The governor Lázaro de Ribera, predecessor of the president Carlos Antonio López

Abstract

This work aims to highlight an extraordinary figure, at the same time unknown in both hemispheres, this is that of D. Lázaro de Ribera y Espinosa de los Monteros, from Malaga, who played a fundamental role in the management of Spanish America of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, characterized mainly by the fragmentation of social cohesion and the established order caused by the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 by King Carlos III. As governor of the province of Paraguay, the most devastated by the expulsion of the company of Jesus, addressed with courage and with neat management the multiple internal and external problems that flew over the province. Extremely erudite, he knew perfectly most of the branches of knowledge, a fact that was reflected in the various projects and reforms that he carried out during his government. As a military man and patriot, he sought the growth of national sentiment and consolidated the presence of the State in his jurisdiction, proof of this is the zeal he put in ordering that all government buildings carry the national ensign and the image of the monarch, in addition to It must be accompanied by a didactic work for this he wrote the Brief Royal Booklet, where in a pedagogical way, using the structure of questions and answers of the catechism, the Hispanic monarchy and its highest representative King Carlos IV were explained, justified and exalted .