View source for Hugo Banzer

{{short description|51st President of Bolivia}}
{{family name hatnote|Banzer|Suárez|lang=Spanish}}
{{more citations needed|date=June 2010}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Hugo Banzer
| image               = Hugo Banzer - 2.jpg
| caption             = Banzer in 1971
<!-- President -->| order               = 51st
| office              = President of Bolivia
| vicepresident       = Jorge Quiroga
| term_start          = 6 August 1997
| term_end            = 7 August 2001
| predecessor         = [[Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada]]
| successor           = [[Jorge Quiroga]]
| vicepresident2      = ''Vacant''
| term_start2         = 21 August 1971
| term_end2           = 21 July 1978
| predecessor2        = [[Juan José Torres]]
| successor2          = [[Juan Pereda]]
<!-- Political Offices -->| office3             = [[Ministry of Education (Bolivia)|Minister of Education and Culture]]
| president3          = [[René Barrientos]]<br />[[Alfredo Ovando Candía]]
| term_start3         = 5 November 1964
| term_end3           = 6 August 1966
| predecessor3        = [[Carlos Serrate]]
| successor3          = Edgar Ortiz Lema
<!-- Personal Details -->| birth_name          = Hugo Banzer Suárez
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1926|5|10|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Concepción, Santa Cruz|Concepción]], [[Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia)|Santa Cruz]], [[History of Bolivia (1920–1964)|Republic of Bolivia]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2002|5|5|1926|5|10|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Santa Cruz, Bolivia|Santa Cruz]], [[History of Bolivia (1982–present)|Republic of Bolivia]]
| party               = [[Nationalist Democratic Action]]
| education           = Military College of the Army<br />Armored Cavalry School<br />[[School of the Americas]]
| spouse              = Yolanda Prada
| children            = 5
| parents             = César Banzer<br />Luisa Suárez
| awards              = [[File:BOL Order of Condor of the Andes - Grand Cross BAR.png|23px]] [[Order of the Condor of the Andes]]<br />[[Image:Order of Isabella the Catholic - Sash of Collar.svg|22px]] [[Order of Isabella the Catholic]]<br />[[Image:PER Order of the Sun of Peru - Grand Cross BAR.png|22px]] [[Order of the Sun of Peru]]
| signature           = Signature of Hugo Banzer Suárez (1926-2002).svg
<!-- Military Service -->| allegiance          = {{flag|Bolivia}}
| branch              = {{army|Bolivia}}
| serviceyears        = 1952–1978
| rank                = [[General]]
| unit                = 
| commands            = 
| battles             = 
| otherparty          = [[Nationalist Popular Front]]
}}

'''Hugo Banzer{{efn|In [[Spanish language|Spanish]] [[orthography]], ''Banzer'' should be spelled ''Bánzer'', but because Banzer is originally a German name, it is left intact.}} Suárez''' ({{IPA|es|ˈuɣo ˈβanseɾ ˈswaɾes}}; 10 May 1926 &ndash; 5 May 2002) was a [[Bolivia]]n 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.

Banzer rose to power via a [[coup d'état]] against socialist president [[Juan José Torres]] and repressed labor leaders, clergymen, indigenous people, and students during his 1971–1978 dictatorship. Several thousand Bolivians were either forced to seek asylum in foreign countries, arrested, tortured, or killed during this period, known as the ''Banzerato''.

After Banzer's removal via a coup led by [[Juan Pereda]], he remained an influential figure in Bolivian politics and would run for election to the presidency via the ballot box on several occasions, eventually succeeding in [[1997 Bolivian general election|1997]] via a narrow plurality of 22.26% of the popular vote. During Banzer's constitutional term, he extended presidential term limits from four years to five and presided over the [[Cochabamba Water War]], declaring a [[State of emergency|state of siege]] in 2000 that suspended several civil liberties and led to violent clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.icj.org/news.php3?id_article=2511&lang=en |title=International Commission of Jurists |website=www.icj.org |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070606142639/http://www.icj.org/news.php3?id_article=2511&lang=en |archive-date=6 June 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> After being diagnosed with lung cancer, Banzer resigned in 2001 and was succeeded by Vice President [[Jorge Quiroga]].

==Military and ideological formation==
Banzer was native to the rural lowlands of the [[Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia)|Santa Cruz Department]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/banzer-el-destino-de-un-soldado|title=Banzer: el destino de un soldado|first= Alfonso|last=Crespo|date=February 1999|language=es}}</ref> He attended military schools in [[Bolivia]], [[Argentina]], [[Brazil]] and the [[United States]], including the Armored Cavalry School at [[Fort Hood]], [[Texas]]. He took a Motor Officer Course at the [[School of the Americas]]. He was a descendant of the German immigrant Georg Banzer Schnitzel.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

Banzer was promoted to colonel in 1961, and appointed three years later to head the Ministry of Education and Culture in the government of General [[René Barrientos]], a personal friend. Banzer became 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.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

==As plotter (1970–1971)==
In 1970, President [[Juan José Torres]] was leading the country in a [[leftist]] direction, arousing the ire and mistrust of conservative [[anti-communist]] circles in Bolivia and, crucially, in the [[Nixon administration]]. He had called an Asamblea del Pueblo, or People's Assembly, in which representatives of specific "proletarian" sectors of society were represented (miners, unionized teachers, students, peasants). The Assembly was imbued with all the powers of a working parliament, even though the right-wing opponents of the regime tended to call it a gathering of virtual [[Soviet (council)|soviets]]. Torres also allowed labor leader, [[Juan Lechín]], to resume his post as head of the [[Central Obrera Boliviana]]/Bolivian Workers' Union (COB). These measures, coupled with Ovando's earlier [[nationalization]] of [[Gulf Oil]] properties, angered his opponents even more, chief among whom was Banzer and his US supporters. In early 1971, a faction of the Bolivian military attempted to unseat the new president but failed, whereupon Banzer fled to Argentina, but did not give up his ambitions to the presidency.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1971-01-11|title=AN ATTEMPTED COUP REPORTED IN BOLIVIA|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/01/11/archives/an-attempted-coup-reported-in-bolivia.html|access-date=2021-04-23|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

=={{visible anchor|Dictatorship (1971–1978)|Dictatorship}}==
On 17 August 1971, Banzer, at long last, masterminded a successful military uprising that erupted in [[Santa Cruz, Bolivia|Santa Cruz de la Sierra]], where he had many supporters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gobierno Banzer – Espacio de la memoria |url=https://www.lapaz.bo/memoria/gobierno-banzer/ |access-date=2022-10-25 |language=es |archive-date=18 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118034143/https://www.lapaz.bo/memoria/gobierno-banzer/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Eventually, the plotters gained control over the [[La Paz, Bolivia|La Paz]] garrisons, although not without considerable bloodshed. The combined levels of [[United States]] and [[Brazil]]ian involvement for the [[coup d'état]] have been debated but according to [[Stephen Zunes]] it is apparent that significant clandestine financial and advisory assistance existed at a critical level within the [[Nixon administration]] for Banzer.<ref name="zunes">{{cite news|last1=Zunes|first1=Stephen|title=U.S. Intervention in Bolivia|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-zunes/us-intervention-in-bolivi_b_127528.html|access-date=11 August 2016|publisher=Huffington Post|date=25 May 2011|quote=When an attempted coup by rightist general Hugo Bánzer Suárez was threatened by a breakdown in the plotters' radio communications, the U.S. Air Force made their radio communications available to them. Though this first attempted takeover was crushed, Bánzer was able to seize power by August of the following year in a bloody uprising, also with apparent U.S. support.}}</ref>{{better source|blog post|date=August 2022}}
[[File:GralHugoBanzerSuarez.jpg|left|thumb|Official photograph, 1971]]With such backing secured, Banzer emerged as the strong man of the new regime, and, on 22 August, was given full power as president. Conversely, President [[Juan José Torres]] was forced to take refuge in [[Buenos Aires]], [[Argentina]] where five years later he was [[Kidnapping|kidnapped]] and [[assassinated]] by right-wing [[death squads]] associated with the [[National Reorganization Process|Videla government]] and with the acquiescence of Banzer. His murder was part of [[Operation Condor]]. Banzer received the political support of the center-right [[Nationalist Revolutionary Movement|Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario]] (MNR) of former president [[Víctor Paz Estenssoro]] and the conservative [[Bolivian Socialist Falange|Falange Socialista Boliviana]] of [[Mario Gutiérrez (politician)|Mario Gutiérrez]], considered to be the two largest parties in the country. For the next seven years, and with the rank of army general, he ruled Bolivia as dictator.

Frustrated by the political divisions and protests that characterized the Torres and Ovando years, and, traditionally an enemy of dissent and freedom of speech, Banzer banned all the left-leaning parties, suspended the powerful [[Central Obrera Boliviana]], and closed the nation's universities. "Order" was now the paramount aim, and no means were spared to restore authority and stifle dissent. Buoyed by the initial legitimacy provided by Paz and Gutierrez's support, the dictator ruled with a measure of civilian support until 1974, when the main parties realized he did not intend to hold elections and was instead using them to perpetuate himself in power. At that point, Banzer dispensed with all pretenses and banned all political activity, exiled all major leaders (Paz Estenssoro included), and proceeded to rule henceforth solely with military support.

Human rights groups claim that during Banzer's 1971–1978 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. In the basement of the Ministry of the Interior or "the horror chambers" around 2,000 political prisoners were held and tortured during the 1971–1978 military rule.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7925694.stm | work=BBC News | title=Hidden cells reveal Bolivia's dark past | date=5 March 2009 | access-date=4 May 2010}}</ref> Many others simply disappeared.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1969327.stm|title=Former Bolivian president dies|date=5 May 2002|access-date=10 October 2019|via=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> Among the victims of the regime were Colonel Andrés Selich, Banzer's first Minister of the Interior and co-conspirator in the August 1971 coup. Selich was accused of plotting to overthrow Banzer and died of blows sustained while in custody. Two other leaders with sufficient stature to potentially eclipse the dictator were murdered under suspicious circumstances while in exile: General Joanquin Zenteno Anaya and former president Juan José Torres, both in 1976. [[Klaus Barbie]], former head of the [[Gestapo]] de [[Lyon]], was integrated into the special services in order to "renew" repression techniques and received Bolivian nationality. During the Banzer government, drug trafficking experienced an unprecedented expansion that lasted until the 1980s.

Much of the stability achieved by the ''Banzerato'' was sustained by the constant flow of easy credit from abroad, which was often used on mammoth "[[white elephant]]" projects of dubious usefulness but which nonetheless impressed certain sectors of the population. The loans would soon raise Bolivia's external debt to record levels, but proved useful in the manipulation of political patronage. In 1975, Banzer restored diplomatic relations with Chile, broken since 1962, with an eye toward obtaining an access to the Pacific Ocean, denied to Bolivia since the loss of its maritime coast in the 19th century [[War of the Pacific]]. The Chilean dictator [[Augusto Pinochet]] offered a narrow outlet just north of the port of Arica, on the border with Peru, on lands that had previously belonged to that country. According to the terms of the treaty that handed that territory to Chile, Peru had to agree to any proposal of transferring that land to a third party. Peru refused to accept the Pinochet proposal and instead created its own counter-proposal, which declared Arica and its waters an area of joint-sovereignty between the three nations. Chile refused this proposal and talks with Bolivia ended. Diplomatic relations were once again frozen in 1978.

===Democratic opening of 1978 and toppling===
Pressure from the [[Carter administration]] forced{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} Banzer to institute a carefully regulated "democratic opening" in 1978. A restricted amnesty was declared, and the country prepared for [[1978 Bolivian general election|democratic elections]]. Since the Bolivian constitution did not at the time allow a sitting president to immediately succeed himself, Banzer initially endorsed General [[Juan Pereda]] as the regime's candidate. It was assumed that Pereda would be elected with government "help" at the polls, rule for four years, and then allow Banzer to return as constitutional president once he had time to polish up his image and transition to civilian politics. However, by election time the popularity of a left-wing coalition of former president [[Hernán Siles Zuazo|Hernán Siles]] was such that nothing could disguise it.

Nonetheless, the elections of 9 July were rigged. Official results showed Pereda not only far ahead of Siles, but with just a few thousand votes over the threshold to win the presidency outright.  However, massive protests brought the country to a halt, and independent organizations agreed that all exit polls indicated that Siles had actually won handily.  It later emerged that some 200,000 more votes were cast than the total number of registered voters.

With the evidence of irregularities too great to ignore, Banzer had the Electoral Court annul the elections. He denounced the electoral fraud, blaming it on Pereda and his supporters. He declared he would call fresh elections within a year or two.

However, Pereda and other officers felt Banzer was manipulating them for his own political ends. They overthrew Banzer in a coup on 21 July. Pereda blamed Banzer for the fraud and promised to call elections in the future, though he did not specify a time frame. Pereda, in turn, was overthrown in November 1978 by democratically oriented officers under General [[David Padilla]] who, embarrassed by the events of the last few months, and suspecting that Pereda did not intend to call new elections either, promptly set a firm date for a return to civilian rule.

==Civilian political leader==
Upon leaving office, Banzer formed the [[Nationalist Democratic Action|ADN]] party ''(Acción Democrática Nacionalista)'', a large organization that attracted most conservative groups under his leadership. Banzer ran for elections in 1979 and 1980, obtaining third place in both contests. The 1979 contest remained inconclusive because, no candidate having received the necessary 50% of the vote, Congress had to determine the president.  The legislature would have likely picked Siles had it not been for the coup of 17 July 1980 which installed a reactionary (and cocaine-tainted) dictatorship led by General [[Luis García Meza]]. With the military's reputation badly damaged by the excesses of the 1980–1982 dictatorship, it was decided to accept the 1980 election results and reconvene the Congress elected that year. That body duly elected Siles as president.

Banzer opposed bitterly the UDP government of Siles which lasted from 1982 to 1985, but turned more conciliatory when [[Víctor Paz Estenssoro]] was elected president (by congress, due to the virtual unattainability of the 50% necessary for direct election) in 1985. Indeed, Banzer's party claimed authorship of some of the most prominent neoliberal economic reforms instituted by Paz to curb galloping hyperinflation, repress the influence of labor unions, and generally reduce government control of the economy. 

Banzer finished second in the [[1989 Bolivian general election|1989 elections]] closely behind the MNR's [[Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada]] and ahead of the centre-left [[Revolutionary Left Movement (Bolivia)|Revolutionary Left Movement]]'s [[Jaime Paz Zamora]].<ref name=Assies1989>{{cite book|title=Crisis in Bolivia: The Elections of 2002 and their Aftermath|url=https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/3405/1/B38_-_Crisis_in_Bolivia_The_Elections_of_2002_and_their_Aftermath.pdf|date=January 2003|accessdate=19 April 2004|last1=Assies|first1=Willem|last2=Salman|first2=Ton|publisher=[[University of London]]|isbn=1900039605|page=11}}</ref> Until the 1989 election Banzer and Paz Zamora had been staunch political enemies, but driven by a shared disdain for the MNR they came to a deal. Banzer and the ADN agreed to vote in congress for Paz Zamora to become president, in return for Paz Zamora's promise to support Banzer in a future election.<ref name=Assies1989/>

At the [[1993 Bolivian general election|1993 election]] Banzer once again finished second to the MNR and Sánchez de Lozada. The MNRs plurality, in coalition with the small center-left Bolivia Libre party, made it possible to confirm the MNR's electoral victory. In the 1997 elections, however, Banzer finished first by a small plurality, and was able to take the presidency with the support of Paz and others in a grand coalition ranging from Paz' [[Revolutionary Left Movement (Bolivia)|Revolutionary Left Movement]] to Banzer's ADN on the right.

==As constitutional president (1997–2001)==
{{Details|2000 Cochabamba protests}}In 1997, Banzer finally achieved [[1997 Bolivian general election|democratic election]] as president of Bolivia, at the age of 71. He was the first former dictator in Latin America's recent history to transition successfully to democratic politics and return to power by way of the ballot box. During his tenure he launched – under the guidelines outlined by the [[United States]] – a program to fight [[Illegal drug trade|drug-trafficking]] in Bolivia which called for the [[coca eradication|eradication of coca]], a controversial strategy. During his tenure a bitter divide developed within the ADN between Banzer and his vice president [[Jorge Quiroga]]. Banzer's faction, known as the ''dinosaurios'', comprised the party's old guard and its members were less ideologically inclined, being mostly concerned with holding power and preserving Banzer's historical reputation. In contrast, Quiroga's ''pitufos'' faction was made up of technocratic free-market hardliners, and was far more willing to use force against protestors than the ''dinosaurios'' were.<ref name=AssiesQuiroga>{{cite book|title=Crisis in Bolivia: The Elections of 2002 and their Aftermath|url=https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/3405/1/B38_-_Crisis_in_Bolivia_The_Elections_of_2002_and_their_Aftermath.pdf|date=January 2003|accessdate=19 April 2004|last1=Assies|first1=Willem|last2=Salman|first2=Ton|publisher=[[University of London]]|isbn=1900039605|pages=45–46}}</ref> Relations between Banzer and Quiroga soon broke down, causing frequent chaos within the cabinet.<ref name=AssiesCabinet>{{cite book|title=Crisis in Bolivia: The Elections of 2002 and their Aftermath|url=https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/3405/1/B38_-_Crisis_in_Bolivia_The_Elections_of_2002_and_their_Aftermath.pdf|date=January 2003|accessdate=19 April 2004|last1=Assies|first1=Willem|last2=Salman|first2=Ton|publisher=[[University of London]]|isbn=1900039605|pages=44–45}}</ref>
[[File:Banzer and Terrazas in their old age.png|thumb|216x216px|Members of the Military College of La Paz class of 1947 celebrating their golden jubilee. Left to right: General [[Hernán Terrazas Céspedes]], Constitutional President Banzer, Admiral José Vargas, and Major Mario Villavicencio.]]
Banzer was the president during the [[Cochabamba Water War]] in 2000, which centered on the privatization of the water works of Bolivia's third largest city, [[Cochabamba]]. In 1999, the [[World Bank]] discouraged water subsidies, writing "... no subsidies should be given to ameliorate the increase in water tariffs in Cochabamba." However, that year, in Cochabomba, a water contract was awarded to Aguas del Tunari, a subsidiary of [[Bechtel]] (a U.S. company) and the only bidder, for $2.5 billion. According to a report from ''Historic.ly'', "The federal congress did this without consideration of the ''pueblo'' or the autonomy of the indigenous people who lived there." After one month of the contract, Bechtel raised the water rates over 60%. Local people could not collect [[rain]]water either, as the rights to rainwater had also been given to the company. By January 2000, protests erupted in Bolivia in response to the privatization of water.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Esha|title=Like Water for Capitalists|url=https://historicly.substack.com/p/like-water-for-capitalists|access-date=2020-07-25|website=historicly.substack.com|date=23 July 2020}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=FRONTLINE/WORLD . Bolivia - Leasing the Rain . Timeline: Cochabamba Water Revolt|url=https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bolivia/timeline.html|access-date=2020-07-25|website=www.pbs.org}}</ref> Violence occurred when police and demonstrators clashed. Banzer then declared a "state of siege". When officials of the consortium who had bought the right to run the water works fled after being told by the authorities that their safety could not be guaranteed, the Banzer government declared that they had abandoned the project in April 2000,<ref name=":1" /> declared the contract void, and settled with the demonstrators.

Banzer was diagnosed with [[lung cancer]] in 2001, and even though he had a year left of his five-year term (he had himself agitated to legally extend the presidential term), he resigned on 7 August.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cidob.org/biografias_lideres_politicos/america_del_sur/bolivia/hugo_banzer_suarez|title=CIDOB|website=CIDOB|date=6 August 1997 |access-date=10 October 2019}}</ref> He was succeeded by Vice President [[Jorge Quiroga]].

==Death==
Banzer died of [[lung cancer]] at a medical clinic in [[Santa Cruz de la Sierra]] on 5 May 2002, aged 75, five days before he would have turned 76 and around two months before his original presidential term ended. His remains were buried at the [[General Cemetery of Santa Cruz]] in Santa Cruz.

==See also==
*[[First Cabinet of Hugo Banzer]]

==Note==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* Prado Salmón, Gral. Gary. "Poder y Fuerzas Armadas, 1949-1982."

==External links==
{{Commons category|Hugo Banzer}}
* {{CIDOB|america_del_sur/bolivia/hugo_banzer_suarez}}
* [https://www.paginasiete.bo/especial02/ 50 años del golpe de Banzer] at ''[[Página Siete]]'' {{in lang|es}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080521195948/http://www.aportescriticos.com.ar/es/chroniques.php?id_cv=1 On the crisis of December 1977] (video)

{{Presidents of Bolivia}}
{{Navboxes
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{{s-bef|before=[[Carlos Serrate]]}}
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{{s-bef|before=[[Juan José Torres]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[President of Bolivia]]|years=1971–1978}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Nationalist Democratic Action]] nominee for President of Bolivia|years=[[1979 Bolivian general election|1979]], [[1980 Bolivian general election|1980]], [[1985 Bolivian general election|1985]], [[1989 Bolivian general election|1989]], [[1997 Bolivian general election|1997]]}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Patriotic Accord]] nominee for President of Bolivia|years=[[1993 Bolivian general election|1993]]}}
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{{Post-war flight of Nazi fugitives}}
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