government Board was created, made up of Pando, Serapio Reyes Ortiz and Macario Pinilla Vargas, which installed the seat of government in La Paz. The Board carried out some institutional reforms and public works, such as the construction of the government palace of La Paz. The Board was dissolved at the National Convention of 1899, when Pando was elected president.[1][2][3]

Pando in his official portrait as President of Bolivia in 1899.

Pando was fifty years old when he assumed the Presidency. During his administration, the first Bolivian census of the 20th century was carried out in 1900. Moreover, it was discovered that there was a surplus in the trade balance, due to the rubber boom, ensuring that for the following decades the economy would be stable.[10]

Pando ordered the construction of roads going from the valleys to the plains, linking the distant settlements to the major urban centers of Bolivia in an attempt to connect the country and to improve infrastructure.[1] Another crucial event during Pando's presidency was the arrival of the first imported in Bolivia, brought to the country by adventurer Arthur Posnansky.

Internationally, Pando fought the so-called Acre War with Brazil. The region of Acre, located in the north and adjacent to the border with Brazil, had been invaded by Brazilian settlers and rubber tappers in the midst of a rubber boom.[6] The Bolivian government, attempting to assert its influence in that region, founded Puerto Alonso in 1899 and established taxes on rubber tappers. But the rubber tappers rebelled and started a secessionist movement called the First Revolution of Acre, which the Bolivian government was able to crush.[1] The second phase of this war, called the Second Acrean Revolution, occurred in 1902; this time, the Acreans asked to be annexed into Brazil.[11] The Bolivians suffered setbacks at the hands of the Acrean revolutionaries, so Pando personally marched to Acre at the head of an army.[2] This motivated the intervention of Brazil, which considered the area in dispute to be theirs and decided to send its army in support of the Acreans. This disparate situation forced the Bolivians to enter negotiations. Pando signed the Treaty of Petrópolis with Brazil by which Bolivia ceded territory in the north in exchange for significant financial compensation of two million pounds sterling.[11] Shortly after returning to La Paz, at the end of his term, Pando handed over power to Ismael Montes, who succeeded him as leader of the Liberal Party.