President Oscar Benavides | Name Jose la Nationality Peruvian | |
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Preceded by Jorge Prado y Ugarteche Occupation Writer, historian and politician Education National University of San Marcos Succeeded by Alberto Rey de Castro y Romana | ||
José de la Riva-Agüero y Osma, 6th Marquess of Montealegre de Aulestia (26 February 1885 – 26 October 1944) was a Peruvian historian, writer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Peru.
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Early years
Riva-Agüero, a descendant of José de la Riva Agüero, studied at the National University of San Marcos and the University of Lima where he completed his PhD, before returning to San Marcos as Professor of History. As an academic Riva-Agüero stressed the Spanish nature of Peru against the indigenistas, who stressed the importance of indigenous peoples in nation-building, and as such he became embroiled in an intellectual struggle with José Carlos Mariátegui. He entered politics in 1915 when he was co-founder of the moderate Democratic National Party.
Public office
In 1919 Riva-Agüero left for an extended stay in Europe and whilst there he came into contact with the works of radical Catholic rightist authors such as Jacques Bainville and Charles Maurras and soon became a disciple of their ideas. He returned to Peru in 1930 and by 1933 he had been handed the positions of Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Minister of Public Education under the Presidency of General Óscar R. Benavides.
Fascism
After his spell as Prime Minister Riva-Agüero moved further to the right. He launched his own hard-line Catholic Acción Patriótica movement after the model of Action Française and before long he had changed the name of this group to the Peruvian Fascist Brotherhood. He personally declared his support for Italian fascism and Falangism although it has been argued that politically he was more of a very elitist Catholic rightist who also supported Hispanidad. Initially Riva-Agüero gained a strong following for his new endeavour but before long his newfound extremism, combined with his increasingly odd personal behaviour, began to lose him his credibility. He became strongly anti-Semitic and soon took to praising Adolf Hitler, losing him some support. Meanwhile he started insisting that followers called him the Marquis of Aulestia, a title that had been in the family but had long since fell into disuse and which had little currency in a republic such as Peru, and his generally arrogant demeanour cost him more support. His persona was further damaged when he even took to occasional bouts of public transvestism at functions. He finally drifted into obscurity in 1942 when Peru officially became one of the Allies although he continued to write articles in defence of the Axis powers until his death.
