Montes, Ismael

Montes, Ismael (ēsmäēl` mōn`tās), 1861–1933, Bolivian statesman, president of Bolivia (1904–9, 1913–17). He interrupted the study of law in 1879 to fight against Chile in the War of the Pacific. After 1886 he practiced law and journalism, but in the liberal revolution of 1898 he again took up a military career, becoming minister of war in 1900 and serving in the Acre campaign against Brazil. He was chosen president in 1904, and in that year a peace treaty with Chile, officially ending the War of the Pacific, was signed. Montes then launched a program of wide administrative reforms. After diplomatic service in France and England he was elected (1913) for a second term and furthered the construction of railroads and the development of mining. From 1920 to 1928 he lived in France as a political exile.