History of Bolivia (1982–present)

The history of Bolivia since 1982 begins with the restorations of democracy after the rule of the military junta of 1982. Evo Morales has held the presidency since 2006. A new constitution was enacted in 2009. Bolivia's population has roughly doubled over this period, from 5 million in 1980 to 10 million as of 2012.

The former president Hernán Siles Zuazo assumed the presidency of Bolivia on 10 October 1982, following a general strike that brought the country close to civil war. Severe social tension, exacerbated by economic mismanagement and weak leadership, forced Siles Zuaso to call early elections and relinquish power a year before the end of his constitutional term.

In the 1985 elections, the Nationalist Democratic Action (ADN) of General Hugo Banzer Suárez won a plurality of the popular vote, followed by former President Víctor Paz Estenssoro's Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (MNR) and former Vice President Jaime Paz Zamora's Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR). But in the congressional run-off, the MIR sided with the MNR, and Paz Estenssoro was chosen for a fourth term as President. When he took office in 1985, he faced a staggering economic crisis. Economic output and exports had been declining for several years.

Hyperinflation had reached an annual rate of 24%. Social unrest, chronic strikes, and unchecked drug trafficking were widespread. In 4 years Paz Estenssoro's administration achieved economic and social stability. The military stayed out of politics, and all major political parties publicly and institutionally committed themselves to democracy. Human rights violations, which badly tainted some governments earlier in the decade, were no longer a problem. However, his remarkable accomplishments were not won without sacrifice. The collapse of tin prices in October 1985, coming just as the government was moving to reassert its control of the mismanaged state mining enterprise, forced the government to lay off over 20,000 miners.

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