Date of issue: May 2nd., 2000
Value: $ 9.-
Print-run: 25.000
Design: Gerardo Correa Martín
He was born on May 2nd., 1856
in Montevideo. He died on Octobrer 28th., 1921.
Eighteen-year-old García y Santos dropped studying Law, and
started working as a journalist for ‘El Bien Público’, a publication
issued by the Unión Católica del Uruguay, and whose Director
was Juan Zorrilla de San Martín (a great Uruguayan writer, said
‘the Poet of the Uruguayan Nation’).
Over the years, García y Santos became himself this publication’s
editor and director, and worked there for twenty years. He was a ‘Cavalier
de l’Ordre Pontifical de Saint Grégoire’ and a member of the Secretariat
of the Uruguayan Committee of that Order in Montevideo.
On June 21st., 1894 he was nominated member of the Executive Committee
of the Círculo de la Prensa (Circle of the Uruguayan Press).
On July 24th., 1895 he was appointed by a Governmental decree as a
member of the Comisión Nacional de Caridad y Beneficencia Pública
(National Commission for Charity and Welfare), and he served there for
twelve years. In 1896 and in 1898 he was elected National Deputy for the
Department of Treinta y Tres.
On February 10th., 1898, he became a member of the Honorable Asamblea
de Notables (Honorable Assembly of Notables) by a resolution of the Provisional
President of the Nation, Eduardo McEachen. On August 14th., 1898 he was
elected Delegate to the Convention of the Partido Colorado (one of the
traditional political parties in Uruguay) representing the Department of
Montevideo.
On December 7th., 1898 the Junta Electoral (Electoral Council) of Montevideo
appointed him as a member (Deputy Senator) of the Electoral College. On
August 2nd., 1899 he joined the Delegate Commissions of the Casa de Aislamiento
(Sanatorium) and of the Manicomio Nacional (Mental hospital) as per a decision
of the National Director of Charity and Public Welfare Service, Dr. Luis
Pineyro del Campo. It was also Dr. Piñeyro del Campo who assigned
him to work with the Escuela Nacional de Artes y Oficios (National School
of Arts and Crafts) on December 26th., 1899.
On March 8th., 1901 he was invited to join and collaborate with the
Latinamerican Scientifc Congress of Montevideo, in representation – together
with Doctors Luis Piñeyro del Campo, Joaquín de Salterain
and Manuel Quintela - of the National Committee for Charity and Welfare.
On June 21st., 1901 he is nominated by Provisional President Eduardo McEachen
as General Director of Posts and Telegraphs to succeed M. Honoré
Roustan. He held office for sixteen years, and was Uruguay’s representative
in the International Postal Congress held in Bern, on which occasion the
Monument to the Universal Postal Union was inaugurated in that city.
On August 12th., 1905 the Delegate Commission for the Asilos maternales
(Orphanages) Nr. 1, 2 and 3 was integrated by Francisco García y
Santos and Doctors Eduardo Brito del Pino and Eugenio Lagarmilla.
On December 9th., 1910 the President of Uruguay , Dr. Claudio Williman,
appointed him as Delegate to the Continental Postal Congress – a Congress
promoted by the General Direction of Posts and Telegraphs of Uruguay. As
Uruguay’s Delegate he organized and chaired the First Southamerican Postal
Congress held on January 8th., 1911 in Montevideo, which gathered eleven
countries, and during which Montevideo was designated as the International
Postal Office’s seat. Uruguay issued a stamp commemorating that Congress
on January 6th., 1911.
On January 4th., 1917 a new mission was assigned to García y
Santos by the Uruguayan President as General Director for Taxes reporting
to the Ministry of Finance. On August 9th., 1921, he was made Uruguay’s
Plenipotentiary Delegate to the Panamerican Postal Congress to be held
in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On December 30th., 1926, during the 2nd.
Panamerican Postal Congress held in Mexico, a posthoumus homage was
paid to him as the promoter of the Panamerican Postal Union, with the issuance
by the Mexican Post Office of a stamp series bearing his portrait.
(scott n° 662/3/4;671/2/3;679/80/81) .
In October, 1931 - in coincidence with the 3rd. Panamerican Postal Congress
held in Madrid – Spain’s Post Office issued two commemorative stamps in
his honour also showing his portrait.Panamá issued two stamps (scott
283 and 293) with his portrait in one set for the IV congress of UPAE in
1936. Look! On July 15th., 1947 an oil portrait of García y Santos by Uruguayan
painter César Pesce Castro was unveiled at the Postal Union of the
Americas and Spain, in acknowledgement of …”his being the promoter of the
First Southamerican Postal Congress “, and in order that “future generations
gratefully remember that CITIZEN OF THE AMERICAS who, as a broad-minded
and generous visionary contrituted to the improvement of the communications
systems through the enhancing of continental solidarity and human fulfillment”…(
Resolution of the 5th Congress of the UPAE held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
in Semptember 1946)
(Font: Engineer in Agronomy L. García y Santos Larrobla )
