The 1946 La Paz riots were a series of increasingly violent strikes and protests which culminated in the lynching and hanging of then president Gualberto Villarroel and the complete collapse of his government. The riots occurred in La Paz between 8 and 21 July 1946. What started as teachers' strikes demanding increased wages quickly escalated as university students, organized labor workers, and civilians clashed with municipal police and armed, pro-government civilians. By the end, interim control of the country was handed to a junta of representatives of the three striking groups chaired by independent magistrates of the Superior Court of Justice of the judicial district of La Paz.[1]
Since its assumption to power in December 1943, the government of President Gualberto Villarroel and his collaborators in the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR) and the Reason for the Fatherland (RADEPA) military lodge had gradually eroded its initial reformist popularity through continuous and violent repression of members of the opposition, newspapers, and citizens critical of its actions. The most vile incident came in November 1944 when a group of arrested coup-plotters were executed without trial, being thrown to the bottom of a ravine near Chuspipata and Challacollo.[2]
Dissatisfaction reached its peak in July 1946. The most recent crisis came when the teachers in La Paz, whose wages at the time sat at a meager $12.50 to $20 a month,[3] went on strike on 8 July, demanding a salary increase.[2] The government refused, stating that an increase in wages would cause inflation. This, despite the fact that an estimated 56% of the national budget was being spent on the army alone. On 10 July, students of the Higher University of San Andrés (UMSA) staged their own protests in support of the teachers. The police dispersed the demonstration concentrated in the Plaza Murillo with rifle and machine gun fire, leaving 3 dead and 11 wounded. The burial of the dead the following day inspired new rallies which resulted in more casualties.[3]
The mobilized people enter Plaza Murillo little by little from Calle Ballivián.
Stoning of the UMSA
The increasingly tense situation caused the government to suspend 16 July festivities celebrating the civic anniversary of La Paz.[4] That night and in the early hours of 17 July, a group of twenty MNR members led by the Minister of Agriculture, Julio Zuazo Cuenca, stoned the UMSA, smashing its windows with rifles and rocks.[4] Although the rest of the city was heavily guarded, eyewitnesses recounted that there was not one policeman or soldier in sight during the half-hourlong attack.[3]
The gesture galvanized university students who visited different neighborhoods and rallied La Paz citizens of all social sectors to their side. The crowd converged in the city center where shouts of "Down with the MNR!" and "Down with the military boot!" were levied at the Palacio Quemado, the government palace. Minor outbreaks of shootings broke out in some areas with rioters firing at the "Calama" Regiment barracks and the traffic section near the Rodríguez market.[5] During one rally, police shot and killed Bergel Camberos, a student of the "Pedro Domingo Murillo" Industrial School.[4]
Turning point of the crisis
That afternoon, MNR leadership expelled Zuazo Cuenca from the party for his role in leading the attack against the university. However, on 18 July, the government issued morning press denied the official statement announcing Zuazo Cuenca's expulsion from the party.[3] At around 6 a.m., police attempted to forcefully enter the UMSA despite their presence being officially banned by the university's autonomy. They were, however, blocked by students with small arms who barricaded the entrances.[6] Tensions finally reached their height at around 10 a.m. when sporadic shooting and violence between police and students finally broke out.[3] Despite the police focus on the students, little more than a dozen of the roughly 400 demonstrators were armed. Further, shortly after the shooting started, pro-government civilians armed with rifles were allowed into the city.[7] The students now demanded the removal from the Cabinet of all members of the MNR.[8] At 11 a.m., the high command of the MNR summoned its members to the Legislative Palace to assess the precarious situation.[4] By noon, all streets in the city center were rendered too dangerous to traverse and what few businesses that had been open in the morning were closed.[9] That day, the first clashes took place in the transit building, causing 10 casualties.[4]
By the afternoon, the army, which up until then had remained relatively distant from the situation, had begun to play an increasingly important role. At this point, however, it was under instructions to fire only defensively or in the occasion that important properties such as the market had been occupied by students.[10] In a bid to disperse the growing crowds, Villarroel ordered the "Loa" 4th Infantry Regiment and the Bolívar 2nd Artillery Regiment to march into the city.[4] Speaking on the radio, Villarroel assured that the government was in full control of the situation and blamed the riots on the Rosca, the capitalist mining enterprises.[7]
Armed citizens arrived from Oruro to join the revolt in La Paz.
United States Ambassador Joseph Flack described the situation from his vantage point in the U.S. Embassy: "We feel that we are in the middle of a war and it is impossible for anyone to leave the building".[3] Flack also protested that two armed policemen had invaded the embassy in order to set machine guns up on the roof.[7] That night, Flack, along with the Brazilian Ambassador Renato de Lacerda Lago, Peruvian Ambassador Eduardo Garland Roel, Ecuadorian Minister Hugo Moncayo, and Papal Chargé Gastón Mojaisky met with the acting Foreign Minister, Colonel José Celestino Pinto, in order to urge clemency for the students, something which Pinto suggested the president would be sympathetic to.[11] The meeting with the foreign delegates was followed by a meeting between Villarroel and the Rector of the UMSA, Héctor Ormachea, after which the president ordered that all university students arrested in the clashes be released.[4]
The night of 18 July saw heavy snowfall cover the city.[12] At 1:30p.m. on 19 July, in a single column, the "Loa" Regiment and the "Lanza" 5th Regiment of Cavalry descend on La Paz with orders to occupy some corners of the city.[4] Municipal police had disappeared from sight, replaced entirely by troops.[13] During a demonstration at the Plaza Murillo, two revolver shots were fired at the army chiefs who were standing on the balcony of the Palacio Quemado. One bullet grazed Colonel Francisco Barrero while another hit Colonel Pinto in the leg.[5][12] A fraction of the "Loa" was ordered to march towards the Plaza Murillo but upon arrival, it could be seen that the organized demonstration was dissolving, so the intervention of the military was no longer necessary.[4] By the afternoon, Flack described the Plaza Murillo as having become "an armed camp with light and heavy machine guns emplaced and several lend lease anti-aircraft pieces at strategic points with their muzzles depressed to body height". At 6 p.m., demonstrators attempted to reenter the Plaza Murillo. Despite Pinto's motion to the troops not to fire, shooting nonetheless broke out with grave casualties among both the protesters and the soldiers. The battle ended when the demonstrators withdrew. A radio statement later announced that thirty-two men had been arrested in the Hotel Paris for having fired into the crowd in order to inculpate the government.[13]
The MNR resigns
The railway workers had now joined the students, issuing an ultimatum demanding the removal of the MNR from Villarroel's Cabinet. Some fairly important workers' syndicates had also called their own general strikes.[13] Given the situation, Villarroel was advised to separate his government from the MNR in order to reassure the country. The five military ministers (Gustavo Chacó of foreign affairs, Edmundo Nogales of government, José Celestino Pinto of defense, Antonio Ponce of public works, and Jorge Calero of education) all submitted their resignations in order to pressure the three of the MNR (Víctor Paz Estenssoro of finance, Germán Monroy Block of labor, and Julio Zuazo Cuenca of agriculture) to do the same. However, they refused to follow suit. In a meeting between Villarroel and Paz Estenssoro, the latter affirmed that the president's decision to request the MNR's resignation was an "ingratitude and a betrayal" and expressed his fear that "persecution against us will begin".[14] In the end, Paz Estenssoro agreed to submit the MNR's resignation the following day in exchange for safety guarantees.[15] At 10 p.m., a radio statement announced the president's intent to form a new, all-military cabinet.[13]
The last living photo taken of Villarroel presenting his new cabinet, 20 July 1946.
On the morning of 20 July, Zuazo Cuenca, Monroy Block, and La Paz mayor Juan Luis Gutiérrez Granier met at the home of Paz Estenssoro.[4] There was a delay in the drafting of the MNR resignation and it would not officially arrive until 7 p.m. However, before even receiving it, the president appointed a new cabinet made up of one general, three colonels, three lieutenant colonels and a major.[15] However, dissatisfaction continued due to the fact that at least two of the new military ministers were MNR supporters.[13] On the contrary, the new cabinet aroused misgivings in a sector which had so far been loyal to the Villarroel regime: the armed forces. Among soldiers and officials in the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff, as well as the "Sucre" and "Loa" regiments, there was resentment at the fact that full control of the army and now the government had been singularly handed to a few members of the RADEPA lodge. The opinion increasingly grew that the president should resign.[15]
Víctor Paz Estenssoro, Minister of Finance and Chief of the MNR.
Army intervention
At 8 p.m., the commanders of the "Lanza" and the "Sucre" Regiments as well as the commander of the Military Geographical Institute met in the General Staff and submitted a formal request that the president resign from office. At the end of the meeting, the newly appointed Minister of Defense, General Ángel Rodríguez, took these commanders to the Palacio Quemado to personally deliver their request to Villarroel. At 11 p.m., Rodríguez made Villarroel known of the military's request for his resignation.[4] According to Rodríguez: "The president did not expect this coup. His bewilderment was distressing, but he reacted immediately and with a calm attitude said: If I no longer have support, I am ready to resign. The presidency is a terrible burden". Villarroel summoned his cabinet and about 40 military chiefs and officers, representatives of all the military units and institutions of La Paz. The tense meeting lasted from 11 p.m. on the 20th to 3 a.m. on the 21st. At one point, the presidents aide-de-camp, Captain Waldo Ballivián, burst into the room and pointed his revolver at Captain Milton López, accusing him of being a traitor for having called the General Staff by telephone to request more military officers attend the meeting to impose a majority that would force Villarroel's resignation.[15] Finally, President Villarroel agreed to resign with Vice President Julián Montellano as his successor. However, all those present rejected this because Montellano belonged to the MNR, and the people at that time did not want any hint of that party in government. The conclave ultimately dissolved with opinions entirely divided, though it was concluded that it would be difficult to maintain the president's situation without the full support of the army, taking into account that many of the troops who were quartered had relatives who had died in previous clashes.[4]
Flight of the MNR
The soldiers who joined the revolt did so with the visors of their caps turned backwards.
At around two or three in the morning of 21 July, the Mayor's Office was contacted by Undersecretary of the Presidency Luis Uría de la Oliva who communicated that Director General of Transit, Major Max Toledo, urgently needed to speak with either Mayor Gutiérrez Granier or Paz Estenssoro. Toledo informed Paz Estenssoro that the armed forces remained divided and that it would make a communication in the morning. This was taken as confirmation that the military had turned against the government. Paz Estenssoro immediately dictated a set of telephone numbers to Monroy Block, which he wrote down on a piece of paper, and instructed him and Israel Camacho to go to the telephone exchange located in the same building as the Mayor's Office and cut off the Palacio Quemado phones from those of the General Staff, the Defense Ministry, the Military Region, the "Calama" Regiment, the War Arsenal, and the Police Department. When the MNR deputy Alfonso Finot informed Paz Estenssoro that this could endanger Villarroel and Nogales, he replied "It doesn't matter, screw them. Let's go". After Monroy Block and Camacho completed their task of cutting off the Palace telephones, the MNR abandoned the Mayor's Office to seek asylum. Though Gutiérrez Granier attempted to lock the building with a chain, he was rushed by Paz Estenssoro and left it open.[4]
Anarchy in La Paz
As the morning advanced, the previous days activities and demonstrations resumed. A group of these protesters discovered the unattended Mayor's Office and raided it, discovering weapons and ammunition stored there. After this, they moved their attention towards the General Directorate of Transit, with the intent of searching for more weapons. Upon their arrival around 9:30a.m., they were met with resistance and shooting began at the Avenida Santa Cruz. At this point, tensions had reached critical mass and the riots and protests turned into a full-scale uprising. After the transit building fell, it was decided to attack the panopticon which was taken with little resistance. Political and common prisoners alike were freed and joined in the riot. As the unrest spread throughout the city, other buildings were occupied, including the "Calama" Regiment barracks, the Police School, the Investigations Office, Radio Illimani, the Ministry of Government, and the Military Institute, whose cadets joined the rebellion, turning the visors of their military caps back to show solidarity. They were joined later by "Loa" troops who did the same with their caps. None of the military units took to the streets to defend the regime. University students, meanwhile, opted to remove their uniform ties to identify themselves.[16] As the demonstrations grew increasingly violent, Major Toledo, Director General of Transit and member of RADEPA, was murdered in the vicinity of Plaza San Pedro. His body became the first of many to be hung in the square, inspired by the hanging and desecration of the corpse of Benito Mussolini the year prior.[17]
Amidst the chaos, U.S. Ambassador Flack urgently wired a short telegram which read: "Anarchy has broken loose in La Paz. Students and public have secured guns and ammunition from Municipal Palace and have attacked and taken traffic headquarters. No evidence of soldiers or police in streets. Please inform War and Justice Departments."[18]
Villarroel resigns
As the city found itself in a state of chaos, the only relatively peaceful place was the Palacio Quemado. The Palace was nearly empty, save for Villarroel, his aide Ballivián, undersecretary Uría, two or three ministers, the head of the Military House Colonel Luis Arce Pacheco, and Captain Ronald Monje Roca.[12] In the morning, a delegation of aviators of the Bolivian Air Force arrived to escort Villarroel to the El Alto Air Base "where they would not allow a fly to bother him".[16][19] From there, they intended to fly him to seek asylum in Arica, Chile.[1] Although his staff implored him to go, Villarroel remained indecisive until Captain Juan Moreira convinced him: "My colonel, you have not slept for three days. Therefore, your mind is not in a position to discern all the dangers that surround you here". Villarroel had already bade farewell to his collaborators and taken his coat when Colonel Nogales, his close friend and minister of government up until the day prior, expressed his opinion against the president's escape. After a few words with Captain Moreira, the airmen left without Villarroel.[19]
President Gualberto Villarroel is lynched and hanged in Plaza Murillo.
At around 11 a.m., Villarroel met with Eduardo Montes y Montes, the leader of the Liberal Party, who was an old friend and comrade in arms during the Chaco War. Montes later recounted that Villarroel asked him "What do you advise?" to which he replied: "That you resign, Mr. President".[19] As Montes was leaving, Colonel Jorge Chávez informed him that the president was drafting his resignation and asked for him to stay and receive it. Montes waited for ten minutes before deciding to leave the building.[20] Villarroel presented his resignation to General Dámaso Arenas, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.[12][21] It read: "With the desire to contribute to the tranquillity of the country I resign from the position of Constitutional President of the Republic in the person of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Nation".[20] It is unclear whether Arenas was ever sworn in as president.[21] At 1:30p.m., Defense Minister Ángel Rodríguez issued an official statement announcing that Villarroel had resigned and that the government had been handed to a junta.[22]
Siege of the Palacio Quemado
By that point, however, an easy end to the protests and riots through the president's resignation was no longer possible. Unaware of Villarroel's abdication, anti-government crowds took control of the Plaza Murillo, the site of the Palacio Quemado, laying siege to it. What few officials remained in the Palace quickly dispersed. While searching for a way to get Villarroel out of the building through one of the neighboring rooftops, Colonel Arce Pacheco was shot through the belly, collapsing onto an interior courtyard.[23]
The attack begins on the Palacio Quemado, where Villarroel was.
The Palacio Quemado was only minimally defended with its usual guard of 24 soldiers form the "Sucre" Regiment under the command of Second Lieutenant Federico Lafaye Borda and a few troops from the Motorized School led by Captain Fidel Téllez. While their forces engaged in a firefight against the attackers, a tank from the Motorized School crashed through the Palace gate. Whether its driver was attempting to escape or was sympathetic to the students' movement and had defected is uncertain though the revolutionaries believed the latter. The frenzied rioters stormed the Palacio Quemado in a murderous rage. Villarroel was discovered hiding in a cupboard in the Office of Reorganization and Administrative Effieciency, at the ground floor of the palace. There are several accounts of what happened next: One claims that one of the revolutionaries fired his submachine gun through the closed cupboard door upon hearing a noise and discovered the mortally wounded body of Villarroel when he opened it. Another alleges that Villarroel opened the cupboard himself and fired his revolver at his attackers before falling riddled with gunshots. A third version says that when discovered he exclaimed: "I am not Villarroel, I am Alfredo Mendizábal, head of the PIR (one of the leaders of the revolution)".[23]
Whatever the case, Villarroel died within the Palacio Quemado at around 2:30p.m.[24] and his body was thrown through a window onto Ayacucho Street in the Plaza Murillo. Villarroel was then lynched in the street, his clothes torn, his body horribly mutilated, and his almost naked corpse hung on a lamppost. The same fates were found within the vicinity of the surrounding streets by Captain Ballivián, Undersecretary Uría, and the regime's press director, the journalist Roberto Hinojosa, whose bodies were similarly desecrated.[2]
Aftermath
For some time after the riots, UMSA students took on the task of directing La Paz traffic.
The newspaper Times-Picayune reports on the death of Villarroel, 22 July
Once the rioting died down, it was decided that provisional command of the government would be delegated to the Superior Court of Justice of the judicial district of La Paz whose magistrates were to head an interim junta presided over by Superior District Court President Tomás Monje. As Monje was ill and hence unable to assume leadership at the time, Superior District Court Dean Néstor Guillén was chosen to chair the junta in an interim capacity.[25] The following day, a proper junta was formed with the participation of the magistrates Guillén and Cleto Cabrera García and the introduction of Montaño Daza and Raúl Calvimontes.[26] The government junta was formally constituted on 24 July when representatives of the workers, students, and teachers were admitted into it.[26] Representing the UMSA was Luis Gosalvez Indaburu, the Teachers' Confederation by Dr. Aniceto Solares, and organized labor by Aurelio Alcoba, Secretary-General of the Trade Union Confederation of Bolivian Workers.[27]
Immediately on 23 July, the junta published an eleven-point statement of intent. This included a commitment to respect domestic civil liberties as well as international agreements with other countries, and a pledge to call fresh, democratic presidential and legislative elections within three to four months.[28][27] The junta also announced its intent to return all confiscated newspapers to their owners.[28]La Razón had already been returned to its publisher on 21 July and El Diaro became the first newspaper to return to daily circulation on 22 July.[27] Further, all government offices were officially reopened at 2 p.m. on 23 July.[28]
In the case of the surviving former officials of the deposed regime, most escaped the country or took refuge in foreign embassies; Pinto sought asylum in the Mexican Embassy, Gutiérrez Granier in the Peruvian Embassy, and Ponce and Zuazo Cuenca in the Ecuadorian Legation. Other officials and cabinet members escaped in one C–47 and six small A–T 6 transport planes.[29] Calero and Paz Estenssoro went into the exile in Argentina.[30] Villarroel's widow, Elena López, and their two children, sought refuge in the La Paz Nunciature for some months before departing on 6 September to Argentina.[31]
The Revolutionary Nationalist Movement is a centre-right, conservative political party in Bolivia. It was the leading force behind the Bolivian National Revolution from 1952 to 1964. It influenced much of the country's history since 1941.
Gualberto Villarroel López was a Bolivian military officer who served as the 39th president of Bolivia from 1943 to 1946. A reformist, sometimes compared with Argentina's Juan Perón, he is nonetheless remembered for his alleged fascist sympathies and his violent demise on 21 July 1946.
Ángel Víctor Paz Estenssoro was a Bolivian politician who served as the 45th president of Bolivia for three nonconsecutive and four total terms from 1952 to 1956, 1960 to 1964 and 1985 to 1989. He ran for president eight times and was victorious in 1951, 1960, 1964 and 1985. His 1951 victory was annulled by a military junta led by Hugo Ballivián, and his 1964 victory was interrupted by the 1964 Bolivian coup d'état.
Hernán Siles Zuazo was a Bolivian politician who served as the 46th president of Bolivia twice nonconsecutively from 1956 to 1960 and from 1982 to 1985. He also briefly served as interim president in April 1952, and as the 27th vice president of Bolivia from 1952 to 1956.
Jaime Paz Zamora is a former Bolivian politician who served as the 60th president of Bolivia from 1989 to 1993. He also served as the 32nd vice president of Bolivia from October 1982 to December 1984 during the presidency of Hernán Siles Zuazo.
The Bolivian Palace of Government, better known as Palacio Quemado, was the official residence of the President of Bolivia from 1853 to 2018 and again briefly from 2019 to 2020. It is located in downtown La Paz on Plaza Murillo, next to the La Paz Cathedral and across from the Bolivian legislature. On 9 August 2018, it was replaced by the Casa Grande del Pueblo as the residence of the president by President Evo Morales. The interim government of Jeanine Áñez briefly reverted to occupying the Palacio Quemado from 2019 until 2020 when the newly elected Luis Arce returned to using the Casa Grande. It now serves as a museum.
Enrique Peñaranda del Castillo was a Bolivian general who served as the 38th president of Bolivia from 1940 until his overthrow in 1943. He previously served as commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces during the second half of the Chaco War (1932–1935).
Wálter Guevara Arze was a Bolivian statesman, cabinet minister, writer, and diplomat, who served as the 54th president of Bolivia on an interim basis in 1979.
Bolivia's defeat by Paraguay in the Chaco War of 1932–1936 marked a turning point in the modern history of Bolivia. Great loss of life and territory discredited the traditional ruling classes, while service in the army produced stirrings of political awareness among the indigenous people. A large portion of the contested Gran Chaco region was surrendered to Paraguay. In return Bolivia was given access to the Paraguay River where Puerto Busch was founded and, with this, free access to the Atlantic Ocean through international waters was possible. In 1936 Standard Oil's Bolivian operations were nationalized and the state-owned firm Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) was created. From the end of the Chaco War until the 1952 Bolivian National Revolution, the emergence of contending ideologies and the demands of new groups convulsed Bolivian politics.
General elections were held in Bolivia on 1 July 1979. As no candidate in the presidential elections received a majority of the vote, the National Congress was required to elect a President. However, the Congress failed to elect a candidate after three ballots and instead selected Senate leader Wálter Guevara to serve as Interim President for a year on 8 August. Guevara was later overthrown by a military coup led by Alberto Natusch on 31 October. Fresh elections were held in June 1980.
General elections were held in Bolivia on 29 June 1980, the third in three years. As no candidate in the presidential elections received a majority of the vote, the National Congress was required to elect a President on 6 August. With Hernán Siles Zuazo of the Democratic and Popular Union the favourite to win the Congressional ballot, the process was disrupted on 17 July by the military coup led by General Luis García Meza Tejada. However, Meza was pressured to resign on 4 August 1981, resulting in General Celso Torrelio becoming president. In July 1982 he was replaced by General Guido Vildoso, who was named by the high command to return the country to democratic rule. On 17 September 1982, during a general strike that brought the country close to civil war, the military decided to step down, to reconvene the National Congress elected in 1980, and to accept its choice of president. Accordingly, the National Congress revalidated the 1980 election results on 23 September and overwhelmingly elected Hernán Siles Zuazo as president on 5 October. He subsequently assumed the presidency on 10 October 1982.
The Bolivian Revolution of 1952, also known as the Revolution of '52, was a series of political demonstrations led by the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR), which, in alliance with liberals and communists, sought to overthrow the ruling Bolivian oligarchy and implement a new socioeconomic model in Bolivia. Its main leaders were the former presidents Víctor Paz Estenssoro and Hernán Siles Zuazo. The MNR government after this Revolution lasted from 9 April 1952 until the coup of 4 November 1964. In these twelve years, there was a co-government and at the same time a power struggle between the party and the labor unions.
1964 Bolivian coup d'état in Bolivia was a coup under the leadership of Vice-president René Barrientos and Bolivian Army commander-in-chief Alfredo Ovando Candía against the President Víctor Paz Estenssoro, leader of the Bolivian National Revolution of 1952, who recently had been re-elected for his third term in office.
Bolivia has experienced more than 190 coups d'état and revolutions since its independence was declared in 1825. Since 1950, Bolivia has seen the most coups of any other country. The last known attempt was in 1984, two years after the country's transition to democracy in 1982.
Gualberto Villarroel assumed office as the 39th President of Bolivia on 20 December 1943, and his term was violently cut short by his death on 21 July 1946. A colonel during the Chaco War, Villarroel and the Reason for the Fatherland (RADEPA) military lodge joined the fledgling Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR) to overthrow President Enrique Peñaranda in a coup d'état.
The Government Junta of Bolivia was a civil-military junta which ruled Bolivia from 20 December 1943 through 5 April 1944. It consisted of representatives of the armed forces through the Reason for Fatherland (RADEPA) military lodge as well as members of the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR). The President of the Junta was Colonel Gualberto Villarroel who came to power after a coup d'état which overthrew the government of Enrique Peñaranda. Immediately upon its inception, the junta faced a diplomatic blockade by the United States who viewed the MNR as sympathetic to the fascist powers of World War II and as such led the rest of Latin America in refusing to recognize the new regime until all members of the MNR were removed from the administration. After months of attempted negotiations and the removal of several cabinet ministers, the government finally relented and dismissed all remaining MNR members, dissolving the junta and entrusting Villarroel with the provisional Presidency of the Republic on 5 April 1944.
The Government Junta of Bolivia, officially known as the Honorable Government Junta, was a civil junta which ruled Bolivia from 21 July 1946 through 10 March 1947. It consisted of labor, teacher, and student representatives as well as magistrates of the Superior District Court of La Paz. The President of the Junta was Superior District Court President Tomás Monje who was appointed following the violent overthrow of President Gualberto Villarroel on 21 July 1946. As Monje was ill at the time of Villarroel's death, Néstor Guillén, the Dean of the Superior District Court, took charge for the first 27 days before delegating command to Monje on 17 August 1946. As President of the Junta, Monje acted as a neutral figure heading the transition back to civilian government. The junta was dissolved on 10 March 1947 when Enrique Hertzog, winner of the January general election, took office as president.
Eduardo Arze Quiroga was a Bolivian scholar, journalist, politician, and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1960 to 1962 in the second cabinet of Víctor Paz Estenssoro. Prior to that, he served in various diplomatic offices in the governments of Enrique Peñaranda and Gualberto Villarroel.
Carlos Montenegro Quiroga was a Bolivian lawyer, journalist, politician, and writer who served as minister of agriculture from 1943 to 1944. He was the principal political theorist of the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement, co-founding the party newspaper La Calle which laid the ideological bases of the party. His most famous work, Nacionalismo y coloniaje (1943), an essay on the influence of journalism in the history of Bolivia, is considered to be one of the most influential works in Bolivian historiography.
Hernán Terrazas Céspedes was a Bolivian general who served as Mayor of Cochabamba during the era of dictatorships in Bolivia. Early in his military career he was stationed in the Rocha Regiment and, as a second lieutenant, formed part of the rebel lines in Incahuasi during the 1949 coup d'état in Bolivia.
References
Notes
↑ The majority of chief officers of the armed forces requested on 20 July that Villarroel present his resignation to calm the situation. As the crisis worsened, soldiers of the "Loa", "Lanza", and "Sucre" Regiments joined the rioting students. Some elements of the military, such as the Palacio Quemado guard, generally remained loyal to the government.
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