Adolfo Ballivián

Adolfo Ballivián Coll (15 November 15, 1831[1] – 14 February 1874) was a Bolivian military officer and politician who served as the 18th President of Bolivia from 1873 to 1874.

Adolfo Ballivián
Daguerreotype of Adolfo Ballivián in 1874 by Nicolas Acosta
18th President of Bolivia
In office 9 May 1873 – 14 February 1874
Preceded by	Tomás Frías
Succeeded by	Tomás Frías
Personal details
Born	Adolfo Ballivián Coll (1831-11-15)15 November 1831 La Paz, Bolivia
Died	14 February 1874(1874-02-14) (aged 42) La Paz, Bolivia
Cause of death	Stomach cancer
Political party	Red
Spouse(s)	Carmen Grimwood Allende
Parent(s)	José Ballivián Mercedes Coll
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Bolivia
Branch/service	Bolivian Army
Rank	Lieutenant colonel
Battles/wars	Battle of Ingavi

Born in La Paz, Adolfo Ballivián was the son of former Bolivian President José Ballivián. Widely traveled, he was a member of the armed forces, orator, composer, writer, and congressman. He joined the army at the age of 16 and he fought insurgents under his father's command. In 1847 when his father was toppled from power and exiled he fled Bolivia, first to Chile and then to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. While traveling in Valparaíso, Chile, he met and married Carmen Grimwood Allende, of Quillota, Chile. Following his father's unexpected death in Brazil in 1855, he returned to Bolivia, rejoined the army and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He ran for Congress and also became a part-time journalist.

Ballivián fled again in 1872 under the presidential regime of Agustín Morales. Ballivián was still in Europe when Congress and the Constitutionalist forces named him as their official candidate in the 1873 elections, called hastily upon the assassination of President Morales. He was elected president overwhelmingly. Returning to Bolivia, he was sworn in by his predecessor, Tomás Frías Ametller, on 9 May 1873. At that point Ballivián became the youngest Bolivian president to date, having followed the oldest (Frías).

His short term in office coincided with a global fall in the price of silver, hitherto Bolivia's most important export alongside tin. It was in this context that Congress denied Ballivián's urgent request to buy new warships from Europe in order to re-equip the fledgling, almost non-existent Bolivian Navy.

Ballivián had stomach cancer within months of coming to power, and died at the age of 43 on 14 February 1874. He was constitutionally succeeded by Dr. Tomás Frías,[2] the same man who had transferred power to him only 9 months[3] earlier.

Grimwood, the paternal surname of Adolfo Ballivián's wife, and maternal surname of their children, is often misspelled Greenwood in genealogical resources such as FamilySearch.org.