José Segundo Decoud: Difference between revisions

| name = José Segundo Decoud Domecq

| image = Jose_SJ._Decoud Segundo Decoud.pngjpg

| office = [[Senate of Paraguay|Senator of Paraguay]]

| term_start = 28 September 1888

| term_end = 3 March 1909

| office1 = Minister of Justice, Religion and Public Education of Paraguay

| term_start1 = 152 AprilMarch 18981899

| term_end1 = 48 JuneMarch 18981899

| successor1 = [[Benjamín AcevalVenancio (diplomat)|BenjamínVíctor AcevalLópez]]

| predecessor1 = [[José Mateo Collar]]Caminos

| term_start2 = 1115 JulyApril 18711898

| term_end2 = 114 NovemberJune 18711898

| successor2 = Domingo[[Benjamín Aceval A.(diplomat)|Benjamín OrtizAceval]]

| predecessor2 = José Mateo Collar

| term_start3term_end3 = 9 JuneJuly 18951879

| successor3predecessor3 = [[FabioAgustín QueiroloCañete]]

| term_start4term_end4 = 211 MarchNovember 18911871

| term_start5 = 299 DecemberJune 18871895

| term_end5 = 2819 SeptemberJune 18881900

| predecessor5successor5 = [[AgustínFabio CañeteQueirolo]]

| term_start6 = 92 JulyMarch 18791891

| term_end6 = 2514 NovemberApril 18861891

| predecessor6successor6 = Benjamín Aceval

| term_start7 = 1729 MayDecember 18711887

| term_end7 = 1128 JulySeptember 18711888

| predecessor7 = [[CarlosAgustín Loizaga]]Cañete

| successor7 = [[BernardinoJuan Crisóstomo CaballeroCenturión]]

| term_start8term_end8 = 25 November 18901886

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1848|5|14}}

| birth_place spouse = [[Asuncion]],María Benigna Peña [[Paraguay]]Guanes

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1909|3|3|18451848|5|14}}

| resting_place = [[La Recoleta Cemetery, (Paraguay)|La Recoleta CemeteryAsuncion]], Asunción

'''José Segundo Decoud Domecq''' (14 May 14, 1848 – 3 March 3, 1909) was a Paraguayan politician, journalist, diplomat and military officer,. He is often considered one of the foremost intellectuals of his generation,{{sfn|Warren|Warren|2014|pp= 302-303}},{{sfn|Prado|2022|p= 97-98}} and whowas also was one of the first liberals of the country. HeDecoud was one of the founders of the long-standing [[Colorado Party (Paraguay)|Colorado Party]], having been its first vice-president and having written its founding instrument .{{sfn|Warren|Warren|2014|pp= 73-77}}.

Segundo Decoud was born in [[Asunción]] on 14 May 1848 to [[Juan Francisco Decoud]] and Maria Luisa Concepción Domecq in [[Asunción]], in the 14th of May 1848 during [[Carlos Antonio López]]’s's rule. The Decouds were historically strong opponents to the López regime, and in the early 1850s the execution of his uncles Teodoro and Gregorio due to treason forced his family into exile.

Together with his brother [[Juan José Decoud|Juan José]], he studied at the [[Colegio del Uruguay]] in [[Entre Ríos Province|Entre Ríos]], Argentina{{sfn|Calzada|1913|p= 10}}, and afterwardslater enteredjoined intothe law school at the [[University of Buenos Aires]].{{sfn|Calzada|1913|p= 17}}. OnceWith the outbreak of the [[Paraguayan War]] broke out he, however, he abandoned his studies and enlisted into the [[Paraguayan Legion]], a military unit formed out of oppositionists toof the[[Francisco López’Solano López]] in [[Buenos Aires]] in 1865, though he left the unit before the war ended.{{sfn|Calzada|1913|p= 12}}. By the end of the war, his father was one of the unit’s commanders{{sfn|Calzada|1913|p= 14}}.

Months before the war was over, and with the chief Brazilian diplomat [[José Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco|Silva Paranhos]]’s' approval, soon the new Paraguayan politics began to form. on theOn 26 June 1869, the ''Club del Pueblo'' was formedcreated with Segundo as a secretary,. The club was a liberal political organization mostly composed by ex-legionnairesformer members of the Paraguayan Legion and other dissenters to the López regime .{{sfn|Decoud|1925|p= 123}} Already being an important figure in postwar Asunción due to his name and ideas, Decoud was named one of the members of the constitutional assembly that created the [[Constitution of Paraguay#Constitution of 1870|1870 Constitution]],<ref>{{cite web|title=José Segundo Decoud|url=https://www.anr.org.py/el-partido/lideres-del-partido/jose-segundo-decoud/|website=anr.org.py|publisher= ANR - Partido Colorado|language=es|access-date=31 October 2022|archive-date=16 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516180427/https://www.anr.org.py/el-partido/lideres-del-partido/jose-segundo-decoud/|url-status=live}}</ref> and in 1871 was made minister of Foreign Affairs for [[Cirilo Antonio Rivarola|Cirilo Rivarola]]'s government, having previously been Rivarola's secretary while the latter served as [[triumvirate|triumvir]].{{sfn|Aquino|1985|p= 48}} Afterwards, as Paraguayan politics took a violent turn,{{sfn|Prado|2022|pp=41-45}} Decoud withdrew temporarily from them to focus on his career as a journalist, and returned only in 1878 as minister for the [[Candido Bareiro]] government. The 1880s were the years in which he was the most active and had the greatest impact upon Paraguayan politics.

One of his most important feats was achieved in 1885, when he went to [[London]] as an extraordinary envoy and managed to renegotiate Paraguay’s debt there from little short of 3 million pounds sterling to 850 thousand, though the country had to cede 87008,700 km² of landsland to the bondholders in exchange.{{sfn|Prado|2022|p= 45}} As a diplomat, he also represented Paraguay as ambassador to the Brazilian[[Empire courtof Brazil]] and to the Uruguayan government. Besides this, in 1887 he was one of the founders, alongside ex-president [[Bernardino Caballero]] and others, of the [[Colorado Party (Paraguay)|Coloradoin Party]]1887, to which he contributed many years as its main ideologue .{{sfn|Warren|Warren|2014|p= 73}} The foundation of the country’s first university, the [[Universidad Nacional de Asunción]], was in good part motivated by him, as well.{{sfn|Warren|Warren|2014|pp= 299-300}}<ref name="auto11">{{Cite web |url=https://una.py/images/stories/Investigacion/revistas/vol2.pdf |title=UNA 120 años de historia - Volumen II |access-date=2020-04-04 |archive-date=2021-05-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519032809/https://una.py/images/stories/Investigacion/revistas/vol2.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Some controversies marked his career. He was one of the foremost advocates for the process of land sales by the government conducted from 1883 onwards,{{sfn|Warren|Warren|2014|pp= 170}}, which served to concentrate land ownership rapidly and which had a somewhat short-lived impact in the country’s finances;{{sfn|Prado|2022|pp=90-98}}; he also was accused of having plotted with ArgentinianArgentine authorities in the 1870s to allow for Paraguay’s annexation to the former country .{{sfn|Warren|Warren|2014|p= 101}}. In the 1890s he would still occupy many cabinet positions and was considered for the presidency, but intrigues kept him from power,{{sfn|Warren|Warren|2014|pp=92-93}} as they had more than once done in the decades before.

José Segundo Decoud began his career in press soon after his return to Paraguay. Together with his brother [[Héctor Decoud]], in 1869 he started to work as editor and writer for the newspaper “La''[[La Regeneración”Regeneración (Paraguay)|La Regeneración]]'' in 1869, which lasted until septemberSeptember 1870. Throughout the 1870s and 1880s he would contributecontributed to other newspapers such as “La''La Reforma”Reforma'' and “La''La Opinión Pública” Pública''.{{sfn|Calzada|1913|p= 61}} His impactful texts were frequently republished in ArgentinianArgentine newspapers. Decoud also translated [[Joseph Alden]]'s ''The Science of Government in Connection with American Institutions'' to Spanish,<ref name="biblioteca paraguaya">{{cite book|title=Catálogo de la Biblioteca Paraguaya "Solano López"|date=1906|publisher=H. Kraus|isbn=9780274437306|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b90vAAAAYAAJ|access-date=2022-10-30}}</ref> and wrote books and articles such as ''Recuerdos históricos'', ''La amistad,'' ''Cuestiones Políticas y Económicas'', edited in 1876, and ''El patriotismo'', published in 1905.{{sfn|Calzada|1913|pp= 62-63}} When he died, in 1909, it is said that he had been preparing for some years to write a book that would discuss Paraguayan history from the colonial era to his time.{{sfn|Calzada|1913|p= 61}}

* {{cite book|last=ZubizarretaAquino|first=Carlos|year=1961Ricardo C.|title=CienLa vidasSegunda paraguayasRepublica Paraguaya 1869-1906|year= 1985|publisher=NizzaArte Nuevo|isbn=978-9-995-30281-89789996712906}}

* {{cite book|last=EstevesCalzada|first=Gomes F.|year=1983Rafael|title=HistoriaRasgos contemporáneaBiográficos delde ParaguayJosé (1869-1920)Segundo Decoud|publisheryear=NAPA|isbn=978-9-992-55043-4 1913}}

* {{cite book|last=YegrosEsteves|first=RicardoGomes SF.|year=20141983|title=EnsayosHistoria sobrecontemporánea cuestionesdel políticasParaguay y económicas(1869-1920)|publisher=Tiempo de HistoriaNAPA|isbn=978-9-996992-7609655043-94}}

* {{cite book|last=CalzadaYegros|first=RafaelRicardo S.|year=2014|title=RasgosEnsayos Biográficossobre decuestiones Josépolíticas Segundoy Decoudeconómicas|yearpublisher=Tiempo 1913de Historia|isbn=978-9-996-76096-9}}

[[Category:PeoplePoliticians from Asunción]]

[[Category:ParaguayanPresidents judgesof the Supreme Court of Paraguay]]

[[Category:Finance Ministers of finance of Paraguay]]