Bautista Saavedra Mallea (30 August 1870 in

Sorata Sorata ( Aymara: ''Surat'a'') is a small town in the La Paz Department in the Bolivian Andes, northwest of the city of La Paz and east of Lake Titicaca. It is the seat of the Larecaja Province and the Sorata Municipality. At the time of census ...

– 1 May 1939)Enciclonet
/ref> 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 ...

lawyer and politician who served as the 29th

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 1921 to 1925. Prior to that, he was part of a governing junta from 1920 to 1921. As leader of the insurgent Republican Party, he instigated and led the

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 ...

of 1920 against the long-ruling Liberal Party of President José Gutiérrez Guerra. He had a turbulent term, as his party fragmented almost immediately after the coup, with a large fraction of it going on to form the Partido Republicano-Genuino (Genuine Republican party). Essentially, the split was due to opposition to the largely personalist, centralized, and

caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; osp, cabdillo, from Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise definition of ''caudillo'', which is often used interchangeably with " ...

-like governing style of Saavedra. He quickly expelled from the country most top-leaders of the Genuino party, and often made use of extra-constitutional means to remain in power. Unable to run for re-election in 1925, Saavedra did the next best thing and made sure a hand-picked successor would follow him, presumably one firmly under his thumb. His first choice, Gabino Villanueva, failed to be sufficiently pliable for the President's liking, and Saavedra annulled the 1925 elections on a technicality. Nationwide protests at this transparent effort to manipulate the elections and prolong Saavedra's stay in office forced the President to resign, leaving in his place Felipe Segundo Guzmán, the President of the Senate. The latter, clearly a "Saavedra's man," called elections for 1926. Saavedra thus renewed his quest to find the ideal proxy candidate through which to rule. He found the perfect man in Hernando Siles, who ran in the elections along with Bautista Saavedra's own brother, Abdón Saavedra, as his Vice-Presidential running mate. This allowed the meddling former President to continue to run the strings of the Bolivian government. However, President Siles eventually, tired of Saavedra's heavy-handed meddling, exiled him along with his brother (his own Vice-President). Saavedra remained an influential political leader after that, but never returned to power, especially since his arch-rivals of the Partido Republicano Genuino finally gained power in 1930. He died while exiled in Chile on May 1, 1939. The

Bautista Saavedra Province Bautista Saavedra is one of the twenty provinces of the Bolivian La Paz Department situated in the northwestern parts of the department. It was created on November 17, 1948 in honor of Bautista Saavedra Mallea (1870-1939) who was Bolivia's presi ...

was named after this former president. Its capital is

Charazani Charazani or Charasani is a small town in the South American Andes in Bolivia. Location ''Charazani'' is the capital of Bautista Saavedra Province and central town of the municipality. It is situated on a spur at an elevation of 3,200 m am ...

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saavedra, Bautista 1870 births 1939 deaths 20th-century Bolivian lawyers 20th-century Bolivian politicians Ambassadors of Bolivia to Belgium Ambassadors of Bolivia to Switzerland Ambassadors of Bolivia to the Netherlands Bolivian diplomats Bolivian expatriates in Chile Bolivian journalists Bolivian sociologists Defense ministers of Bolivia Education ministers of Bolivia Government ministers of Bolivia Higher University of San Andrés alumni Justice ministers of Bolivia Leaders who took power by coup Liberal Party (Bolivia) politicians Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Bolivia) Members of the Senate of Bolivia People from Larecaja Province Presidents of Bolivia Republican Party (Bolivia) politicians Socialist Republican Party (Bolivia) politicians