Carlos Ibáñez del Campo

Figueroa triumphed with 71% of the vote, but kept Ibáñez as Home Affairs Minister. Ibáñez was able to control the weak Figueroa^{[clarification needed]} who decided to resign in 1927 rather than be Ibáñez's puppet. Because he was Home Affairs Minister, under the Chilean constitution, Ibáñez became Vice President and announced elections for 22 May that year. In the presidential elections, the traditional political parties decided not to participate. Ibáñez's only opponent was the communist Elías Lafertte, who was exiled in the Juan Fernández Archipelago throughout the electoral campaign^{[clarification needed]}. Ibáñez won the election with 98% of the vote.^{[clarification needed]}

First presidency

Ibáñez began to exercise dictatorial powers, using rule by decree (decretos con fuerza de ley), suspending parliamentary elections, instead naming politicians to the Senate and Chamber of Deputies himself, etc. Political opponents were arrested and exiled, including his former ally Marmaduke Grove. His popularity, however, was helped by massive loans by American banks, which helped to promote a high rate of growth in the country. He constructed massive public works, and increased public spending. He also created the Carabineros de Chile (police force) by unifying the previously disorganized police forces.^{[clarification needed]} Another significant achievement of Ibáñez's first administration was the signing of the 1929 Treaty of Lima, in which Chile agreed to return the Tacna Province to Peru, which had been seized during the War of the Pacific.

His popularity lasted until after the

In the 1952 presidential elections, the right-wing Agrarian Labor Party (Partido Agrario Laborista) declared Ibáñez a presidential candidate. Ibáñez also garnered the support of the left-wing Popular Socialist Party and some feminist political unions — the feminist María de la Cruz was his campaign manager, but she then refused a ministerial office. Ibáñez promised to "sweep" out political corruption and bad government with his "broom" and was nicknamed the "General of Hope". He criticized traditional political parties but was vague in his proposals and had no clear position in the political spectrum. He won the election with 47%.

The Bolivian National Revolution of 1952 influenced the followers of Ibáñez who saw it as a model of the national-populism they sought to implement in Chile.^[1]

His second term was a very modest success. By that time he was already old and ailing, and he left government mostly to his cabinet. His major problems during his presidency were those concerned with the economy. He had no plan to control inflation – one of the most pressing economic problems at the time in Chile – and as a result it skyrocketed to 71% in 1954 and 83% in 1955. Helped by the Klein-Sacks mission, Ibáñez managed to reduce it to 33% when he left the presidency. During his term, public transport costs rose by 50% and economic growth fell to 2.5%.

Now much more of a centrist politically, Ibáñez won the support of many left-wingers by repealing the

Some Chileans continued to support an Ibáñez dictatorship. These ibañistas, most of whom were retired army officers, created the "Línea Recta" (Straight Line) group to establish a new dictatorship. Ibáñez met with these conspirators, but ultimately his typical lack of trust ended the plans for a self-coup. A scandal rocked the Ibáñez administration when the press revealed Ibáñez's meetings with these conspirators.

Retirement and legacy

Ibáñez was succeeded by

The Región Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo is named after him, in honor of his attempts to integrate the isolated regions of Aysén and Magallanes into Chile. The General Ibáñez Airport in Punta Arenas is also named after him.

See also

• Government Junta of Chile (1924)
• Government Junta of Chile (1925)
• Presidential Republic Era

References