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The history of Bolivia from 1964 to 1982 marks a period of instability. In 1964, power passed from president Víctor Paz Estenssoro to a military junta under former vice-president René Barrientos. Barrientos was elected president in 1966, but died in 1969, leading to another coup in 1970, and yet another one in 1971, leaving Hugo Banzer Suárez in power. Banzer ruled from 1971 to 1974 with the support of the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement. Then, impatient with schisms in the coalition, he replaced civilians with members of the armed forces and suspended political activities. The economy grew impressively during Banzer's presidency, but demands for greater political freedom undercut his support. His call for elections in 1978 plunged Bolivia into turmoil once again. Juan Pereda ruled for only four months in 1978, but his ascent to the presidency marked the beginning of an even more unstable period in Bolivian history, with nine presidents in little over four years (1978–1982). 1982 marked the return to a democratically-elected government, with Guido Vildoso as president. ==The Barrientos presidency== On November 4, 1964, René Barrientos Ortuño (president, 1964–65; copresident, May 1965 – January 1966; and president, 1966–69) and General Alfredo Ovando Candia occupied the presidential palace and declared themselves copresidents. But as the crowd, which had gathered outside the palace, persisted in shouting its preference for the more charismatic Barrientos, Ovando allowed Barrientos to assume the formal title alone, while he occupied the post of commander in chief of the armed forces.〔Maria Luise Wagner. "The Barrientos presidency". In Hudson & Hanratty.〕 Barrientos insisted that his assumption of power was not a counterrevolutionary move and promised to restore the revolution to its "true path", from which the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario, MNR) had deviated during its twelve-year rule. Nevertheless, his government continued many of the policies of the second Víctor Paz Estenssoro administration, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stabilization plan and the Triangular Plan. The emphasis on reducing social costs remained in effect. In May 1965, the army forced Barrientos to accept Ovando as his copresident as a sort of reward for suppressing an uprising by miners and factory workers.〔 The economy improved during the Barrientos regime at a growth rate averaging 6.5 percent per year. The rise of tin prices resulted in the first profit for the Mining Corporation of Bolivia (Corporación Minera de Bolivia, Comibol) in 1966 and contributed to increased production in the medium-sized mines that had remained in private hands. Barrientos encouraged the private sector and foreign investment and gave Gulf Oil Company permission to export petroleum and natural gas from Bolivia.〔 In 1966, Barrientos legitimized his rule by winning the presidential election. He formed the Popular Christian Movement (Movimiento Popular Cristiano, MPC) as his base of support. Although the MPC was not very successful, he won the election with a coalition of conservative politicians, the business community, and the peasants.〔 Barrientos's efforts to build support in the countryside succeeded at first with the signing in February 1964 of the Military-Peasant Pact (Pacto Militar-Campesino). Under the agreement, the ''campesino'' militias agreed to adopt an anti-leftist stance and to subordinate themselves to the army. But his attempt to impose taxes on peasants resulted in a violent response and loss of support in rural areas.〔 Determined to keep the labor sector under control, Barrientos took away most of the gains it had achieved during the MNR's rule. He placed Comibol under the control of a military director and abolished the veto power of union leaders in management decisions. The president also cut the pay of the miners to the equivalent of US$0.80 a day and reduced the mining work force and the enormous Comibol bureaucracy by 10 percent. Finally, he destroyed the Bolivian Labor Federation (Central Obrera Boliviana, COB) and the mine workers' union, suppressed all strike activity, disarmed the miners' militias, and exiled union leaders. Military troops again occupied the mines, and in 1967 they massacred miners and their families at the Catavi-Siglo XX mines.〔 But Barrientos could not completely silence the labor sector; miners led the growing opposition to his rule. The various groups opposing his rule joined in denouncing Barrientos's selling of natural resources to the United States under favorable terms. They resented his invitation to United States private investment in Bolivia because he offered greater privileges to foreign investors. The defection of Barrientos's close friend and minister of interior, Colonel Antonio Arguedas, to Cuba after his announcement that he had been an agent for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) aroused national indignation. The military also resented the key role of United States officers in the capture and killing of Ernesto "Che" Guevara in 1967 in Bolivia, where he had tried to start a guerrilla movement.〔 The death of Barrientos in a helicopter crash on April 27, 1969, initially left control in the hands of his vice president, Luís Adolfo Siles Salinas (1969). Real power, however, remained with the armed forces under its commander in chief, General Ovando, who took power on September 26, 1969, in a coup that was supported by reformist officers.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Bolivia (1964–82)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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