Luis García Meza Tejada
Encyclopedia
Luis García Meza Tejada is a former Bolivian dictator. A native of La Paz
, he was a career military officer who rose to the rank of general during the reign of dictator Hugo Banzer
(1971–78). García Meza became dictator in 1980.
most disenchanted with the return to civilian rule. Many of the officers involved had been part of the Banzer dictatorship and disliked the investigation of economic and human right abuses by the new Bolivian Congress. Moreover, they tended to regard the decline in popularity of the Carter administration
in the United States
as an indicator that soon a Republican administration would replace it—one more amenable to the kind of pro-U.S., more hardline anti-communist dictatorship they wanted to reinstall in Bolivia. Ominously, many allegedly had ties to cocaine
traffickers and made sure portions of the military acted as their enforcers/protectors in exchange for extensive bribes, which in turn were used to fund the upcoming coup. In this manner, the narcotraffickers were in essence purchasing for themselves the upcoming Bolivian government.
headed by Garcia Meza forced a violent coup d'etat
-- sometimes referred to as the Cocaine Coup—of July 17, 1980. As portions of the citizenry resisted, as they had done in the fail putsch of November 1979, it resulted in dozens of deaths. Many were tortured. Allegedly, the Argentinian army unit Batallón de Inteligencia 601
participated in the coup. Former DEA agent Michael Levine had arrested the 2 prominent leaders of the Roberto Suarez cartel (the primary cartel linked to the coup), and he claims that the CIA intervened to drop charges against one of them and reduce bail for another, allowing both to escape their US trial in 1979; subsequently they returned to Bolivia and participated in the coup, along with the aid of former Nazi Klaus Barbie
. Levine has alleged CIA cooperation with the coup. These allegations were the basis for the dismissal of the DEA from Bolivia by current President Evo Morales
in 2007.
officer Klaus Barbie
and Italian neofascist Stefano Delle Chiaie
. Further collaboration came from other European neofascists, most notoriously Ernesto Milá Rodríguez
(accused of the 1980 Paris synagogue bombing
. Among other foreign collaborators were professional torturers allegedly imported from the notoriously repressive Argentine dictatorship of General Jorge Videla.
The García Meza regime, while brief (its original form ended in 1981), became internationally known for its extreme brutality. The population was repressed in the same ways as under the Banzer dictatorship. Indeed, some 1,000 people are estimated to have been killed by the Bolivian army
and security forces in only 13 months. The administration's chief repressor was the Minister of Interior, Colonel Luis Arce
, who cautioned that all Bolivians who may be opposed to the new order should "walk around with their written will under their arms."
The most prominent victim of the dictatorship was the congressman, presidential candidate, and gifted orator Marcelo Quiroga
, murdered and "disappeared" soon after the coup. Quiroga had been the chief advocate of bringing to trial the former dictator, General Hugo Banzer
(1971–78), for human right violations and economic mismanagement.
, kept his distance, aware of the regime's unsavory links to criminal circles. Eventually, the international outcry was sufficiently strong to force García Meza's resignation on August 3, 1981. He was succeeded by a less tainted but equally repressive general, Celso Torrelio
.
All in all, the Bolivian military would sustain itself in power only for another year, and would then beat a hasty retreat to its barracks, embarrassed and tarnished by the excesses of the 1980-82 dictatorships (it has never returned to the Palacio Quemado
).
violations incurred by his regime. In 1995, he was extradited to Bolivia from Brazil and is still serving a 30 year prison sentence, in the same prison where he once kept his enemies. His main collaborator, the notorious Colonel Arce, was extradited to the United States, where he served a jail sentence for drug trafficking. Since August 2009 he has been imprisoned in Bolivia.
La Paz
Nuestra Señora de La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of the La Paz Department, and the second largest city in the country after Santa Cruz de la Sierra...
, he was a career military officer who rose to the rank of general during the reign of dictator Hugo Banzer
Hugo Banzer
Hugo Banzer Suárez was a politician, military general, dictator and President of Bolivia. He held the Bolivian presidency twice: from August 22, 1971 to July 21, 1978, as a dictator; and then again from August 6, 1997 to August 7, 2001, as constitutional President.-Military and ideological...
(1971–78). García Meza became dictator in 1980.
Prelude to dictatorship
García Meza became leader of the right-wing faction of the military of BoliviaMilitary of Bolivia
- Army :The Bolivian Army has around 55,500 men. There are six military regions in the army. The Army is organized into ten divisions...
most disenchanted with the return to civilian rule. Many of the officers involved had been part of the Banzer dictatorship and disliked the investigation of economic and human right abuses by the new Bolivian Congress. Moreover, they tended to regard the decline in popularity of the Carter administration
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as an indicator that soon a Republican administration would replace it—one more amenable to the kind of pro-U.S., more hardline anti-communist dictatorship they wanted to reinstall in Bolivia. Ominously, many allegedly had ties to cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
traffickers and made sure portions of the military acted as their enforcers/protectors in exchange for extensive bribes, which in turn were used to fund the upcoming coup. In this manner, the narcotraffickers were in essence purchasing for themselves the upcoming Bolivian government.
Coup d'État
This group pressured President Lydia Gueiler (his cousin) to install Gen. García Meza as Commander of the Army. Within months, the Junta of CommandersJunta of Commanders of the Armed Forces 1980 (Bolivia)
The Junta of Commanders of the Armed Forces was a military junta which ruled Bolivia for the date of July 18, 1980 after the overthrow of President Lidia Gueiler Tejada on July 17, 1980....
headed by Garcia Meza forced a violent coup d'etat
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
-- sometimes referred to as the Cocaine Coup—of July 17, 1980. As portions of the citizenry resisted, as they had done in the fail putsch of November 1979, it resulted in dozens of deaths. Many were tortured. Allegedly, the Argentinian army unit Batallón de Inteligencia 601
Batallón de Inteligencia 601
The Batallón de Inteligencia 601 was a special military intelligence service of the Argentine Army whose structure was set up in the late 1970s, active in the Dirty War and Operation Condor, and disbanded in 2000...
participated in the coup. Former DEA agent Michael Levine had arrested the 2 prominent leaders of the Roberto Suarez cartel (the primary cartel linked to the coup), and he claims that the CIA intervened to drop charges against one of them and reduce bail for another, allowing both to escape their US trial in 1979; subsequently they returned to Bolivia and participated in the coup, along with the aid of former Nazi Klaus Barbie
Klaus Barbie
Nikolaus 'Klaus' Barbie was an SS-Hauptsturmführer , Gestapo member and war criminal. He was known as the Butcher of Lyon.- Early life :...
. Levine has alleged CIA cooperation with the coup. These allegations were the basis for the dismissal of the DEA from Bolivia by current President Evo Morales
Evo Morales
Juan Evo Morales Ayma , popularly known as Evo , is a Bolivian politician and activist, currently serving as the 80th President of Bolivia, a position that he has held since 2006. He is also the leader of both the Movement for Socialism party and the cocalero trade union...
in 2007.
The García Meza Dictatorship, 1980-81
Of extremely conservative anti-communist persuasion, García Meza endeavored to bring a Pinochet-style dictatorship that was intended to last 20 years. He immediately outlawed all political parties, exiled opposition leaders, repressed the unions, and muzzled the press. He was backed by former NaziNazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
officer Klaus Barbie
Klaus Barbie
Nikolaus 'Klaus' Barbie was an SS-Hauptsturmführer , Gestapo member and war criminal. He was known as the Butcher of Lyon.- Early life :...
and Italian neofascist Stefano Delle Chiaie
Stefano Delle Chiaie
Stefano Delle Chiaie is a neofascist Italian activist . He went on to become a wanted man worldwide, suspect to be involved in Italy's strategy of tension, but was acquitted. He was a friend of Licio Gelli, grandmaster of P2 masonic lodge...
. Further collaboration came from other European neofascists, most notoriously Ernesto Milá Rodríguez
Ernesto Milá
Ernesto Milá Rodríguez is a Spanish neo-Nazi political activist and, according to some sources, CESID operative.- Early years :...
(accused of the 1980 Paris synagogue bombing
1980 Paris synagogue bombing
On October 3, 1980, the eve of Simchat Torah, a bomb went off outside the Union Libérale Israélite de France synagogue on Rue Copernic, Paris. Four people were killed and more than forty injured. The bomb, consisting of about of Semtex explosives, had been hidden in the saddlebags of a motorcycle...
. Among other foreign collaborators were professional torturers allegedly imported from the notoriously repressive Argentine dictatorship of General Jorge Videla.
The García Meza regime, while brief (its original form ended in 1981), became internationally known for its extreme brutality. The population was repressed in the same ways as under the Banzer dictatorship. Indeed, some 1,000 people are estimated to have been killed by the Bolivian army
Military of Bolivia
- Army :The Bolivian Army has around 55,500 men. There are six military regions in the army. The Army is organized into ten divisions...
and security forces in only 13 months. The administration's chief repressor was the Minister of Interior, Colonel Luis Arce
Luis Arce Gómez
Colonel Luis Arce Gómez was a Bolivian military officer. In 1980 he backed the bloody coup that brought to power the infamous General Luis García Meza...
, who cautioned that all Bolivians who may be opposed to the new order should "walk around with their written will under their arms."
The most prominent victim of the dictatorship was the congressman, presidential candidate, and gifted orator Marcelo Quiroga
Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz
Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz was a noted writer, dramatist, jourmalist, social commentator, university professor, and socialist political leader from Bolivia...
, murdered and "disappeared" soon after the coup. Quiroga had been the chief advocate of bringing to trial the former dictator, General Hugo Banzer
Hugo Banzer
Hugo Banzer Suárez was a politician, military general, dictator and President of Bolivia. He held the Bolivian presidency twice: from August 22, 1971 to July 21, 1978, as a dictator; and then again from August 6, 1997 to August 7, 2001, as constitutional President.-Military and ideological...
(1971–78), for human right violations and economic mismanagement.
Drug trafficking
The García Meza government drug trafficking activities led to the complete isolation of the regime. The new, conservative U.S. President, Ronald ReaganRonald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, kept his distance, aware of the regime's unsavory links to criminal circles. Eventually, the international outcry was sufficiently strong to force García Meza's resignation on August 3, 1981. He was succeeded by a less tainted but equally repressive general, Celso Torrelio
Celso Torrelio
Celso Torrelio Villa was a military general, a member of the Junta of Commanders of the Armed Forces , and de facto President of Bolivia between September 1981 and August 1982....
.
All in all, the Bolivian military would sustain itself in power only for another year, and would then beat a hasty retreat to its barracks, embarrassed and tarnished by the excesses of the 1980-82 dictatorships (it has never returned to the Palacio Quemado
Palacio Quemado
The Palacio Quemado is a popular name to denote the Bolivian Palace of Government, located on Plaza Murillo in downtown La Paz. It is the building from which the Bolivian executive conducts its business.The building has had many incarnations...
).
Exile and Jail
At that point, García Meza left the country, but was tried and convicted in absentia for the serious human rightsHuman rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
violations incurred by his regime. In 1995, he was extradited to Bolivia from Brazil and is still serving a 30 year prison sentence, in the same prison where he once kept his enemies. His main collaborator, the notorious Colonel Arce, was extradited to the United States, where he served a jail sentence for drug trafficking. Since August 2009 he has been imprisoned in Bolivia.