Guido Vildoso

General Guido Vildoso Calderón (born 5 April 1937, La Paz, Bolivia) was an officer in the Military of Bolivia and de facto President of Bolivia in 1982.

Biography

Born in La Paz, Vildozo 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. Vildozo 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, Vildozo 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 as per the results of the 1980 elections. Vildozo returned the presidential emblems and control of power to Congress on October 10, 1982, thus closing the door on military control of Bolivia. This gesture allowed Congress to annoit the democratically elect candidate Hernán Siles. Nonetheless, Vildozo and his cabinet were loudly booed by the population present at the 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 Víctor Paz Estenssoro to restore sound macroeconomic variables to the nation.

After Presidency

After the handover of authority, Vildozo retired from the military and currently lives in Cochabamba, Bolivia. He is reportedly highly regarded by Bolivian citizens. To date, he is the last non-constitutional ruler in his country.

References

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

See also

• Government of Guido Vildoso Calderón, 1982

Presidents of Bolivia Simón Bolívar Antonio José de Sucre José María Pérez de Urdininea Pedro Blanco Soto Andrés de Santa Cruz Sebastián Ágreda Mariano Enrique Calvo Cuellar José Ballivián Eusebio Guilarte Vera Víctor González Fuentes José Miguel de Velasco Franco Manuel Isidoro Belzu Jorge Córdova José María Linares José María Achá Mariano Melgarejo Agustín Morales Adolfo Ballivián Tomás Frías Ametller Hilarión Daza Pedro José Domingo de Guerra Narciso Campero Gregorio Pacheco Aniceto Arce Mariano Baptista Severo Fernández José Manuel Pando Eliodoro Villazón Ismael Montes José Gutiérrez Bautista Saavedra Felipe S. Guzmán Hernando Siles Reyes Carlos Blanco Galindo Daniel Salamanca Urey José Luis Tejada Sorzano David Toro Germán Busch Carlos Quintanilla Enrique Peñaranda Gualberto Villarroel Néstor Guillén Tomás Monje Enrique Hertzog Mamerto Urriolagoitía Hugo Ballivián René Barrientos Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas Alfredo Ovando Candía Juan José Torres Hugo Banzer Juan Pereda David Padilla Wálter Guevara Alberto Natusch Lidia Gueiler Tejada Luis García Meza Tejada Celso Torrelio Guido Vildoso Hernán Siles Zuazo Víctor Paz Estenssoro Jaime Paz Zamora Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Hugo Banzer Jorge Quiroga Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Carlos Mesa Eduardo Rodríguez Evo Morales