The Authentic Revolutionary Party ( es, Partido Revolucionario Auténtico, PRA) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

in Bolivia.

History

The Authentic Revolutionary Party was founded in 1960 as a faction of the

Revolutionary Nationalist Movement The Revolutionary Nationalist Movement ( es, Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario , MNR) is a centre-right conservative political party in Bolivia and was the leading force behind the Bolivian National Revolution from 1952 to 1964. It influenc ...

(MNR), the ruling party under the presidency of

Víctor Paz Estenssoro Ángel Víctor Paz Estenssoro (2 October 1907 – 7 June 2001) 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 pr ...

by Wálter Guevara Arze, formerly a major MNR ideologist and foreign minister, who unsuccessfully opposed

in the 1960 presidential election, polling 14% of the votes. The party was led by Guevara Arze, Jorge Ríos Gamarra and José Luis Jofre. The Authentic Revolutionary Party adopted a reformist, nationalist position critical of what it saw as the excessive influence of left-wing labor unions in the

and in Bolivian politics generally. By 1962, Guevara Arze had become convinced that the MNRA must establish its own identity separate from that of the MNR, so it was rechristened the Authentic Revolutionary Party – except for a small band of dissidents, who deserted Guevara Arze's leadership and retained the old name. The PRA ran congressional candidates in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

, but abstained from the 1964 voting as a measure of its continued opposition to

. The Authentic Revolutionary Party supported the General

René Barrientos Ortuño René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name ( Renée being the feminin ...

coup of 4 November 1964, overthrowing

. Wálter Guevara Arze and the PRA formally backed

René Barrientos René Barrientos Ortuño (30 May 1919 – 27 April 1969) was a Bolivian military officer and politician who served as the 47th president of Bolivia twice nonconsecutively from 1964 to 1966 and from 1966 to 1969. During much of his first term, ...

' presidential candidacy in 1966, and the Authentic Revolutionary Party served as part of the governing coalition of parties until 1969. Even after Barrientos' death, Guevara Arze continued as Bolivia's ambassador to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

under Presidents Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas and

Alfredo Ovando Candía Alfredo Ovando Candía (6 April 1918 – 24 January 1982) was the Commander of the Bolivian Air Forces and ambassador who served as the 48th president of Bolivia twice nonconsecutively, first as co-president with René Barrientos from 1965 ...

, until 1970. The Authentic Revolutionary Party was in less sympathy with the

Hugo Banzer Suárez Hugo Banzer Suárez (; 10 May 1926 – 5 May 2002) 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 in a military dictatorship; and then ...

government and opposed that regime's continuance after 1974, when Guevara Arze was sent into exile after he criticized the Government. In the 1978 and

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

presidential elections the Authentic Revolutionary Party supported

's candidacy for the presidency, with Guevara Arze as his running mate in 1978. In 1979 Guevara Arze was elected president of the Senate. On 8 August 1979, when Congress could not agree on a choice of president between the two major candidates, he was appointed interim President of the Republic, pending the holding of new elections in May 1980. He held this post for less than three months, being overthrown by Colonel Alberto Natusch Busch. The two weeks which followed were perhaps Guevara Arze's finest as a statesman; he vigorously opposed Alberto Natusch Busch and helped rally civilian and military opposition to the colonel's ruthless rule. Alberto Natusch Busch was driven from office – but political compromises were necessary which prevented Wálter Guevara Arze from reassuming the interim presidency. That post went to

Lidia Gueiler Tejada Lidia Gueiler Tejada (28 August 1921 – 9 May 2011) was a Bolivian politician who served as the 56th president of Bolivia on an interim basis from 1979 to 1980. She was Bolivia's first female Head of State, and the second female republican He ...

, a dissident leader of the

Revolutionary Party of the Nationalist Left The Revolutionary Party of the Nationalist Left (, PRIN) was a left-wing political party in Bolivia. It was founded in 1963 by the labor leader Juan Lechín Oquendo and by Mario Torres Calleja and Edwin Moller in lesser roles. The PRIN seceded fr ...

, who had also backed

in the 1979 general election. As interim President,

was entrusted with the task of conducting the nation to new general elections in 1980. The Authentic Revolutionary Party has little popular following or basis for existence beyond Guevara Arze's personal ambitions and prestige, and it is chiefly useful for backstage maneuvering and coalition-building. When the party ran Wálter Guevara Arze as its candidate on 29 June 1980, it garnered only a 02.78% vote. Elections in the Americas : a data handbook / ed. by Dieter Nohlen, Vol. 2. xford .a. Oxford Univ. Press, 2005. P.151. On 17 July 1980

was overthrown in turn by General

Luis García Meza Tejada Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

. The Authentic Revolutionary Party has had no political power in decades.

Notes

{{Authority control 1959 establishments in Bolivia 1980 disestablishments in Bolivia Conservative parties in Bolivia Defunct political parties in Bolivia Liberal conservative parties Nationalist parties in Bolivia Political parties disestablished in 1980 Political parties established in 1960 Revolutionary Nationalist Movement breakaway groups