Cleto González Víquez

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is González and the second or maternal family name is Víquez.

Cleto de Jesús González Víquez (13 October 1858 – 23 September 1937) was a Costa Rican lawyer, historian and politician who served as the 18th and 26th President of Costa Rica, serving from 1906 to 1910 and 1928 to 1932. Alongside Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno, González is regarded as one of the most influential Costa Rican liberal political figures of the 20th century.^[1]

Cleto González Víquez
González c. 1930
18th and 26th President of Costa Rica
In office 8 May 1928 – 8 May 1932
Preceded by	Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno
Succeeded by	Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno
In office 8 May 1906 – 8 May 1910
Preceded by	Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra
Succeeded by	Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno
Deputy of the Constitutional Congress
In office 1 May 1916 – 27 January 1917
Constituency	San José Province
In office 1 May 1892 – 1 August 1892
Constituency	San José Province
Secretary of Finance and Commerce
In office 8 May 1902 – 31 March 1903
President	Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra
Succeeded by	Manuel Jiménez Oreamuno (acting)
Secretary of Foreign Affairs
Acting
In office 1 May 1889 – 12 August 1889
President	Bernardo Soto Alfaro
Preceded by	Manuel Jiménez Oreamuno
Succeeded by	Ezequiel Gutiérrez Iglesias
In office 18 March 1889 – 18 July 1889
President	Bernardo Soto Alfaro
Preceded by	Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra
Succeeded by	Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra
Secretary of the Interior, Police and Public Works
In office 12 March 1887 – 5 April 1888
President	Bernardo Soto Alfaro
Personal details
Born	Cleto de Jesús González Víquez (1858-10-13)13 October 1858 Barva, Heredia, Costa Rica
Died	23 September 1937(1937-09-23) (aged 78) San José, Costa Rica
Political party	National Union Party
Spouse	Adela Herrán Bonilla ​ ​ (m. 1889)​
Children	Odilie, Guillermo, Enrique, Emilia, Fernando, Clemencia, Manuel Antonio, and Adela González Herrán
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Lawyer historian
Signature

González was born in Barva, Heredia, on 13 October 1858, the son of Cleto González Pérez and Aurora Víquez Murillo. He pursued a career in law and public service and became widely known for his contributions to the political and institutional development of Costa Rica.

In 1889, he married Adela Herrán Bonilla. He died in San José on 23 September 1937. In recognition of his service to the nation, González Víquez was posthumously awarded the title of Benemérito de la Patria (Meritorious of the Homeland) on 5 October 1944.^[2]

Political career

President Cleto González Víquez returning after a flight over San José, Costa Rica by the 25th Bombardment Squadron 1928.

Presidents Alfredo González Flores, Bernardo Soto Alfaro, Cleto González Víquez and Julio Acosta García, c. 1920.

Cleto González Víquez began his political career at a young age, holding various public offices over several decades. Early in his career, he served as Undersecretary Foreign Affairs, Worship and Charity in 1886, and later as Secretary of the Interior, Police, and Public Works under President Bernardo Soto Alfaro from 1887 to 1888. He also served as Municipal President of San José, the capital, during two non-consecutive terms: from 1904 to 1905 and again from 1922 to 1923.

In 1892, he was elected as a deputy for Alajuela Province under the National Party, and briefly served as Vice President of the Constitutional Congress before its dissolution by President José Joaquín Rodríguez Zeledón three months into his tenure.

González Víquez was also active in civic and professional institutions. He served as President of the Costa Rican Bar Association from 1898 to 1900, and of the Junta de Caridad de San José (now the Junta de Protección Social, the national welfare and philanthropy agency) in 1898, again from 1900 to 1901, and from 1926 to 1928.^[3] In 1923, he became a founding member and the first director of the Costa Rican Academy of Language.

In 1906, González Víquez was elected President for the first time. Lacking a majority in Congress, he governed with considerable political tact and pragmatism. He was elected again as a deputy in 1915, serving until the 1917 coup d'état. During the dictatorship of the Tinoco brothers and until 1920, he served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Justice.

He returned to the presidency for a second term from 1928 to 1932, during the global economic downturn of the Great Depression. During this period, González Víquez implemented policies influenced by emerging Keynesian economic principles, increasing public spending and launching infrastructure projects as a means to stimulate the economy and mitigate the effects of the crisis.^[4]

Main achievements

• He concluded the railroad to the Pacific in 1910
• He dictated the first Law of Railroads
• He expanded the System of Pipes of San José.
• He built the old building of the National Library
• Reinforced the municipal services
• He created the accounts receivable of Work in 1928 and Social Forecast and impulsed the making of a Code of Work
• He was prompted the accounts receivable of Agriculture they were created and Stockbreeding and the National Service of Electricity in 1928
• He created the attorney general's office of the Republic
• He founded the National Patronage of the Infancy
• He founded the First National Business of Air Transportations in 1932
• Inaugurated the dock of Puntarenas in 1928
• Paved the streets of San José