36-410: Luis García Meza Tejada (8 August 1929 – 29 April 2018) was a Bolivian general who served as the de facto 57th president of Bolivia 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 (1971–78). García Meza graduated from
72-596: A barbecue, a gym, and a telephone at his disposal, in addition with a sauna and the occupation of three cells. These privileges were later revoked in response to protests from human rights organisations and victims. García Meza died at the Cossmil military hospital, where he was serving the remainder of his 30-year prison term in La Paz on April 29, 2018, of a heart attack at the age of 88. Bolivians Bolivians ( Spanish : Bolivianos ) are people identified with
108-615: A dominant religious presence in Bolivia. While a vast majority of Bolivians are Catholic Christians, a much smaller portion of the population participates actively. In the decades following the Second Vatican Council (1962–65), the Church tried to make religion a more active force in social life. A 2008 survey for Americas Barometer, with 3,003 respondents and an error (+/- 1,8%) returned these results: Other reviews of
144-589: A high-level meeting to discuss ways to resist the coup. In 1986, Garcia Meza, interior minister Luis Arce Gómez , and their collaborators were found guilty in trials of responsibility for the deaths of Quiroga and others. Garcia Meza was extradited from Brazil in 1995 and imprisoned until his death in April 2018. In a posthumous letter, he denied responsibility for Quiroga's death, and blamed many of his regime's crimes on Arce Gómez. Quiroga's remains were never recovered. In 2010, Quiroga's wife María Cristina Trigo filed
180-526: 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 ). García Meza left the country but was tried and convicted in absentia for the serious human rights violations committed by his regime. on march 14, 1995, he
216-648: A result, Bolivians do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, but with citizenship and allegiance to Bolivia. Aside from the indigenous populations, Bolivians trace their ancestry to the Old World , primarily Europe and Africa , ever since the Spanish conquest of South America and founding of first Spanish settlements in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata . Modern Bolivian population, estimated at 11 million
252-644: A ski. It was originally a Spanish peasant skirt that the colonial authorities forced indigenous women to wear. Now it is a symbol of pride in being indigenous and is considered a status symbol. Another fashion is the bowler hat , which was adopted from the British. The position of the hat can indicate a woman's marital status and aspirations. Bolivian cuisine stems mainly from the combination of Spanish cuisine with traditional indigenous Bolivian ingredients, with later influences from Argentines , Germans , Italians , Basques , Croats , Russians , and Poles , due to
288-537: Is an important oriental ethnic population, composed by the Chiquitano , Guaraní and Moxos , among others, and that inhabit the departments of Santa Cruz , Beni , Tarija and Pando . According to the most recent census, the indigenous people compose 20% of the Bolivian population, but in reality, this number is closer to 62%. Modern estimates determine that White or European Bolivians now represent only 5% of
324-481: Is formally broken down into Amerindians (primarily Quechua and Aymara , Guaraní peoples), Mestizos , Europeans and Afro-Bolivians . The group's sole common language is Spanish ( Bolivian Spanish ), although the Guarani , Aymara and Quechua languages are also widely spoken in their communities and to some degree by others, and all three, as well as 34 other indigenous languages , are official languages of
360-420: Is in Bolivia a mix of cultures, which joins together Hispanic and Amerindian cultures. Mestizos are people of mixed European and indigenous ancestry. They are distributed throughout the entire country and compose about 68% of the Bolivian population. Most people assume their mestizo identity while at the same time identifying themselves with one or more Indigenous cultures. Genetic research indicates that
396-672: The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for his novel Los Deshabitados . Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz married María Cristina Trigo in 1954. She gave birth to their daughter María Soledad in Santiago in 1957, and to their son Pablo Rodrigo in Salta in 1959. As a congressman of the Falange Socialista Boliviana , he was jailed by the regime of General René Barrientos (1964–69) for his loud denunciation of
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#1732771755552432-564: The Argentine Army unit Batallón de Inteligencia 601 participated in the coup. Of rightwing ultra-conservative anti-communist persuasion, García Meza endeavored to bring a Pinochet -style dictatorship that was intended to last 20 years. He immediately outlawed all political parties, exiled opposition leaders, repressed trade unions and muzzled the press. He was backed by the Argentinian Military Junta and
468-540: The San Juan Massacre , in which dozens of dissenting miners were murdered by the military of Bolivia in the Siglo XX mines on Saint John's Eve 1967. In 1969, he was appointed Minister of Mining and Energy by de facto President Alfredo Ovando Candía , who purported to be a populist dedicated to bringing major structural reforms. Quiroga recommended, and then carried out, the controversial nationalization of
504-570: The department of La Paz and in the provinces of Nor Yungas and Sud Yungas . 23,330 people self-identified as Afro-Bolivian in the 2012 census. The Indigenous peoples of Bolivia are divided into two ethnic groups: the Andeans, who are in the Andean Altiplano and the valley region, and the ethnic culture of the oriental Llanos region, who inhabit the warm regions of eastern Bolivia ( Gran Chaco ). The Roman Catholic church has
540-578: The Army. Within months, the Junta of Commanders headed by García Meza forced a violent coup d'état , 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,
576-675: The Bolivian concerns of the US-based Gulf Oil Company . This turned him into a national celebrity of sorts. Forced out of the Ovando government by conservative military officers who considered him an enemy of the military, Quiroga went on to form the Partido Socialista in 1971. His portion of the party then came to be known as the Partido Socialista-1 following a split while in exile during
612-571: The Italian neofascist Stefano Delle Chiaie . Further collaboration came from other European neofascists , most notoriously Spanish Ernesto Milá Rodríguez (accused of the 1980 Paris synagogue bombing ). 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
648-625: The Socialist left. From his congressional seat, he led the effort to bring to trial the former dictator Hugo Banzer, on charges of massive human rights violations and economic mismanagement. During the early hours of 17 July 1980, during the coup led by General Luis Garcia Meza , Quiroga was brutally abducted and subsequently assassinated. Many witnessed, at the headquarters of the Central Obrera Boliviana , his wounding and abduction by security forces. He had been participating in
684-581: The ancestry of Bolivian mestizos is predominantly indigenous. Indigenous , also called "originarios" ("native" or "original") and, less frequently, Amerindians . This ethnic group is composed by the descendants of the Pre-Hispanic cultures . They can be Andean , as the Aymaras and Quechuas (which formed the ancient Inca Empire ), which concentrate in the western departments of La Paz , Potosí , Oruro , Cochabamba and Chuquisaca . There also
720-587: The arrival of immigrants from those countries. The traditional staples of Bolivian cuisine are corn and potatoes . These ingredients have been combined with a number of staples brought by the Spanish, such as rice , wheat , and meat, such as beef , pork , and chicken Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz (13 March 1931 – 17 July 1980) was a noted writer, dramatist, journalist, social commentator, university professor, and socialist political leader from Bolivia . In 1964 Marcelo won
756-429: The colonial period was recovered in recent years and has been performed internationally to wide acclaim since 1994. Bolivian artists of stature in the 20th century include, among others, Guzman de Rojas , Arturo Borda , María Luisa Pacheco , Master William Vega , Alfredo Da Silva , and Marina Núñez del Prado . Many dances and songs contain elements from both the native and European cultures. Caporales seems to be
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#1732771755552792-465: 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
828-487: The country of Bolivia . This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Bolivians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Bolivian. Bolivia is, as its neighboring countries, a multiethnic and multilingual society, home to people of various ethnic , religious , and national origins, with the majority of the population made up of indigenous and Old World immigrants and their descendants. As
864-509: The country. The mutual influence and interaction of cultures of Bolivia have resulted in modern Bolivian society becoming one of prime examples of a melting pot according to some anthropologists. The ethnic composition of Bolivia includes a great diversity of cultures. Most of the indigenous peoples have assimilated a mestizo culture, diversifying and expanding their indigenous heritage; as such, many people of exclusively Amerindian ancestry may simply identify as "Mestizo". Consequently, there
900-432: The hands of local indigenous and mestizo builders and artisans, developed into a rich and distinctive style of architecture, literature, and sculpture known as "Mestizo Baroque." The colonial period produced the paintings of Perez de Holguin, Flores, Bitti, and others, and also the works of skilled but unknown stonecutters , woodcarvers, goldsmiths , and silversmiths . An important body of native baroque religious music of
936-551: The largest cities — La Paz , Santa Cruz de la Sierra , Cochabamba and Tarija (being the department where the eurodescendants predominate by density but not by quantity). In the Santa Cruz Department there is an important colony (70.000 inhabitants) of German-speaking Mennonites . Afro-Bolivians are descendants of African slaves , who arrived in the times of the Spanish Empire . They inhabit
972-473: The long years of the Hugo Banzer dictatorship (1971–78). Upon returning to Bolivia in 1977, Quiroga participated in the presidential elections of 1978, 1979 (inconclusively) and in 1980. He did particularly well in the 1980 contest, when he finished fourth with double the number of votes he had received in 1979. He was clearly on the rise, and, in fact, had become the most visible and popular spokesman for
1008-410: 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 the 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 dictatorship and disliked the investigation of economic and human rights abuses by
1044-444: 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. [REDACTED] Bolivian government [REDACTED] Bolivian Armed Forces This group pressured President Lidia Gueiler (his cousin) to install General García Meza as Commander of
1080-532: The most popular Bolivian dance of present times — in a few decades it has developed into an enormously popular dance, not only in the Highlands where it originated, but also in the Lowlands and in Bolivian communities outside the country. In the Highlands, other traditional and still very popular dances are: In the Lowlands, there are: It is fashionable among Bolivian Andean women of indigenous descent to wear
1116-522: The new Bolivian congress. Moreover, they tended to regard the decline in popularity of the Carter administration in the United States as an indicator that soon a Republican 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 traffickers and made sure portions of
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1152-516: 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. The García Meza government's drug trafficking activities led to
1188-476: The population and according to a 2014 survey by Ipsos , 3% of people questioned said they were white. In the 1900 census, White Bolivians composed 12.72% or 231,088 (115,139 men, 115,949 women) of the total population and the last official census that collected data of racial origin. Most people who identify as white are descendants of criollos and European immigrants, coming mostly from Spain , Croatia , Germany and Italy . They are usually concentrated in
1224-582: The population vary from these specific results. Some cultural development of what is now Bolivia is divided into three distinct periods: pre-Columbian, colonial, and republican. Important archaeological ruins, gold and silver ornaments, stone monuments, ceramics , and weavings remain from several important pre-Columbian cultures. Major ruins include Tiwanaku , Samaipata , Inkallaqta and Iskanwaya . The country abounds in other sites that are difficult to reach and hardly explored by archaeologists. The Spanish brought their own tradition of religious art which, in
1260-573: Was extradited to Bolivia from Brazil and was given a 30-year prison sentence, at the San Pedro's penitentiary in La Paz, the very 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
1296-823: Was repressed in the same ways as under the Banzer dictatorship. In January 1981, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs 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 and security forces in only 13 months. The administration's chief repressor was the Minister of Interior, Colonel Luis Arce , who cautioned that all Bolivians who opposed
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