The former president Hernán Siles Zuazo assumed the presidency of Bolivia on 10 October 1982,[1] following a general strike that brought the country close to civil war. Severe social tension, exacerbated by economic mismanagement and weak leadership, forced Siles Zuaso to call early elections and relinquish power a year before the end of his constitutional term.[citation needed]
When Estenssoro took office in 1985, he faced a staggering economic crisis. Economic output and exports had been declining for several years.[citation needed]Hyperinflation had reached an annual rate of 24%. Social unrest, chronic strikes, and unchecked drug trafficking were widespread. In 4 years, Paz Estenssoro's administration achieved economic and social stability. The military stayed out of politics, and all major political parties publicly and institutionally committed themselves to democracy. Human rights violations, which badly tainted some governments earlier in the decade, were no longer a problem. However, Estenssoro's remarkable accomplishments were not won without sacrifice. The collapse of tin prices in October 1985, coming just as the government was moving to reassert its control of the mismanaged state mining enterprise, forced the government to lay off over 20,000 miners.[citation needed]
Under pressure from the United States to control coca production, Bolivia passed Law 1008 to enable eradication. Protests by coca growers in Chapare against the proposed law were met by the Villa Tunari massacre in which 12 farmers were killed.[2]
Jaime Paz Zamora (1989–1993)
In the 1989 elections, Jaime Paz Zamora agreed to Patriotic Accord coalition between his MIR party and their former enemy, Gen. Hugo Banzer's ADN. Paz Zamora assumed the presidency, and the MIR took half the ministries, while Banzer's party took control of the National Political Council (CONAPOL) and the other ministries. Banzer was promised the presidency if the alliance was successful in the following election.
Two days after taking power, the government implemented Supreme Decree 21060 (followed by DS 21660), known as the ‘New Economic Policy’, which included reforms for monetary and fiscal stabilisation, the unification of the exchange rate system, tax reform, trade liberalisation, and freezes on wages. These packages were supported with lines of credit arranged by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Paz Zamora was a moderate, center-left President whose political pragmatism in office outweighed his Marxist origins. Having seen the destructive hyperinflation of the Siles Zuazo administration, he continued the neoliberal economic reforms begun by Paz Estenssoro, codifying some of them. The president took a fairly hard line against domestic terrorism, personally ordering the December 1990 attack on terrorists of the Néstor Paz Zamora Commission, named for his brother.
Paz Zamora was less decisive against narcotics trafficking. The government broke up a number of trafficking networks but issued a 1991 surrender decree giving lenient sentences to the biggest narcotics kingpins. Also, his administration was extremely reluctant to pursue coca eradication. It did not agree to an updated extradition treaty with the US, although two traffickers have been extradited to the U.S. since 1992. Beginning in early 1994, the Bolivian Congress investigated Paz Zamora's personal ties to accused major trafficker Isaac Chavarria, who subsequently died in prison while awaiting trial. MIR deputy chief Oscar Eid was jailed in connection with similar ties in 1994; he was found guilty and sentenced to 4 years in prison in November 1996. Technically still under investigation, Paz Zamora became an active presidential candidate in 1996.
Sánchez de Lozada pursued an aggressive economic and social reform agenda. The most dramatic change undertaken by the Sanchez de Lozada government was the capitalization program, under which investors acquired 50% ownership and management control of public enterprises, such as the Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) oil corporation, telecommunications system, electric utilities, and others. The reforms and economic restructuring were strongly opposed by certain segments of society, which instigated frequent social disturbances, particularly in La Paz and the Chapare coca-growing region, from 1994 through 1996.
The Sánchez de Lozada presidency also twice amended the Bolivian Constitution of 1967, defining Bolivia as a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural nation, and some Indigenous rights were legally recognized.[3]
Hugo Banzer Suárez (1997–2001) and Jorge Quiroga Ramírez (2001–2002)
In the 1997 elections, the ADN formed a coalition of the MIR, UCS, and CONDEPA parties. As a result, the ADN's leader, former dictator Hugo Banzer, returned to power at age 71 as a democratically elected leader.
Between January and April 2000, a series of anti-privatization protests took place in Cochabamba against the privatization of the municipal water supply that was being pushed through on the recommendation of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The Bolivian government declared martial law, killing several people, arresting protest leaders and shutting down radio stations. After continued disturbances and civic pressure, the government finally rolled back the privatization on April 10, 2000.
After a lung cancer diagnosis, Banzer resigned in August 2001, and was succeeded by his vice-president Jorge Quiroga.
Several days before Bolivians went to the voting booths, the U.S. ambassador Manuel Rocha warned the Bolivian electorate that if they voted for a candidate known to have links with drug-trafficking, referring indirectly to Morales, the US would cut off foreign aid and close its markets to the country. Because of the public outrage this statement generated, Morales received nearly 21% of the vote, putting him only a couple points behind Sánchez de Lozada.[4]
During this period, a divisive conflict known as the Bolivian Gas War began as a dispute over the exploitation of Bolivia's large natural gas reserves in the south of the country. Strikes and blockades first erupted in September 2003, with several deaths and dozens of injuries in confrontations with the armed forces. President Sánchez de Lozada resigned under pressure from protesters, formally handing over the presidency to his vice-president, Carlos Mesa, in order to preserve the Constitutional order.
Mesa was inaugurated and promised to address the demands of the protesting majority. In the face of mounting protests, he resigned on March 7, 2005, claiming he was unable to continue governing the country. With promises of support, he withdrew his resignation.
In May–June 2005, Mesa again tendered his resignation and in a hastily convened session of the Parliament in Sucre. Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé, the President of the Supreme Court, became president on the night of June 9, 2005. Political agreements were reached to modify the Constitution, and allow the full renewal of Parliament, simultaneously with a new presidential election in December.
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The deterioration of the Bolivian political system contributed towards the rise of a loose confederation of indigenous social movements, the MAS and other parties, with the head of the MAS Evo Morales, a former cocalero, as leader. In the elections of December 2005, Evo Morales and MAS obtained a comfortable victory, winning 54% of the electorate's votes; Morales was the first indigenous Bolivian president in history.
In March 2006 Morales announced the increase of the minimum wage by 50%. However, 60 percent of Bolivian workers are part of the informal economy, thus limiting the extent of such a legally mandated increase in wages.[5]
On May 1, 2006, Evo Morales nationalized most of Bolivia's natural gas fields, which many indigenous Bolivians had demanded for years. Troops were sent in to occupy the gas fields and take back control from foreign companies that day.[6] Many fields were operated by Petrobras, Brazil's largest energy company, and this political development was expected to strain relations between Morales and leftist Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. On October 29, 2006 the Morales government signed agreements with eight foreign gas firms including Petrobras, to give the Bolivian national gas company a majority stake in the gas fields, bringing the nationalization to completion.[7]
On May 4, 2008 autonomy referendums were held in four eastern departments, in which they declared themselves autonomous from the central government. All four referendums passed.[8] Evo Morales deemed this referendum illegal. Turnout was at 70%.[9]
In February 2009 a new constitution was enacted by Evo Morales. This gave Bolivians of indigenous descent more economic and political rights.[clarification needed]
Morales won a third term in 2014, becoming the longest-serving president in Bolivian history.[10][11] In 2016, he proposed a constitutional amendment in order to let him run for a fourth term, but it was narrowly defeated in a referendum. However, the Constitutional Court ruled that term limits contravened the American Convention on Human Rights, thus allowing Morales to run for a fourth term.[12] In 2019, Morales claimed victory in the first round of the presidential election, but was forced to step down after allegations of election irregularities resulted in nationwide protests.[13] He was succeeded by Jeanine Áñez, an opposition lawmaker. New elections, which were originally scheduled to occur in May 2020, were postponed to October, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[14]Luis Arce, a longtime minister in Morales' government, defeated former president Carlos Mesa in a landslide, ending Morales' exile.
Hugo Banzer Suárez was a Bolivian politician and military officer who served as the 51st president of Bolivia. He held the Bolivian presidency twice: from 1971 to 1978 as a military dictator; and then again from 1997 to 2001, as a democratically elected president.
Gonzalo Daniel Sánchez de Lozada Sánchez Bustamante, often referred to as Goni, is a Bolivian businessman and politician who served as the 61st president of Bolivia from 1993 to 1997 and from 2002 to 2003. A member of the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR), he previously served as minister of planning and coordination under Víctor Paz Estenssoro and succeeded him as the MNR's national chief in 1990.
Carlos Diego de Mesa Gisbert is a Bolivian historian, journalist, and politician who served as the 63rd president of Bolivia from 2003 to 2005. As an independent politician, he previously served as the 37th vice president of Bolivia from 2002 to 2003 under Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and was the international spokesman for Bolivia's lawsuit against Chile in the International Court of Justice from 2014 to 2018. A member of the Revolutionary Left Front, he has served as leader of Civic Community, the largest opposition parliamentary group in Bolivia, since 2018.
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.
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.
Nationalist Democratic Action is a right-wing political party in Bolivia led by Óscar Daza Márquez. ADN was founded on March 23, 1979 by the military dictator Hugo Banzer after he stepped down from power. As leader of the ADN, Banzer ran in the 1979, 1980, 1985, 1989, 1993, and 1997 presidential elections. He obtained third place in 1979 and 1980, and won a plurality of the 1985 vote, but, since he did not attain the 50% necessary for direct election, Congress selected the chief executive. Its choice was the second-place finisher, Víctor Paz Estenssoro.
The Christian Democratic Party is an ultraconservative political party in Bolivia.
The Revolutionary Left Movement – New Majority was a social democratic political party in Bolivia whose registration was annulled in 2006 after it failed achieve the electoral results needed to maintain its official registration. In the elections of 2009, the party did not field any candidates. It was a member of the Socialist International.
The history of Bolivia involves thousands of years of human habitation.
General elections were held in Bolivia on 30 June 2002. As no candidate for the presidency received over 50% of the vote, the National Congress was required to elect a President. Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada was elected with 84 votes to the 43 received by Evo Morales.
General elections were held in Bolivia on 1 June 1997. As no candidate for the presidency received over 50% of the vote, the National Congress was required to elect a president on 4 August. Hugo Banzer of Nationalist Democratic Action (ADN) was subsequently elected. Whilst the ADN emerged as the largest party in Congress, it failed to win a majority of seats, and formed a coalition government with the Revolutionary Left Movement, Conscience of Fatherland and the Solidarity Civic Unity.
Natural gas in Bolivia is one of the nation's main energy sources and export products. Bolivia's proved natural gas reserves are estimated to be 10.7 (TCF) .. Most of these reserves are located in the eastern region of the country. The major export pipelines in Bolivia transport the gas to Argentina and Brazil.
General elections were held in Bolivia on 7 May 1989. As no candidate for the presidency received over 50% of the vote, the National Congress was required to elect a president on 6 August. Although the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement had received the most votes, its candidate for President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada was defeated by Jaime Paz Zamora of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) in the congressional vote, despite the MIR only finishing third in the public vote.
General elections were held in Bolivia on 6 June 1993. As no candidate for the presidency received over 50% of the vote, the National Congress was required to elect a president on 4 August. Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada of the MNR-MRTKL alliance was subsequently elected unopposed.
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.
General elections were held in Bolivia on 14 July 1985. As no candidate for the presidency received over 50% of the vote, the National Congress was required to elect a President on 4 August. Although Hugo Banzer of Nationalist Democratic Action (ADN) received the most public votes, Congress elected Víctor Paz Estenssoro of the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR).
Jorge Quiroga assumed office as the 62nd President of Bolivia on 7 August 2001, and his term ended on 6 August 2002. Having previously served as vice president, Quiroga assumed the presidency after the resignation for health reasons by President Hugo Banzer and was tasked with fulfilling the final 364 days of Banzer's term.
↑ Schilling-Vacaflor, A. (2011). Bolivia's New Constitution: Towards Participatory Democracy and Political Pluralism? Revista Europea De Estudios Latinoamericanos Y Del Caribe / European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, (90), 3-22. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23047817
Crabtree, John, and Laurence Whitehead, eds. Unresolved tensions: Bolivia past and present (2008) excerpt
Farthing, Linda C., and Benjamin H. Kohl. Evo's Bolivia: Continuity and Change (2014) excerpt
Heath, Dwight B. Historical dictionary of Bolivia (1972) online
Klein, Herbert S. A Concise History of Bolivia (2nd ed. Cambridge UP, 2021) excerpt; also 2003 edition online
Lehman, Kenneth D. "Completing the revolution? The United States and Bolivia's long revolution." Bolivian Studies Journal 22 (2016): 4-35 online.
Lehman, Kenneth Duane. Bolivia and the United States: A limited partnership (University of Georgia Press, 1999).
Morales, Waltraud Q. A brief history of Bolivia (2nd ed. Infobase Publishing, 2010) online.
Ribando, Clare, ed. "Bolivia: Political and economic developments and relations with the United States." (Congressional Research Service, 2006) online.
Thomson, Sinclair, et al., eds. The Bolivia Reader: History, Culture, Politics (Duke University Press, 2018).
Webber, Jeffery R. From Rebellion to Reform in Bolivia: Class Struggle, Indigenous Liberation, and the Politics of Evo Morales (2011)
Young, Kevin A. Blood of the earth: resource nationalism, revolution, and empire in Bolivia (University of Texas Press, 2017).
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