Feliciano Alberto Viera Borges (8 November 1872 – 13 November 1927) was a Uruguayan political figure.
Background Viera was born in Salto,1996 Historia Del Uruguay En Imagenes 17 Jose De Torres Wilson by José De Torres Wilson, P.200 where he started his education at the Academy of Osimani and Llerena. When he was fifteen, he went to Montevideo and entered the university. His studies were interrupted by revolutionary outbreaks, which led his family to emigrate to Argentina. During the Presidency of Lieut.-General Tajes, Viera returned and renewed his studies. At the age of 21, he obtained his degree of Bachelor and in 1898 received his degree of Advocate after presenting a thesis on "La libertad de reunion." That same year Viera's political career started when he was appointed to a post in the Council of State, which was established by the then President Cuestas. Viera resigned from this position very soon after receiving it. Later that year, the Government nominated him Civil Governor and head of the Police in the Department of Artigas and in 1899 he was elected Deputy for El Salto. Viera was re-elected Deputy in 1901, and during his second term, as noted by one study, he took "a prominent position in furthering important measures afterwards converted into laws which met with the approval of the Press of all parties." At the start of the 1904 revolution, Viera was put under the charge of the 9th Battalion of the National Guard by President José Batlle y Ordóñez. In 1905 Viera was again elected Deputy for El Salto, and one year afterwards Senator for the Department of Rivera.
He was a member of the Colorado Party and closely identified with the liberal former president José Batlle y Ordóñez, who long dominated Uruguay's political life, being a Batllista before 1903.José Battle Y Ordoñez of Uruguay: the Creator of His Times, 1902-1907 by Milton I. Vanger, 1963, P.190 In the 1903 election, he contributed his vote to the election of Batlle, and was elected senator for Rivera. During Batlle's first term, Viera was also elected by the Chamber (along with 4 other stalwart Batllistas) to the Permanent Committee, which sat when the legislature wasn't in session.José Battle Y Ordoñez of Uruguay: the Creator of His Times, 1902-1907 by Milton I. Vanger, 1963, P.198 Also during Batlle's first presidential term, Viera helped make possible the passage of a taxation project. The executive proposed to increase the rural land taxes by some 110,000 pesos over the 1,192,313 pesos collected in 1902–1903, but the Chamber of Deputies, as noted by one study, "was reluctant to approve the increases for next year. Now was a bad time to raise assessments; ranchers were already fearful of war; drought and plagues had ravaged the interior; the government did not need more taxes." The project was saved by a compromise by Viera. Previously, the departmental administrations had received all rural land-tax collections which went beyond the amounts collected in 1898–1899; the central government only received the amount collected in that fiscal year. As noted by one study, "The Executive's project changed this: the basic property tax would remain at 6.50 pesos per 1,000 pesos of assessed value, of which the national government would receive 5.50 pesos and the administration of the department where the property was located 1 peso. Viera got the Executive to agree to a stipulation: if the 1 per 1,000 rate in a department did not produce as much total revenue as the departmental administration had received in fiscal 1902-1903 under the old system, the central government would reimburse the department for the difference. The Deputies, now that they had protected local government, reluctantly approved the increased rural land taxes."José Battle Y Ordoñez of Uruguay: the Creator of His Times, 1902-1907 by Milton I. Vanger, 1963, P.104-105
Prior to becoming president, Viera was the campaign manager of Batlle's presidential successor Claudio WillimanJosé Battle Y Ordoñez of Uruguay: the Creator of His Times, 1902-1907 by Milton I. Vanger, 1963, P.215 However, Williman vetoed Viera for a ministry, along with Domingo Arena (a close ally of Batlle's) for the Senate because, according to one study, "they were too Batllista and he wanted to keep up appearances."Vanger, Milton I. (1980). The Model Country: José Batlle y Ordoñez of Uruguay, 1907–1915, P.48 Viera did, however, serve in Batlle's second government as interior minister. This was, at that time, the most important cabinet post in the administration. Viera also served as the President of the Senate of Uruguay from 1907 to 1912.
President of Uruguay On one occasion, the Batllistas won all the Colorado seats, 68 seats in total (compared to 21 for the Blancos), ensuring Viera's election as president.Orientales: De 1865 a 1938 By Lincoln R. Maiztegui Casas, 2005, P.182 He was, according to one study, "a Colorado of tradition and a committed batllista, a man of complete confidence of Don Pepe, who could be sure that if he became president, he would carry out the party's projects and objectives." Batlle himself spoke out and poured his influence in favour of Viera's presidential candidacy. This had been assured since 1913, as noted by one study, "by the proclamation of the National Commission of the Colorado Party and the formal commitment of seventy-two legislators of that same political affiliation. At the session of March 1, 1915, in which the election was to take place, the nationalists and some of the senators who were opposed to the formula of the Collegiate Executive Power abstained from attending. Dr. Viera was elected by the unanimous vote of the seventy-odd legislators present. "I promise to help you," he said when taking the oath, "to the realization of the Collegiate Executive Power; and I will fight so that the suffrage is increasingly purer." "
On July the 14th 1913,The Model Country: Jose Batlle y Ordonez of Uruguay, 1907-17 by Milton Vanger, P.400 a Colorado convention nominated Viera as their candidate.The Model Country: Jose Batlle y Ordonez of Uruguay, 1907-17 by Milton Vanger, P.254 Viera’s candidacy, as noted by one study, “was supported by the Batllista majority of the Colorado Party.”Breve historia contemporánea del Uruguay by Juan José Arteaga, 2000, P.145 A letter was read out that had been written by Domingo Arena, a close Batlle ally who was recovering from an auto accident. In the letter, Arena noted that constitutional reform was being blocked by the Senate majority, while advocating Viera's nomination: "Therefore, I move that this assembly resolve to support the candidacy of doctor Feliciano Viera should the election of the Executive Power have to be carried out in accord with the present Constitution. If we want to guarantee the triumph of the Colegiado, it is essential that the future president not only be in favour of the Colegiado but that his character, rectitude, intelligence, and party loyalty be sufficient assurance that the decisions of the Convention will be complied with without vacillations of any sort, and doctor Viera offers all those guarantees."
There were, as noted by one study, cheers from the delegates and speeches, with one attendee, Francisco Simón, describing Viera as the man to continue Batlle's work, while also noting his popularity in the interior. That same day a "Youth Committee pro Viera" was formed, which dropped manifestos and Viera portraits from the balcony while Viera was being nominated by acclamation.The Model Country: Jose Batlle y Ordonez of Uruguay, 1907-17 by Milton Vanger, P.254-255 In an interview with El Día, Viera noted his support for the Colegiado proposal.The Model Country: Jose Batlle y Ordonez of Uruguay, 1907-17 by Milton Vanger, P.257 Pedro Manini Ríos, Batlle's political protégé,The Model Country: Jose Batlle y Ordonez of Uruguay, 1907-17 by Milton Vanger, P.4 wrote positively of Viera, stating that
One article from December 1913 commented on Viera's road to the presidency as such
According to one study, Batlle would have preferred José Serrato, and there were stories "that Batlle had once told intimates that Viera was not of Presidential quality" while insiders claimed that Viera had questionable friends, the sort that Batlle "made it a policy to keep from the public treasury." Batlle's brother Luis warned him in a 1908 letter that "Viera is a very good person, he couldn't be better, but he has the bad judgment to have very bad friends, and of those around him, except for Areco, there isn't one who is worth two cents."Vanger, Milton I. (1980). The Model Country: José Batlle y Ordoñez of Uruguay, 1907–1915
Nevertheless, Viera went on to serve as President of Uruguay from 1915 to 1919. Among prominent figures who served in his administration was Baltasar Brum, who occupied the interior and subsequently the foreign affairs ministry. Brum's period of office as Foreign Minister proved to be somewhat controversial. In the autumn of 1917, American warships sailed to the Argentine capital Buenos Aires and a delegation issued threats to the country's President Hipólito Yrigoyen, in relation to the country's neutrality, which the United States insisted should be more clearly focused as being pro-American. Yrigoyen refused to be bowed by such threats from a military delegation, whereupon the American ships sailed to Montevideo, where they were warmly welcomed by Brum, in contrast to the guarded reception which the delegation had received in Buenos Aires. Brum later travelled to the United States and was received by the Secretary of State.
Uruguay was more closely identified with the Allied cause in World War I than was neighbouring Argentina, cutting diplomatic relations with the German Empire in late 1917. In 1916 the government of France bestowed upon Viera the Cross of the Legion of Honor, which he was allowed to wear by legislative enactment. In October 1917, Viera delivered a speech reaffirming Uruguay's sympathy with the Belgian cause and its solidarity with (as noted by one journal) "the countries which are fighting for the cause of justice and right."The Morning Leader 16 October 1917 In January 1918 Viera sent a New Year's greeting to the U.S., proclaiming that "Bound, as it is, to my country by the triple bond of a similar republican ideal, by harmonious aspiration for international justice and an equal desire for extended and fraternal Pan-Americanism, both had to meet on the same side in this definite struggle for liberty."Reading Eagle 1 Jan 1918 Viera was also the victim of an assassination attempt during a riot following a general strike in August 1918, with a bullet narrowly missing Viera as he stood on a balcony.The Southeast Missourian 12 Nov 1927
In various pronouncements, Viera indicated that he would continue the reform program of his predecessor Batlle. In a 1915 speech addressed to deputies and senators during his first year as president, stated that "I will especially ask Your Honour for the sanction of laws that you are already studying, some that ensure and improve the situation of the worker and others that prevent conflicts between capital and the proletariat whose harmony we must seek as fertile sources of peace and progress. Thus, I will ask you to enact laws on workplace accidents, women's and children's work, working hours, old-age pension, child protection, labor legislation, minimum wage, weekly rest and others."Feliciano Viera 1915 speech 2 years earlier, on July the 16th 1913,Vanger, Milton I. (1980). The Model Country: José Batlle y Ordoñez of Uruguay, 1907–1915, P.401 El Día published a pronouncement by Viera in which he declared that