Abstract

RUEDA ESQUIVEL, Gilberto. JOSÉ VÁZQUEZ MACHICADO: ERUDITTION AND PASSION (1898-1944). Rev. Fuent. Cong. [online]. 2020, vol.14, n.64, pp. 46-55. ISSN 1997-4485.

The life and work of a man from Santa Cruz, doomed to search with Benedictine patience for Bolivian history in the archives scattered around the most important repositories around the world - especially Spain, where Bolivian colonial history dates back around three hundred years - is preserved between countless shelves and shelves. From its beginnings in the warm Santa Cruz de la Sierra, we are presented with the biography of José Vázquez Machicado, the influential family environment, his rich training in Santa Cruz educational institutions and the characters that surrounded the life of José Vázquez. Family tragedies, which mourned the Vázquez Machicado family in the capital of Santa Cruz. José's trip to the city of La Paz, his entry into the country's diplomatic service and his overwhelming passion for books and history, both in his region and in his country, will take him to the European continent to continue his studies, where he will continue his work under the tutelage of the Bolivian Foreign Ministry. His monumental work in the Spanish archives and, to a lesser extent, in the Argentine archives, attest to his increased patriotism, leading him to search with frenzied devotion for documented Bolivian history and evidence of Bolivian rights over disputed border lands. In his sporadic publications, in magazines and newspapers, he demonstrated great erudition and knowledge of Bolivian and universal history and, in short, of a vast culture of universal scope. Finally, a recount is made of the publications of José Vázquez Machicado, both those that saw the light, and those that were unpublished. Thus, in brief pages, the life of the great historian of Santa Cruz is outlined, who loved his region and his country as the most grateful of his children for the land where he was born.

Keywords : José Vázquez Machicado; Documentary Archives; Cruceña Historiography; Bolivian Diplomacy.