Hugo Banzer
Encyclopedia : H : HU : HUG : Hugo Banzer
| Hugo Banzer Suárez
| |
| First term | August 22, 1971 to July 21, 1978 |
| Preceded by | Juan José Torres González |
| Succeeded by | Juan Pereda Asbún |
| Second term | August 6, 1997 to August 7, 2001 |
| Preceded by | Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada |
| Succeeded by | Jorge Quiroga Ramírez |
| Date of birth | May 10 1926 |
| Place of birth | Concepción, department of Santa Cruz |
| Date of death | May 5, 2002 |
| Place of death | Santa Cruz de la Sierra, department of Santa Cruz |
| First Lady | Yolanda Prada de Banzer |
| Party | military, ADN |
Banzer attended military schools in Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil and United States, included the Armored Cavalry School at Fort Hood, Texas, and the renowned School of the Americas at the Panama Canal, where he was trained in Counter-insurgency tactics.
Promoted to colonel in 1961 and appointed three years later to head the Ministry of Education and Culture in the Government led by General René Barrientos Ortuño, a personal friend, Banzer was getting increasingly involved in politics, siding with the right wing of the Bolivian Army. He was also appointed director of the Military Academy and the Coronel Gualberto Villarroel Military School. He was active in the anti-guerrilla warfare.
In October 1970 he took part in a rightist coup d'état that deposed the then military president, Gen. Alfredo Ovando Candía, but Banzer's triumvirate was immediately overthrown by a countercoup staged by Gen. Juan José Torres González, a leftist official. Banzer fled abroad, but didn't renounce to his ambition of power.
Following a failed attempt, on August 18, 1971 Banzer masterminded a successful military uprising that erupted in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, where he had many supporters, and gained control over La Paz. A three-man Military Junta of Government was formed, and Banzer, one of its members, was given full powers on August 22. In the next 7 years and with the rank of Army General, Banzer ruled Bolivia as a dictator and a "de facto", non-Constitutional, and in many ways ruthless president.
Frustrated by political divisions and protests, and always an enemy of dissent and freedom of speech, in 1974 Banzer banned the leftist parties, suspended the powerful trade union Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) and closed the nation's universities. He immediately received political support from the center-right Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR, Nationalist Revolutionary Movement) led by former president Víctor Paz Estenssoro and the far-right Falange Socialista Boliviana.
Human rights groups claim that during Banzer's 1971-78 tenure (known as the banzerato) several thousand Bolivians sought asylum in foreign countries, 3,000 political opponents were arrested, 200 were killed and many more were tortured. [link]
In 1997, Banzer was elected back into office for five years (this time no blood was shed), representing the ADN party (Acción Democrática Nacionalista) , a party that was founded by him in 1979 . Prior to his election in 1997, Banzer ran unsuccessfully for office in 1979, 1980, 1985, 1989 and 1993.
During his presidential tenure, he launched, under the guidelines outlined by theUnited States, a program to fight drug-trafficking in Bolivia which called for the eradication of coca, a controversial strategy. In 2001 he was diagnosed with lung cancer and thus he resigned on August 7, 2001. He was succeeded by vice president, Jorge Quiroga. Banzer died on May 5, 2002.
Note: In accordance with the rules of Spanish orthography, Banzer should be spelled Bánzer. But because Banzer is originally a German name, the a is not accented.
External link
- [Extended biography by CIDOB Foundation] (in Spanish)
See also
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