Bolivia has experienced more than 190coups d'état and revolutions since its independence wasdeclared in 1825.[1] Since 1950, Bolivia has seen the most coups of any country.[2] The most recent attempted coup d'état was in 2024, led by GeneralJuan José Zúñiga.[3]
While classified as an army mutiny, the events of 18 April 1828 resulted in the deposition of PresidentAntonio José de Sucre and have been considered the first coup in Bolivian history.[4] Orchestrated byCasimiro Olañeta and promoted byPeruvian GeneralAgustín Gamarra, the event saw an uprising by the military garrison inChuquisaca.[5] In an attempt to quell the riot, Sucre was wounded in the arm. As a result, command was delegated toJosé María Pérez de Urdininea who served as interim president until Sucre officially resigned on 2 August 1828. In the following years, General Gamarra would invade Bolivia, occupying large portions of the country.
Pedro Blanco Soto, the pro-Peru president elected by the Constituent assembly on 18 December 1828 and who took office on 26 December would himself be deposed just a week after assuming office. Military leadership under ColonelJosé Ballivián arrested Blanco and imprisoned him in a convent called La Recoletta where he would be assassinated onNew Year's Day 1829.
Mariano Melgarejo climbed the ranks of the armed forces, aided by his willingness to participate in rebellions
The internal anarchy which resulted in the dissolution of thePeru–Bolivian Confederation ended with the resignation ofAndrés de Santa Cruz on 20 February 1839. The chaotic political climate of the ensuing days which saw José Ballivián unsuccessfully declare himself president would end on 22 February whenJosé Miguel de Velasco assumed the presidency. The following decades from 1839 to 1879 would see a succession of various military leaders overthrow one another with brief periods of democracy intermixed.
22 September 1841: José Ballivián overthrows Mariano Enrique Calvo.
2 January 1848: Ballivián, weary of the growing conflict with the GeneralManuel Isidoro Belzu, resigns from office on 23 December 1847. His successor,Eusebio Guilarte rules for just over a week before being deposed by Belzu on 2 January 1848. Belzu then installs José Miguel de Velasco as president.
6 December 1848: Manuel Isidoro Belzu overthrows José Miguel de Velasco. A bloody counter-coup by General Velasco is put down, with Belzu commanding the troops that crushed Velasco's.
9 September 1857: Belzu "retires" and calls elections which are won byJorge Córdova, Belzu's son-in-law. Córdova rules as a proxy for Belzu until supporters ofJosé María Linares proclaim him president inOruro rising militarily against the government. Córdova and his forces were finally defeated by theLinaristas inCochabamba on 27 September.
14 January 1861: José María Linares is overthrown by his own government ministersJosé María de Achá, Ruperto Fernández, and Manuel Antonio Sánchez.
28 December 1864:Mariano Melgarejo overthrows the unpopular José María de Achá, prevailing over the competing forces of Belzu.
15 January 1871:Agustín Morales overthrows Mariano Melgarejo.
28 December 1879: During the government of Hilarión Daza, theWar of the Pacific commences between Peru and Bolivia againstChile. Daza personally leads portions of the Bolivian military in the conflict. Faced with the encroaching victory of theChilean army, Daza was declared deposed in his absence on 28 December 1879.Narciso Campero is proclaimed president on 19 January 1880 beginning a period of democracy led by theConservative Party.[6]
Germán Busch participated in the overthrow of all three of his predecessorsVíctor Paz Estenssoro and the MNR were the perpetrators and victims of many coups and revolutions in the 1950s
Many of the coups in this era would be sparked by the instability forged by Bolivia's loss againstParaguay in theChaco War which birthed a reformist class of young veterans dissatisfied by the traditional oligarchic parties.
27 November 1934: Conflicts between PresidentDaniel Salamanca and military high command during the Chaco War resulted in the so-calledCorrallto de Villamontes. The young officerGermán Busch, under the direction of ColonelDavid Toro and GeneralEnrique Peñaranda, overthrows Daniel Salamanca miles from the front line.[7] Vice PresidentJosé Luis Tejada is allowed to assume office in order to keep democratic appearances.
17 May 1936: Germán Busch overthrows the unpopular José Luis Tejada and installs David Toro as president two days later.
13 July 1937: Germán Busch, dissatisfied with the slow reforms of David Toro, leads a popular movement to secure Toro's resignation.
20 December 1943:Gualberto Villarroel and theMNR overthrow Enrique Peñaranda who had returned the country to the pre-Chaco War status quo following the death of Busch.
21 July 1946: Gualberto Villarroel is lynched by an enraged mob and an interim junta is established headed byNéstor Guillén and laterTomás Monje.
The so-calledsexenio were the six years between 1946 and 1952 in which the traditional conservative order briefly returned to power.[8] Attempts by the left-wing to reassert control failed militarily in 1949 and legally in 1951 but were successful in 1952. A period of democratic control by theRevolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR) saw failed attempted coups by the right-wing until the military overthrew the new order in 1965.
27 August–12 September 1949: The so-called "Civil War" of 1949. Uprisings by MNR militants in four cities lead to a parallel government being declared inSanta Cruz de la Sierra under the interim presidency of Edmundo Roca.[9]Víctor Paz Estenssoro (exiled inArgentina) is declared president but the government inLa Paz regains control on 12 September.[10][11]
16 May 1951:General elections held on 6 May 1951 end in the victory of the MNR and the election of Víctor Paz Estenssoro as president. The results are not accepted by PresidentMamerto Urriolagoitía who enacts aself-coup known as theMamertazo, resigning and installing GeneralHugo Ballivián as president on 16 May 1951.
11 April 1952: The Bolivian National Revolution of 1952. Hugo Ballivián is deposed on 11 April 1952.Hernán Siles Zuazo, Paz Estenssoro's 1951 running mate, assumes command until 15 April when Paz Estenssoro arrives from exile to take the presidency. A period of democratic elections won by the MNR begins.
21 October 1958: TheBolivian Socialist Falange (FSB), the main conservative opposition to the MNR, fail to overthrow the now-president Hernán Siles Zuazo.[12]
19 April 1959: A second attempted coup by the FSB ended in a failed assassination attempt against Siles Zuazo. The subsequent massacre resulted in many deaths and thesuicide ofÓscar Únzaga, the FSB leader.[13][14]
5 November 1964: Víctor Paz Estenssoro, who won a nonconsecutive term in 1960,is deposed byRené Barrientos, his own vice president, and GeneralAlfredo Ovando.[15] This brings an end to stable democratic rule in Bolivia for almost two decades until 1982.
Hugo Banzer maintained a military dictatorship for most of the 1970s
In 1966, Barrientos waselected in his own right but died soon after in a helicopter crash theorized to be masterminded by Ovando.[16] The period after this would see over a decade of dictatorships by various military officers who assumed the presidency as a result of multiple coups.
26 September 1969: Vice PresidentLuis Adolfo Siles Salinas succeeds Barrientos after his death in April but is soon after overthrown by General Alfredo Ovando.
6 October 1970: Ovando is deposed in a coup d'état led by the chiefs of the army, air force, and navy. However, the military triumvirate lasts less than a day before being overthrown by Ovando loyalists led byJuan José Torres. Ovando agrees not to return to the presidency entrusting it with Torres.[17]
21 August 1971:Hugo Banzer overthrows Juan José Torres. Banzer would maintain his dictatorship for most of the 1970s.
7 November 1974: Military revolt against Banzer inSanta Cruz de la Sierra is put down.[18] Following this, Banzer dropped all pretenses of holding future elections, banned all political activity, and proceeded to rule henceforth solely with military support until 1978.
21 July 1978:Juan Pereda overthrows the military junta installed by Hugo Banzer following his resignation.
^Fisher, Max (12 November 2019)."Bolivia Crisis Shows the Blurry Line Between Coup and Uprising".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved4 December 2019.But the Cold War-era language of coups and revolutions demands that such cases fit into clear narratives. ... Experts on Bolivia and on coups joined forces on Monday to challenge the black-and-white characterizations, urging pundits and social media personalities to see the shades of gray.
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