Luis García Meza Tejada (8 August 1929 – 29 April 2018) was a
Bolivian
Bolivian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to Bolivia
** Bolivian people
** Demographics of Bolivia
** Culture of Bolivia
* SS ''Bolivian'', a British-built standard cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries ...
general who served as the ''de facto'' 57th
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 ...
from 1980 to 1981. He was a dictator convicted of human rights violations and leader of a violent coup. A native of La Paz, he was a career military officer who rose to the rank of general during the dictatorship of
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 ...
(1971–78).
Prelude to dictatorship
García Meza graduated from the military academy in 1952, and served as its commander from 1963 to 1964. He then rose to division commander in the late 1970s.
He became leader of the
right-wing faction of the
military of Bolivia most disenchanted with the return to civilian rule. Many of the officers involved had been part of the
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 ...
dictatorship and disliked the investigation of economic and human right abuses by the new Bolivian congress. Moreover, they tended to regard the decline in popularity of the
Carter administration in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
as an indicator that soon a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
administration would replace it—one more amenable to the kind of pro-US, more hardline
anti-communist dictatorship they wanted to reinstall in Bolivia. Many allegedly had ties to
cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...
traffickers and made sure portions of the military acted as their enforcers/protectors in exchange for extensive bribes, which in turn were used to fund the upcoming coup. In this manner, the
narcotraffickers were in essence purchasing for themselves the upcoming Bolivian government.
Coup d'état
This group pressured President
Lidia Gueiler (his cousin) to install General García Meza as Commander of the Army. Within months, the
Junta of Commanders headed by García Meza forced a violent ''
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 ...
'', sometimes referred to as the
Cocaine Coup, of 17 July 1980, when several Bolivian intellectuals such as
Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz were killed. When portions of the citizenry resisted, as they had done in the failed putsch of November 1979, it resulted in dozens of deaths. Many were tortured. Allegedly, the
Argentine Army
The Argentine Army ( es, Ejército Argentino, EA) is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander- ...
unit
Batallón de Inteligencia 601
The Batallón de Inteligencia 601 (Spanish for "601 Intelligence Battalion") was a special military intelligence service of the Argentine Army whose structure was set up in the late 1970s, active in the Dirty War and Operation Condor, and disband ...
participated in the coup.
Dictatorship, 1980-81
Of rightwing ultra-conservative
anti-communist persuasion, García Meza endeavored to bring a
Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
-style dictatorship that was intended to last 20 years. He immediately outlawed all political parties, exiled opposition leaders, repressed
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
s and muzzled the press. He was backed by former
SS officer and Nazi German war criminal
Klaus Barbie
Nikolaus "Klaus" Barbie (25 October 1913 – 25 September 1991) was a German operative of the SS and SD who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortured prisoners—primar ...
and Italian
neofascist Stefano Delle Chiaie
Stefano Delle Chiaie (13 September 1936, Caserta – 10 September 2019, Rome) was an Italian neo-fascist terrorist. He was the founder of ''Avanguardia Nazionale'', a member of '' Ordine Nuovo'', and founder of Lega nazionalpopolare. He went on ...
. Further collaboration came from other European
neofascists, most notoriously Spanish
Ernesto Milá Rodríguez (accused of the
1980 Paris synagogue bombing
The 1980 Paris synagogue bombing (also called the Rue Copernic attack) occurred on 3 October 1980 when the rue Copernic synagogue in Paris, France was bombed. The attack killed four and wounded 46 people. The bombing took place in the evening nea ...
). Among other foreign collaborators were professional torturers allegedly imported from the notoriously repressive Argentine dictatorship of General
Jorge Videla.
The García Meza regime, while brief (its original form ended in 1981), became internationally known for its extreme brutality. The population was repressed in the same ways as under the Banzer dictatorship. In January 1981, the
Council on Hemispheric Affairs
The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) is a Washington, D.C.-based non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 1975. The organization can draw on a large number of interns of graduate and undergraduate students, who gain experience in diffe ...
named the García Meza regime, "Latin America's most errant violator of human rights after Guatemala and El Salvador." Some 1,000 people are estimated to have been killed by 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 ...
and security forces in only 13 months. The administration's chief repressor was the Minister of Interior, Colonel
Luis Arce
Luis Alberto Arce Catacora (; born 28 September 1963), often referred to as Lucho, is a Bolivian banker, economist, and politician serving as the 67th president of Bolivia since 2020. A member of the Movement for Socialism, he previously serve ...
, who cautioned that all Bolivians who opposed the new order should "walk around with their written will under their arms."
The most prominent victim of the dictatorship was the congressman, presidential candidate, and gifted orator
Marcelo Quiroga, murdered and "disappeared" soon after the coup. Quiroga had been the chief advocate of bringing to trial the former dictator, General Hugo Banzer (who was in power from 1971 until 1978), for human right violations and economic mismanagement.
Drug trafficking
The García Meza government's
drug trafficking activities led to the complete isolation of the regime. In contrast to his position regarding the other military dictatorships in Latin America, the new conservative U.S. President
Ronald Reagan kept his distance, as the regime's unsavory links to criminal circles became more public. Eventually, the international outcry was sufficiently strong to force García Meza's resignation on 3 August 1981. He was succeeded by a less tainted but equally repressive general,
Celso Torrelio.
The Bolivian military would sustain itself in power only for another year, and would then retreat to its barracks, embarrassed and tarnished by the excesses of the 1980–82 dictatorships (it has never returned to the
Palacio Quemado).
Exile and jail
García Meza left the country but was tried and convicted in absentia for the serious
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
violations committed by his regime. In 1995, he was extradited to Bolivia from
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and was given a 30-year prison sentence, in the same penitentiary where he once kept his enemies. His main collaborator, Colonel Arce, was extradited to the United States, where he served a prison sentence for drug trafficking.
García Meza had reportedly been living in considerable comfort whilst in prison, with a barbecue, a gym, and a telephone at his disposal, not to mention a sauna and the occupation of three cells. These privileges were later revoked in response to protests from human rights organisations and victims.
Death
García Meza died in
La Paz on April 29, 2018, of a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
at the age of 88.
See also
*
Cabinet of Luis García Meza
*
Roberto Suárez Goméz
References
Bibliography
*Mesa José de; Gisbert, Teresa; and Carlos D. Mesa, "Historia De Bolivia," 5th edition, pp. 681–689.
*Prado Salmón, Gral. Gary. "Poder y Fuerzas Armadas, 1949-1982."
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia Meza Tejada, Luis
1929 births
2018 deaths
20th-century Bolivian politicians
Bolivian anti-communists
Bolivian generals
Bolivian people who died in prison custody
Bolivian prisoners and detainees
Drugs in Bolivia
Heads of government who were later imprisoned
Leaders who took power by coup
Military College of the Army alumni
People convicted of drug offenses
People extradited from Brazil
People extradited to Bolivia
People from La Paz
Presidents of Bolivia
Prisoners who died in Bolivian detention
Bolivian exiles