Background
Rafael Núñez was born in the Atlantic coastal city of Cartagena on 28 September 1825.
government official politician president
Rafael Núñez was born in the Atlantic coastal city of Cartagena on 28 September 1825.
He also was educated in Cartagena. After receiving a law degree, he became active in politics.
In 1844 he was president of the local Democratic Society and editor of La Democracia, both of which espoused freedoms proclaimed in recent European revolutions. In the early 1850s, he was elected to the Chamber of Representatives. There he became a firm supporter of the radical Liberal General José Maria Obando and a staunch anticlerical. He served for a time as secretary of government under Obando. Nunez also held several ministerial posts in different administrations during the period. As secretary of the treasury in 1862, he strongly defended a decree nationalizing church properties.
In 1863 Nunez left Colombia for the United States, and then went to England and France, where he was consul in Liverpool and Le Havre. He contributed articles to Colombian periodicals on developments in Europe and came under influence of the Positivist school of philosophy and sociology. Disenchanted by the extreme federalism and economic stagnation that afflicted his country, he saw in the Positivist slogan “Order and Progress’ the formula of stability and material development.
Nunez returned to Colombia in 1874. In alliance with like-minded Liberals— known as Independents—he lost his first bid for the presidency, but in 1879 was elected by a coalition of Independents and Conservatives. By this time, he stressed the necessity for gradual, ordered progress restrained by conservative institutions and values.
Nünez was again elected president in 1884, primarily because of Conservative endorsement. His election further split the Liberals, many of whom viewed him as an opportunist and betrayer. In 1885 Liberal dissidents rebelled. The uprising was crushed with Conservative support. The event marked Nünez’ final embrace of his former political enemies.
As he took a crucial part in the creation of the Constitution, the delegates who wrote the Constitution of 1886 also elected Núñez to a six-year term, but he served actively only until 1888. At that time he retired to Cartagena, leaving day-to-day running of the government to Presidential Alternate Carlos Holguin. Núñez was again elected in 1891 but, considering his primary work accomplished, allowed Vice President Miguel Antonio Caro to act as executive. Núñez limited himself to making his views known in the capital through correspondence with the acting executive and articles in various newspapers and periodicals.
The Liberals felt themselves excluded as a political force, and the increasingly intolerant and reactionary actions of Núñez’ allies resulted in continuing political instability. On several occasions, Núñez threatened to come out of retirement and reassume active running of the government. He was preparing to do so when he died suddenly.