| Elías Lozada Benavente | |
| Office: | Minister of Development and Public Works of Peru for Arequipa |
| Term: | 29 January 1932 - 19 May 1932 |
| President: | Luis Sánchez Cerro |
| Predecessor: | Germán Arenas y Loayza |
| Successor: | Ricardo Caso |
| Office2: | Minister of Justice, Religion and Education of Peru |
| Term2: | 20 February 1931 - 11 March 1931 |
| President2: | Luis Sánchez Cerro (Military Junta) |
| Predecessor2: | José Luis Bustamante y Rivero |
| Successor2: | José Gálvez Barrenechea |
| Office3: | Senator of the Republic of Peru for Arequipa |
| Term Start3: | 8 December 1939 |
| Term End3: | 27 July 1945 |
| Office4: | Constituent Deputy of the Republic of Peru for Arequipa |
| Term Start4: | 8 December 1931 |
| Term End4: | 8 December 1936 |
| Birth Date: | 18 July 1896 |
| Birth Place: | Arequipa, |
| Death Place: | Lima, |
| Alma Mater: | National University of San Marcos |
| Profession: | Lawyer, politician |
| Party: | Social Nationalist Party (Partido Social Nacionalista) |
| Parents: | Hermógenes Lozada and Aurora Benavente |
Daniel Elías Lozada Benavente (Arequipa, 18 July 1896-Lima, 30 August 1987)[1] was a Peruvian lawyer, politician, writer, and the founder of the Social Nationalist Party . He served as the Minister of Justice (1931), the Constituent Deputy for Arequipa (1931-1936), the Minister of Development and Public Works (1932), and as Senator for Arequipa (1939-1945).[2]
The son of Hermógenes Lozada, from Cayma, and Aurora Benavente, he was born in the Arequipa District of Peru. He started his studies in his city of birth and ended them in Lima, where he graduated with a Bachelors and Doctorate in Law at the National University of San Marcos (1920).[3]
On the first of September 1930, he founded the moderate Social Nationalist Party.[4]
He was asked to join the Governing Board headed by Luis M. Sánchez Cerro, as the Minister of Justice and Instruction,[5] a position he held from February to March 1931, when the board was dissolved.
He was elected Deputy of Arequipa in the Constituent Congress (1931-1936).[6] As the leader of a minority party, the Social Nationalist Party, he supported the Congress under the constitutional government of Sánchez Cerro.[7] [8]
In a 1931-1932 Constituent's Congress debate on women's suffrage, Lozada Benavente expressed support for granting women the right to vote, regardless of religion and religiosity. He instead argued that the reasoning should be that women are to be treated as partners, equals in governance [9]
On January 29th, 1932, he became a member of the second ministerial cabinet of the Sánchez Cerro government as the Minister of Development and Public Works. Along with his colleagues Carlos Sayán Álvarez (Minister of Justice and Instruction) and Luis A. Flores (Minister of Government), he was among the youngest ministers within the Peruvian government to that date.[10] He remained in this role until the 19th of May that year.[11]
In 1939 he was elected senator of Arequipa (1939-1945).[12] He presented the bill which established national awards for the promotion of culture (Law 9614). He also authored the original 1920 Code of Minors, the law that governed juvenile criminal law in Peru until its re-writing in 1962,[13] and the 1932 Law 7505, regarding workers rights and protections.
Lozada Benavente had a personal interest in the cultures and legends of the peoples native to the Amazon. He explored these topics in some of his works, the most well-known being Leyendas amazónicas, where he detailed information he collected both directly from indigenous people and historical record.[14]
In 2018, one of Lozada Benavente's works, Leyendas amazónicas, was featured in a temporary exhibition at the House of Peruvian Literature in Lima, Peru. The exhibition, titled The House Without a Door: Amazonian Literature (1940-1980), featured works of immense literary value and was open to the public without charge from July to December 2018.[19]