Wálter Guevara

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Guevara and the second or maternal family name is Arze.

Wálter Guevara Arze (March 11, 1912 in Ayopaya Province, Cochabamba Department, Bolivia – June 20, 1996 in La Paz, Bolivia) was a Bolivian statesman, cabinet minister, writer, and diplomat, who served as the 54th president of Bolivia on an interim basis in 1979.

Wálter Guevara
54th President of Bolivia
Interim
In office 8 August 1979 – 1 November 1979
Vice President	Vacant
Preceded by	David Padilla
Succeeded by	Alberto Natusch
President of the Senate
In office 19 November 1979 – 17 July 1980
Preceded by	Leónidas Sánchez Arana
Succeeded by	Julio Garrett Ayllón
In office 2 August 1979 – 8 August 1979
Preceded by	Julio Campero Trigo
Succeeded by	Leónidas Sánchez Arana
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship
In office 4 August 1967 – 7 February 1968
President	René Barrientos
Preceded by	Alberto Crespo Gutiérrez
Succeeded by	Tomás Guillermo Elío Moldiz
In office 14 November 1959 – 10 June 1960
President	Hernán Siles Zuazo
Preceded by	Víctor Andrade Uzquiano
Succeeded by	Carlos Morales Guillén
In office 12 April 1952 – 23 January 1956
President	Víctor Paz Estenssoro
Preceded by	Tomás Antonio Suárez
Succeeded by	Manuel Barrau Peláez
Minister of Government, Justice, and Immigration
In office 17 August 1958 – 12 November 1959
President	Hernán Siles Zuazo
Preceded by	Marcial Tamayo
Succeeded by	Carlos Morales Guillén
Secretary-General of the Junta
In office 11 February 1944 – 5 April 1944
President	Gualberto Villarroel
Preceded by	Augusto Céspedes
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Personal details
Born	Wálter Guevara Arze (1912-03-11)11 March 1912 Cochabamba, Bolivia
Died	20 June 1996(1996-06-20) (aged 84) La Paz, Bolivia
Political party	Authentic Revolutionary Party (1960–c. 1980) Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (1942–1960; 1989–1996) Independent Socialist (1938–1942)
Spouse(s)	Lola Anaya Rosa Elena Rodríguez Rivas
Parent(s)	Wálter Guevara Victoria Arze
Education	Higher University of San Andrés University of Chicago
Awards	Order of the Condor of the Andes Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
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Background and earlier career

Guevara was born in Ayopaya Province, Cochabamba Department on March 11, 1912. Trained as a lawyer and economist, he studied in the United States. He co-founded the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) in 1941, alongside Víctor Paz Estenssoro, Hernán Siles, and others. When the MNR came to power following the 1952 Bolivian Revolution, Guevara served as minister of foreign relations in the cabinet of President Paz Estenssoro (1952–56). He was then appointed Minister of Interior by President Siles (1956–60). Often seen as the third-highest leader in the MNR hierarchy (after Paz and Siles), the relatively conservative Guevara clashed repeatedly on ideological grounds with Juan Lechín and others associated with the Left wing of the party. Fully expecting to be the party's official candidate for president in 1960, he left it abruptly to form his own political organization when Paz Estenssoro decided to return to Bolivia and run for re-election. The party Guevara founded was the Partido Revolucionario Auténtico, in whose representation he ran for president in 1960, finishing second to Paz. In 1964, Guevara supported the military coup d'état that toppled the MNR from power, and once more served as Minister of Foreign Relations, this time to President René Barrientos.

The long years in exile following the establishment of the 1971-78 dictatorship of General Hugo Banzer brought Guevara closer to the main body of the MNR, by now divested of its more left-leaning elements, including Siles and Lechín. When democratic elections were at long last called again in 1978, Guevara ran as Paz Estenssoro's vice-presidential running mate. Their ticket finished second. When that electoral contest was annulled due to evidence of fraud, a second one was held a year later. Guevara this time did not run on the main formula, but was elected Senator in representation of the MNR alliance. Soon, he was proclaimed President of the Senate by his peers. Since no presidential candidate in the 1979 elections had received the necessary 50% of the vote, it fell to Congress to decide who should be first executive. To the surprise of many, it could not agree on any candidate, no matter how many votes were taken. Positions hardened, and no solution seemed possible, until an alternative was offered in the form of the President of the Senate, Wálter Guevara, who was named temporary Bolivian president in August 1979 pending the calling of new elections in 1980.

President of Bolivia

Guevara's tenure was short and difficult. Faced with a mounting economic and fiscal crisis, the new president declared that it might be advisable to extend his mandate by an extra year in order to allow him to confidently take the adequate measures. This was seen by many as a naked power grab and his popularity plummeted to the point that he had to resort to a purely technocratic cabinet in the absence of any congressional support. This impasse was taken advantage of by some conspiratorial members of the military, who were displeased with the fast pace, the tone, and the results of the democratic restoration.

Deposed in a bloody coup

On November 1, 1979, General Alberto Natusch surprisingly toppled President Guevara in a bloody coup d'état that was resisted by the urban population. Natusch did take possession, but not without considerable bloodshed. Moreover, the citizenry continued to resist, led by a nationwide labor strike called by the powerful Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) of Juan Lechín. In the end, Natusch was able to occupy the Palacio Quemado for only sixteen days, after which he was forced to give up his quixotic struggle. The only face-saving concession he extracted from Congress was the promise that Guevara not be allowed to resume his duties as president. This condition was accepted and a new provisional president was found in the leader of the lower congressional house (the House of Deputies), Mrs. Lidia Gueiler.

Later career

Guevara, although bitter by the strange circumstances that surrounded his ousting, resumed his position as president of the Senate on 19 November and continued to support Paz Estenssoro in subsequent elections (1980, 1985). In 1982 he was appointed Bolivian Ambassador to Venezuela. In 1989 (already quite elderly) he again ran for office, this time as vice-presidential running mate to the MNR's Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada. Although they received a majority of the votes, Sanchez and Guevara did not accede to the Quemado, as Congress selected as president the third-place finisher, Jaime Paz.

Retirement and death

Guevara then retired from public life and died in La Paz on June 20, 1996.

See also

• Cabinet of Wálter Guevara

Sources

• Mesa José de; Gisbert, Teresa; and Carlos D. Mesa, "Historia De Bolivia."

External links

• Newspaper clippings about Wálter Guevara in the Presencia Newspaper Archives (in Spanish)