Gualberto Villarroel

Gualberto Villarroel
46th President of Bolivia
In office 20 December 1943 – 21 July 1946
Vice President	None (1943-1945) Julián Montellano (1945-1946)
Preceded by	Enrique Peñaranda
Succeeded by	Néstor Guillén
Personal details
Born	Gualberto Villarroel López 15 December 1908 Cochabamba, Bolivia
Died	21 July 1946 (aged 37) La Paz, Bolivia
Nationality	Bolivian
Political party	Non-party

Gualberto Villarroel López (December 15, 1908 – July 21, 1946) was the head of state of Bolivia from December 20, 1943 to July 21, 1946. A reformist, sometimes compared with Argentina's Juan Domingo Perón, he is nonetheless remembered for his alleged fascist sympathies and for his violent demise on July 21, 1946.

Biography

Villarroel was born in Villa Rivero, Cochabamba Department, on December 15, 1908. He participated in the Chaco War (1932–35) against Paraguay. After Bolivia's disastrous defeat in that conflict, he became convinced that Bolivia needed profound structural changes and supported the progressive Military-Socialist dictatorships of David Toro Ruilova and Germán Busch (1936–39). Following Colonel Busch's suicide in August 1939, conservative forces reasserted themselves, took power, and propitiated the 1940 elections in which the traditional (oligarchic) parties linked to the country's big mining interests (known as "La Rosca") triumphed at the polls with General Enrique Peñaranda. Villarroel was part of the younger, more idealistic military officer corps that had supported Toro and Busch.

After the December 1943 coup d'état against President Peñaranda Major Gualberto Villarroel became de facto President of Bolivia. He formed a coalition with the main reformist party of the time, the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement, as well as with a hitherto-secret military faction known as Radepa (Razón de Patria, or Fatherland's Cause) inspired on the ideals of former president Busch.

Villarroel enacted a number of far-reaching reforms, including official recognition of worker unions, creation of a retirement pension and the abolition of obligatory unpaid servitude known as mit'a and pongueaje. He also followed Busch's lead in calling a National Assembly, instituting Constitutional reforms, and having himself proclaimed Constitutional President by Congress in August 1944.

On the international front Villarroel faced formidable obstacle in United States reluctance to recognize him as legitimate President of Bolivia. This was due to the pro-Axis stance of the 1936-39 military regimes that inspired the Villarroel government, as well as of (it was alleged) some of the President's closest aides from the MNR party. Eventually the Roosevelt administration extended its recognition, but only in exchange for the expulsion from the cabinet of a number of "tainted" ministers first, and rupture with the MNR later.

The conservative backlash against Villarroel did not take long to appear, fed by the considerable resources of the private mining interests. Moreover, the workers themselves decided to exercise their newly won rights to protest and demanded further concessions in a manner that seemed imprudent and excessive, forcing the government to adopt repressive measures to maintain control. The extreme zeal of the government's repressive apparatus (weary of the chaos and increasing momentum of the right-wing opposition) led it to commit a number of shocking acts, including the execution of various prominent members of the intelligentsia and subsequent disposal of their bodies by pushing them off a 3,000-foot (910 m) cliff. This, in turn, gave the traditional parties the excuse to initiate a nationwide revolt that culminated in the death of the President.

On July 21, 1946, anti-government crowds took control of the Plaza Murillo, where the Palace of Government (the so-called Palacio Quemado) is located, laying siege to it. From within the Palace Villarroel announced his resignation, but the enraged crowds of teachers, students and marketplace women seized arms from the arsenal and broke into the Quemado after an hour of fighting, assassinating the President and various of his aides.

Villarroel's body was tossed from a balcony into the square, where the crowds proceeded to hang it from a lamp-post opposite the Palace, perhaps inspired by a recently shown newsreel of Benito Mussolini's demise.^[1]

Following this, the opposition regained control of the government, keeping it until the Bolivian National Revolution in 1952.

Villarroel, El Presidente Colgado ("The Hanged President") has since been revered by the majority of the Bolivian population as a martyr and hero whose time had not yet come when he met his violent death.

Notes

1. Scheina, Robert L. Latin America's Wars: The Age of the Caudillo, 1791-1899, p.209. Brassey's (2003), ISBN 1-57488-452-2

Sources

• Céspedes, Augusto. El Presidente Colgado.
• Mesa José de; Gisbert, Teresa; and Carlos D. Mesa, 3rd edition. pp. 572–577.