Wálter Guevara Arze (March 11, 1912 in Ayopaya Province,

Cochabamba Department Cochabamba ( ay, Quchapampa Jach'a Suyu, es, Departamento de Cochabamba , qu, Quchapampa Suyu), from Quechua ''qucha'' or ''qhucha'', meaning "lake", ''pampa'' meaning "plain", is one of the nine departments of Bolivia. It is known to be the ...

, 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 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 ...

on an interim basis in 1979.

Background and earlier career

Guevara was born in Ayopaya Province,

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 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 ...

, 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 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 ...

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 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, ...

. The long years in exile following the establishment of the 1971-78 dictatorship of General

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 ...

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

. 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 Quixotic may refer to: * Quixotism, deriving from the novel ''Don Quixote'' * ''Quixotic'' (album), an album by Martina Topley-Bird * Quix*o*tic Quix*o*tic was a rock band active from 1997 to 2002 in the area of Washington, D.C., United States. T ...

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 Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Sánchez Bustamante (born 1 July 1930), often referred to as Goni, is a Bolivian businessman and politician who served as the 61st president of Bolivia from 1993 to 1997 and from 2002 to 2003. A member of the Revolu ...

. 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.

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) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guevara Arze, Walter 1912 births 1996 deaths 20th-century Bolivian lawyers 20th-century Bolivian politicians Ambassadors of Bolivia to France Ambassadors of Bolivia to Venezuela Bolivian economists Bolivian diplomats Bolivian people of Spanish descent Bolivian sociologists Candidates in the 1960 Bolivian presidential election Candidates in the 1980 Bolivian presidential election Foreign ministers of Bolivia Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Government ministers of Bolivia Higher University of San Andrés alumni Leaders ousted by a coup Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Bolivia) Members of the Senate of Bolivia Interior ministers of Bolivia Justice ministers of Bolivia Permanent Representatives of Bolivia to the United Nations People from Cochabamba Presidents of Bolivia Presidents of the Senate of Bolivia Revolutionary Nationalist Movement politicians University of Chicago alumni