1964 Bolivian coup d'état

1964 Bolivian coup d'état in Bolivia was a coup under the leadership of vice-president René Barrientos and army commander-in-chief Alfredo Ovando Candía against the President Víctor Paz Estenssoro, leader of the Bolivian National Revolution of 1952, who recently had been re-elected for his third term in office.

Between 1960 and 1964 the USA increased its aid to Bolivia under the Alliance for Progress by 600%, giving 205 million USD in economic aid and 23 million USD in various loans. The first 35 Peace Corps volunteers arrived in early 1962. The increase in world tin prices also helped to stabilize Bolivia’s economy, which had been near collapse during the first revolutionary presidency of Estenssoro. Between 1961 and 1965 the Bolivian GNP rose by average 5.7% annually.

As successive Presidential terms were allowed by the Constitutional amendments of 1961, Estenssoro decided to run for the third term. The leftist vice-president Juan Lechin (1960-64), who himself wanted to run for president in 1964, was forced to resign as vice-president and then sent as ambassador to Italy by Esstenssoro. On December 5, 1963 left wing supporters of Lechin resigned from the government. By this time Lechin split from the MNR and formed Revolutionary Party of the Nationalist Left as the leader of party's right wing Wálter Guevara had already done in 1959 by establishing Authentic Revolutionary Party.

When Estenssoro jailed several militant labour activists, miners in Catavi mines responded by seizing a group of hostages, including four US citizens. The crisis was resolved after Lichin’s mediation. This event marked a break in alliance between the Estenssoro’s MNR and miners, which had begun in 1942.

The Bolivian army, which had been rebuilt and increased in size during recent years, provided an alternative power base to Estenssoro. After some hesitation, air force general Barrientos was picked by Estenssoro as his running mate for the May 1964 elections, and army became more involved in the politics.

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