Soto Alfaro, Bernardo

Soto came from the two most powerful families of Alajuela - Soto and Alfaro, who owned local lands and fueled trade from colonial times. By the 1860s, Soto and Alfaro united as the main oligarchic clans in the Costa Rican coffee industry.

Soto's parents were a wealthy politician and General Apolinar de Jesus Soto Quesada and the daughter of planter Joaquín Alfaro Muñoz.

Bernardo began his education in Alajuela, then attended high school in San José, where in 1871 he received the title of Bachelor of Science and Arts. At the age of 23, he graduated from the Law Faculty of the University of Santo Tomas in 1877 . During his student life, he opposed the regime of President Thomas Guardia Gutieres and in 1875 was imprisoned.

In 1885, Soto married Pacifico Fernandez Guardia, the daughter of President Prospero Fernandez Oreamuno , who in 1886 bore him a son Maximiliano.

Between 1881 and 1882, Soto traveled to England, France, Rome and Spain, where he strengthened his liberal ideas and his Eurocentric vision of progress. He became one of the main figures of the so-called Olimpo generation - groups of young liberals who occupied important political posts in the Prospero Fernandez Oreamuno administration, and some of them later became presidents of Costa Rica (Bernardo Soto, Assention Esquivel Ibarra , Cleto González Vickes and Ricardo Jimenez Oreamuno ).

First posts

In 1881, Bernardo Soto was appointed governor of Alajuela, but resigned a few months later to make a long trip to Europe. After his return from Europe, he was again appointed governor of Alajuela on May 9, 1882 .

During his tenure as governor, this city was of great political importance, since the then dictator, General Thomas Guardia Gutierrez , became seriously ill and decided to spend the last months of his life in his home in Alajuela, here he was in charge of public affairs. Guardia died in Alajuela on July 6, 1882 , and Bernardo Soto played an important role in organizing the dictator's funeral.

After a short reign of the provisional president of Saturnino, Lisano Gutierrez, on August 10, 1883, Guardia’s son-in-law General Prospero Fernandez Oreamuno , an old friend of the Soto family, came to power. President Fernandez appointed Bernardo Soto as Minister of the Interior and Police.

Then in October 1883 the cabinet was reorganized, and Bernardo received a portfolio of the Minister of Finance and Trade, and was also appointed first deputy president.

In January 1884 there was a cardinal reorganization of the cabinet, and it was decided to transfer all the ministerial portfolios to only two ministers: the posts of ministers of finance, commerce, war, navy and police were given to Soto, who was simultaneously promoted to the rank of brigadier general; the posts of ministers of foreign affairs, justice and health were given to José Maria Castro Madris (former president and son-in-law of President Fernandez).

As Minister, Bernardo Soto took an important part in events such as the electrification of street lighting in San José in 1884 . He also signed the controversial Soto-Kita treaty on April 21, 1884 , in which Minor Cooper Keith was awarded 333,333 hectares of land on the Caribbean plains and 99 years of exploitation of the railroad along the Atlantic in exchange for revising the huge foreign debt the country had before the British bankers, as well as assistance in completing the construction of the Atlantic Railway.

In the same year, Soto also signed the Soto-Ortuno agreement, according to which the Costa Rican government provided the Costa Rican Bank with a monopoly on issuing paper money in the country in exchange for a $ 250,000 loan to the state.

Bernardo Soto also played an important role in the development of the new Civil Code and the package of liberal laws of 1884 , which confiscated cemeteries belonging to the Catholic Church, banned religious orders, established civil marriage and divorce, and the Jesuits of Costa Rica were expelled from the country.

Interim President

On March 12, 1885, President Fernandez died, and Soto was appointed provisional president of the Republic until 1886 . In the same year he married the daughter of Fernandez Pacifica.

At that time, Costa Rica was in alliance with Nicaragua and El Salvador against Guatemala and Honduras , since Guatemalan dictator Justo Rufino Barrios tried to forcefully create the Federal Republic of Central America. Soto had to prepare for war, but the conflict dried up after the death of the Guatemalan dictator, and the army of Costa Rica did not have to go into battle. Before the threat of war , the Costa Rican Red Cross was founded on April 5, 1885 .

In May 1885 , after two months of 31-year-old Soto in power, the Congress of Costa Rica awarded him the rank of Major General, the highest in the country's army.

On April 29, 1885, at the request of Carlos Durán's Picture and Don Mauro Fernández Akuña, the National University Hospital (now the National Psychiatric Hospital) was opened and a lottery was held to finance the construction of the Great National Museum.

During this period, the police and the press were also reorganized, the Telegraph General Directorate was created, roads were built, and the text of the new Civil Code, which entered into force in 1888, was approved.

Education received a huge boost. Numerous schools were opened, a teacher training school was established.

Bernardo Soto nominated his candidacy for the presidency for the period 1886-1890. His main rival was his wife’s uncle, General Victor Guardia Gutierrez (brother of the late dictator Thomas Guardia Gutierrez), but Soto confidently won the elections in April 1886 .

Presidency

The period of the official presidency of Soto includes the entry into force of the Civil Code of 1888, the Civil Procedure Code of 1888 and other important laws.

In educational matters, the Minister of Public Information Mauro Fernandez Acuña conducted a liberal educational reform to eliminate the influence of the Catholic Church on education, making the school secular. The University of Santo Tomas (the only one at that time in the country) was closed in 1888 . The reform of primary education was reflected in the General Law of General Education of 1886.

During the administration of Soto, the National Museum of Costa Rica (1887), the National Library (1888), the National Meteorological Institute (1888), the Institute of Physics and Geography, the General Administration of Customs (1889) and the Morazan Park (1887) were also opened.

In the international sphere, the Esquivel-Roman Convention with Nicaragua was signed, according to which it was decided to transfer to arbitration the dispute about the validity of the Canas-Jerez Treaty. The trial ended in 1888 favorably for Costa Rica.

In 1890, Soto opened the railway between San José and the port of Limon. The railway has opened up new areas for economic development, new cities have emerged, such as Turrialba and Guapiles. Soto also patronized the coffee industry.

By the end of the term of office, Soto due to travel abroad and the disease temporarily retired, leaving power at the disposal of his father, General Apolinar Soto Quesada, military and maritime minister.

Political crisis of 1889

In 1882, General Thomas Guardia Gutierrez inherited power from his son-in-law and friend Prospero Fernández Oreamuno. Similarly, in 1885, General Fernandez transferred power to his son-in-law and friend, Bernardo Soto. In addition, in 1889, General Soto attempted to make his successor, his partner and friend Asension Esquivel Ibarra, through electoral fraud.

In the upcoming presidential election, Bernardo Soto supported Esquivel’s candidacy. However, the Catholic Church, which suffered damage from the rule of the liberals, began an active movement in favor of the former head of the Supreme Court, José Rodriguez Celedon of the Democratic Constitutional Party, which won a majority in the first round of elections in November 1889 .

At first, Soto declared Ascionel Esquivel to be the winner of the vote, but the Catholic Church called on all residents of Costa Rica to oppose the government. Before the popular pressure and danger of civil war on November 7, 1889, Soto decided to give up power and proclaimed Carlos Durán as interim president. The painting, which on May 8, 1890 passed President José Rodriguez Celedón, elected for the period of 1890-1894. Since then, November 7 is celebrated as the Day of the Costa Rican Democracy.

Presidential Candidate

In 1901 , when the second term of President Rafael Iglesias Castro was nearing its end, his political opponents nominated Bernardo Soto, but Iglesias reached a compromise with the opposition and Assenion Esquivel was elected president.

In 1905, Soto was again a presidential candidate, but after the primary elections, he and another candidate, Maximo Fernandez Alvarado, withdrew their candidacies and supported Tobias Zunigu Castro, one of the former ministers in the Soto government. However, before the election, President Esquivel, wishing the triumph of official candidate Cleto González Víkés (also former Soto minister), expelled Zunigou, Fernandez and Soto from the country. However, shortly thereafter, the exiles were allowed to return to the country

Late years

Soto was a member of the commission of the former presidents of the Republic, which drafted the 1917 Constitution. The commission was established by President Federico Tinoco Granados (1917-1919), but on the whole turned out to be ineffective.

Soto died in San Jose on January 28, 1931 .

• Clotilde María Obregón, Nuestros gobernantes: Verdades del pasado para comprender el futuro, Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica, 2002, 155 S.