Guido Vildoso

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Guido Vildoso Calderón
70th President of Bolivia
In office 21 July 1982 – October 10, 1982
Preceded by	Celso Torrelio
Succeeded by	Hernán Siles Zuazo
Born	1937 La Paz, Bolivia

General Guido Vildoso Calderón (b. 1937) was a Bolivian military officer and de facto temporary President in 1982.

Born in La Paz, Vildoso joined the Bolivian armed forces and took specialized courses in Brazil, Panama, and the United States. In the 1970s he served in the cabinet of military dictator General Hugo Banzer Suárez. Vildoso was second in command in the Bolivian Army when, in July 1982, he was entrusted by his peers with the task of extricating the military from power and returning the country to constitutional, democratic rule. His appointment followed the debacle of the highly unpopular 1980-82 dictatorships of generals Luis García Meza (1980-81) and Celso Torrelio (1981-82).

Faced with a grave social, economic and fiscal crisis, Vildoso accelerated the re-democratization process. In essence, he and his fellow commanders had two options: to call new elections, or to reconvene the 1980 Congress and respect the results of that year's presidential contest. Choosing the latter in order to avoid further social unrest and quite possibly civil war, the 1980 Congress was recalled, which confirmed the election of Hernán Siles Zuazo as per the results of the 1980 elections. Nonetheless, Vildoso and his cabinet were loudly booed by the population present at the October 10, 1982, transfer of power to Siles. The Bolivian Congress did later acknowledge Vildoso for his two main accomplishments: restoring democracy to Bolivia with no bloodshed and developing the fundamentals of the economic plan, 21060, that was later used by Victor Paz Estenssoro to restore sound macroeconomic variables to the nation.

As for General Vildoso, he promptly retired from the military. To date, he is the last de facto ruler in his country.

[edit] References

• Prado Salmón, Gral. Gary. "Poder y Fuerzas Armadas, 1949-1982."

Preceded by Celso Torrelio

President of Bolivia 1980–1981

Succeeded by Hernán Siles Zuazo