Tomás Frías

Tomás Frías Ametller (21 December 1805 – 10 May 1884) was a Bolivian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th President of Bolivia twice nonconsecutively from 1872 to 1873 and from 1874 to 1876. Having graduated as a lawyer and worked as a merchant, he soon decided to enter the world of politics. His long political career began in 1831, when he was elected to represent Potosí in the Chamber of Deputies. This was followed by his first diplomatic posting when he was sent to France in Bolivia's first ever foreign delegation.

Of his many ministerial positions, the first Frías held was that of Minister of Public Instruction. Throughout the tenure of this first position, Frías carried out wide and sweeping reforms in Bolivian education, establishing statutes and promulgating decrees that played a major role in the country for well over a century. In the following decades, he was to hold several more high positions, namely during the administration of José María Linares. It was during Linares' presidency that Frías worked to solve the anarchic state of Bolivia's fiscal framework. Having been exiled in 1849, he was again forced outside Bolivia when Mariano Melgarejo seized power in 1864. Several years later, in 1870, he moved to La Paz, coincidentally around the same time the revolution that ousted Melgarejo erupted. After the caudillo was dethroned, Frías was elected to the National Assembly of 1871, witnessing the violent closure of said apparatus by President Agustín Morales in 1872.

Only a few days after the forceful closure of the Assembly, Morales was assassinated. That day, Frías was appointed president of the Council of State. According to the Constitution, and with the approval of Congress, Frías became president, hastily calling elections and refusing to remain in power any longer than necessary. Adolfo Ballivián would win the 1873 general election, after which Frías resumed his position as President of the Council of State.

His first term was mostly devoted to the organization, supervision, and scrutiny of the general election of 1873. His brief first term saw few government acts, the Lindsay-Corral Agreement with Chile being one of few. After the death of President Ballivián on 14 February 1874, Frías was constitutionally obliged, in his role as President of the Council of State, to complete the remainder of the constitutional term. During his second term, the Boundary Treaty of 1874 between Chile and Bolivia was signed, supposedly ending the border conflict between the two nations. The violation of the treaty in 1879 would have serious consequences for Bolivia, sparking the War of the Pacific.

While his first term proved to be efficient and stable, though short, his second proved to be the opposite. Facing several military rebellions and conspiracies, the largest and most destabilizing one being led by General Quintín Quevedo and Casimiro Corral, he was unable to maintain stability. Weakened by the constant revolts, Frías was eventually ousted by his former Minister of War, Hilarión Daza. The former president was to remain exiled for the rest of his life, spending his last years in France and Italy. Considered a man of high integrity and a true servant of the state, Frías has been referred to as the "Bolivian Washington".