Hugo Banzer
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| Missing image Banzer.jpg 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 |
Hugo Banzer Suárez (May 10, 1926 – May 5, 2002) was a Bolivian soldier, polititian and dictator. Served as President of the Republic twice: from August 22, 1971 to July 21, 1978, as a de facto incumbent; and again from August 6, 1997 to August 7, 2001, but now as a Constitutional incumbent.
Descendant of German immigrants, Banzer attended military schools in Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil and United States, included the Armoured Cavalry School at Fort Hood, Texas, and the renowned School of the Americas at the Panama Canal, where was trained in counterinsurgency tactics.
Promoted to colonel in 1961 and appointed three years later to head the Ministry of Education and Culture in the Government led by Gen. René Barrientos Ortuño, a personal friend, Banzer was increasingly involved in political environments, siding with the right wing of the Bolivian Army, and, as director of the Military Academy and the Coronel Gualberto Villarroel Military School, 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 inmediately 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 "revolutionary" uprising that erupted in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, where 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, president.
Frustrated by political divisions and protests, in 1974 Banzer banned the leftist parties, suspended the powerful trade union Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) and closed 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 and his consolidation of power (known as the banzerato) several thousand Bolivians sought asylum in foreign countries, 3000 political opponents were arrested, and 200 were killed. [1] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1969327.stm)
In 1997, Banzer was elected back into office for five years, representing the ADN party (Acción Democrática Nacionalista). During this period, he launched, under the auspices the United States, a program for fighting drug-trafficking in Bolivia which called for the eradication of coca, a highly controversial strategy. In 2001, he was stricken by lung cancer; he resigned and was succeeded by vice president, Jorge Quiroga. Banzer died in 2002.
Note: In accordance with the rules of Spanish orthography, Banzer should be spelled Bánzer. But because Banzer was originally a German name, the a is not accented.
External link
- Extended biography by CIDOB Foundation (http://www.cidob.org/bios/castellano/lideres/b-038.htm) (in Spanish)