Juan Antonio Jara Pereira (1845 - 21 July 1887) was a Paraguayan politician and lawyer; he was vice president of Paraguay between 1882 and 1886, during Bernardino Caballero's presidency.

Juan Antonio Jara
Vice President of Paraguay
In office
25 November 1882 – 25 November 1886
PresidentBernardino Caballero
Preceded byAdolfo Saguier
Succeeded byJosé del Rosario Miranda
Senator of Paraguay
In office
1882–1886
Minister of Finance of Paraguay
In office
12 August 1878 – 10 July 1882
Preceded byCándido Bareiro
Succeeded byJuan de la Cruz Giménez
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay
In office
6 August 1877 – 9 July 1879
Preceded byBenjamín Aceval
Succeeded byBenjamín Aceval
Minister of Justice, Religion and Public Education of Paraguay
In office
14 August 1877 – 16 August 1877
Preceded byBernardino Caballero
Succeeded byAdolfo Saguier
Minister of the Paraguayan Supreme Court of Justice
In office
1876 – 12 October 1877
National Deputy of Paraguay
In office
27 February 1871 – 15 October 1871
In office
4 April 1876 – 1877
Personal details
Born1845 (1845)
Asunción, Paraguay
DiedJuly 21, 1887(1887-07-21) (aged 41–42)
Asunción, Paraguay
SpouseMarcelina Martínez
ChildrenTomás Antonio Jara Martínez

Biography

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Jara was born in 1845 in Asunción, from a family of landowners. He was sent to study in Paris[1] and returned only in 1869, after the fall of Asunción at the closing stages of the Paraguayan War. Soon after, he began to be active in the country's politics,[2] to write for its newspapers, to do commercial deals on yerba mate[3] and to work as a lawyer; besides all that, he was named Attorney General in 1870.[4] He would maintain that position until early 1871, when he was elected national deputy.[4] Congress was dissolved by president Cirilo Antonio Rivarola in October 1871,[5] and in the next elections in November 1871 he either didn't run, or wasn't reelected.

Between March and October 1874 he was Attorney General for a second time.[4] In the second half of the 1870s, he was a deputy again, and then Minister of Finance and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Like the two Ministers of Finance that followed him, Juan de la Cruz Giménez and Agustín Cañete, he was accused of embezzlement during his stint at that ministry;[6] Jara in particular had little operational knowledge of governmental finances when he took the position.[7] He also was briefly named interim Minister of Justice in 1877, while he served a one year term as Minister of the Supreme Court.[8]

Though he was general Bernardino Caballero's vice president from 1882 onwards, and had been in his bloc since the early 1870s,[9] after the election he soon went to the oppositionists, with whom he formed a minority in the Senate and tried to contest perceived corruption in the government; during his entire vice presidency, he also was president of the senate.[10][11][12] It was thus that in the 10th of July of 1887 he was one of the founders of the traditional Liberal Party,[13][14] rival to Caballero's Colorado Party. He died shortly after, in the 21st of the same month.[15][1][16]

One of Asunción's most important neighborhoods, Barrio Jara, is named after him, for he was the owner of most of the land that comprises it.[17][18]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Don Juan A. Jara Q.E.P.D." [Don Juan A. Jara R.I.P.]. La Democracia (in Spanish). Asunción. 1887-07-22.
  2. ^ Decoud 1925, p. 92-103.
  3. ^ Centurión 1947, pp. 31.
  4. ^ a b c "Registro oficial de la República del Paraguay ." Imprenta Nacional – via hathitrust.org.
  5. ^ Warren & Warren 2014, p. 102.
  6. ^ Prado 2022, p. 96-97, 133.
  7. ^ Warren 1985, pp. 43.
  8. ^ "Registro oficial de la República del Paraguay ." Imprenta Nacional. August 14, 1877 – via archive.org.
  9. ^ Warren & Warren 2014, p. 123.
  10. ^ "Registro oficial de la República del Paraguay ." Asunción Editores Fischer y Quell. January 28, 1870 – via Internet Archive.
  11. ^ "Registro oficial correspondiente al año de..." Imprenta Nacional. January 28, 1883 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ von Marckoff 1904, pp. 43.
  13. ^ Pesoa 1987, pp. 165.
  14. ^ Frutos 2008, pp. 108.
  15. ^ "Registro oficial de la República del Paraguay ." Imprenta Nacional – via hathitrust.org.
  16. ^ "Muerte sensible" [A death that can be felt]. La Nación (in Spanish). Asunción. 1887-07-22.
  17. ^ Kallsen 1983, pp. 53.
  18. ^ Kallsen 1974, pp. 156.

Sources

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Preceded by  
Vice President of Paraguay

1882 - 1886
Succeeded by