Guillermo Billinghurst Angulo , President of the Republic between 1912 and 1914. Son of Guillermo Eugenio Billinghurst and Belisaria Angulo Tudela, Guillermo Billinghurst was born on July 27, 1851 in Arica and died on June 28, 1915 . His first studies were carried out in his native land, later moving to Buenos Aires until the death of his father (1868), when he returned to take charge of the family saltpeter business. He was a friend of Alfonso Ugarte and from his first foray into politics he was in favor of Nicolás de Piérola; For this reason, he accompanied him on the "Talisman" expedition (1874), in the Yacango revolt (1876) and in the "Huascar" adventure (1877). During the war with Chile he was appointed chief of staff of the northern army, participated in the defense of Morro Solar (1881) and was sent to Chile as a prisoner.
Political life of William Billinghurst
He helped Nicolás de Pierola in his revolution against Cáceres and triumphantly, he was elected first vice president and senator for Tacna (1895), and later president of the Senate (1896). Appointed minister plenipotentiary to Chile, he signed the Billinghurst-La Torre protocol which laid the foundations for a possible plebiscite to decide the future of Tacna and Arica as provided for in the Treaty of Ancón. He was a conspicuous member of the Democratic Party, virtual candidate for the presidency (1899), reorganizer of his party (1908) and mayor of Lima (1909); As such, he was always in favor of the popular classes, paving several streets in the capital, inaugurating the electric tram to La Victoria, leaving the San Jerónimo municipal shooting range open and inaugurating the monument to Antonio Raimondi in the new Plaza Italia . In 1912 he competed electorally with Ántero Aspíllaga and was taken to the presidency of the Republic in the midst of great popularity; The Peruvian Illustration magazine said, referring to the first rally on May 19:“The demonstration presided over by Mr. Billinghurst has been imposing, formidable, grandiose, crushing; 20 thousand people accompanied him. The one presided over by Mr. Aspíllaga, shameful, sad and petty; Only 2,000 accompanied him.”
In January 1913, it issued a resolution establishing an eight-hour day for the day laborers of the Callao pier and dock and also guaranteed police protection for any strike supported by three-quarters of the affected workers. All these actions earned him to be considered at some point as "the first worker in Peru", and the populist orientation of his speech led the popular ingenuity to baptize him as "Pan Grande". His enemies, the civilistas and the legistas, hindered his government from Congress and the press, and Nicolás de Piérola did not want to support him. The result was that Billinghurst alienated the civilian majority in Congress, the political parties, the Army, and even popular opinion. He banished ex-president Leguía and threatened to dissolve Congress until, finally, he was overthrown by a military coup led by Colonel Óscar R. Benavides supported by the civilistas (1914). He was deported to Iquique where he died shortly after.
Published works
Of folksy and scathing character, he possessed, however, a solid and varied culture despite not having had a university education; he translated, without the intention of publishing them, some passages from various works of Shakespeare and published, apart from official documents, Quick look at the question of saltpeter (1875); Funeral wreath of Alfonso Ugarte (1880); Military reconnaissance of the Desaguadero River and the Andean plateau (1880); Study on the geography of Tarapacá (1886); Legal status of Peruvians born in Tarapacá (1887); The drinking water supply of the port of Iquique (1887); The saltpeter railways of Tarapacá (1888); The saltpeter capitals of Tarapacá (1889); Regulations for agricultural explorations in the mountains (1898); Legislation on saltpeter and borax in Tarapacá (1903); Documents related to the Patillos railway (1908); Irrigation through artesian wells (1909); Speech program (1912); and To the nation (1915).