Alberto Natusch Busch (May 23, 1933 in

Beni is a Japanese R&B singer, who debuted in 2004 under the Avex Trax label. In 2008, Arashiro left Avex Trax and transferred to Universal Music Japan where she started to perform as simply Beni (stylized as BENI). She was initially best known fo ...

, Bolivia – November 23, 1994 in Santa Cruz, Bolivia) was a Bolivian general who served briefly as the ''de facto'' 55th

president of Bolivia The president of Bolivia ( es, Presidente de Bolivia), officially known as the president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia ( es, Presidente del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia), is head of state and head of government of Bolivia and the ca ...

in 1979.

Background and earlier career

Alberto Natusch Busch and General Terrazas

Natusch is of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and French descent, and nephew of former

President of Bolivia The president of Bolivia ( es, Presidente de Bolivia), officially known as the president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia ( es, Presidente del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia), is head of state and head of government of Bolivia and the ca ...

Germán Busch Víctor Germán Busch Becerra (23 March 1903 – 23 August 1939) was a Bolivian military officer and statesman who served as the 36th president of Bolivia from 1937 to 1939. Prior to his presidency, he served as the Chief of the General Staff ...

, he was a career military officer who in the late 1970s rose to the rank of Colonel in the

Bolivian Army The Bolivian Army ( es, Ejército Boliviano) is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of Bolivia. Figures on the size and composition of the Bolivian army vary considerably, with little official data available. It is estimated that the arm ...

. He was for many years a trusted member of the cabinet of the military dictator

Hugo Banzer 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 a ...

President of Bolivia following military coup

On November 1, 1979, Colonel Natusch executed a bloody

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

against the constitutional government of Dr.

Wálter Guevara 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 ...

, which had been constituted by Congress just three months earlier and charged with guiding the country to elections in 1980. The stated reasons for the ''golpe'' were the alleged desire of President Guevara to extend his term beyond that established by

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

in order to enact long-term measures designed to stave off a growing economic crisis. Far more likely, it was a traditional right-wing coup staged by officers who had served in the long dictatorship of General

(1971–78) and who had much to lose by an ongoing congressional investigation of alleged criminal and economic misdeeds committed during the "Banzerato." In any case, the population resisted the Natusch coup rather heroically, led by a nationwide labor strike called by the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) of

Juan Lechín Juan Lechín Oquendo (18 May 1914 – 27 August 2001) was a labor-union leader and head of the Federation of Bolivian Mine Workers (FSTMB) from 1944 to 1987 and the Bolivian Workers' Union (COB) from 1952 to 1987. He also served as the 29th vi ...

Failure of coup after 16 days

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 former president Guevara not be allowed to resume his duties. 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. Almost universally reviled for the bloodshed he unleashed in the name of his personal ambitions, Colonel Natusch withdrew from public life. In 1981, he led a military revolt against the regime of

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 ...

, while failing to overthrow the regime, led to the resignation of Garcia Meza and his replacement by

Celso Torrelio Celso Torrelio Villa (3 June 1933 – 23 April 1999) was a military general and a member of the Junta of Commanders of the Armed Forces (1981), who served as the de facto 58th president of Bolivia from 1981 to 1982. A native of Padilla, dep ...

Retirement and death

Retired from the military, Natusch died in Santa Cruz on November 23, 1994, at the age of 61.

References

Bibliography