Siles Zuazo, Hernan

▪ 1997

      Bolivian politician (b. March 21, 1914, La Paz, Bol.—d. Aug. 6, 1996, Montevideo, Uruguay), played a key role in the Bolivian National Revolution in 1952 and helped enact social reforms that modernized the country before serving two terms as president (1956-60, 1982-85). Siles Zuazo, nicknamed "el conejo" ("the rabbit"), was the son of Hernando Siles Reyes, president of Bolivia from 1926 to 1930. Trained as a lawyer, Siles Zuazo cofounded (1942) the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (MNR). In 1952 he was coleader of an uprising that became one of Latin America's most important social revolutions. The military junta was overthrown, and the MNR came to power with Siles Zuazo as vice president. The revolutionary government nationalized the country's tin mines, granted universal suffrage, and briefly abolished the army. In 1953 a landmark decree was enacted that granted land to indigenous peoples. When Siles Zuazo was elected president in 1956, he faced an economic crisis after the price of tin, upon which Bolivia depended, plummeted. He implemented the International Monetary Fund's austerity program, which alienated the labour movement. He also rebuilt the army. Though he introduced educational and agrarian reforms, his policies were largely unpopular, and he was defeated in the 1960 elections. After the military's return to power in 1964, Siles Zuazo was forced into exile. He returned to Bolivia in 1978 and was elected president two years later. The army, however, barred him from office, and it was not until 1982 that Siles Zuazo was sworn in, ending 18 years of military rule. In his second term he again faced economic turmoil. The country was virtually bankrupt and had a $4 billion foreign debt as the world price of tin reached an all-time low. Labour strikes paralyzed the country, and severe flooding in 1983 destroyed much of the crops. Siles Zuazo refused to implement the IMF's strict financial plan, and Bolivia officially defaulted on its loan. By the mid-1980s the annual rate of inflation was over 20,000%. In 1985 the country's bishops, in what became known as the "church coup," proposed that the general elections be moved up one year, which effectively ended Siles Zuazo's term. He acquiesced and went into self-imposed exile in Uruguay.

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