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38-637: Alfredo Ovando Candía (6 April 1918 – 24 January 1982) was the Commander of the Bolivian Air Forces and ambassador who served as the 48th president of Bolivia twice nonconsecutively, first as co-president with René Barrientos from 1965 to 1966 and then as de facto president from 1969 to 1970. Ovando was born in Cobija from an upper-middle-class family of immigrants parents from Extremadura , Spain and Piedmont , Italy. He started his long military career in

76-610: A Revolutionary Mandate of the Armed Forces No. 2 , requesting the government to nationalize Gulf Oil. On October 17, President Ovando by Supreme Decree 08956 issued the revocation of all concessions of the Gulf Oil Company, active in Bolivia since 1956. The control of the nationalized company was transferred to YPFB . The nationalization of Gulf was planned by the minister of mines and oil Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz and supported by

114-405: A four-star rank (NATO OF-9). Usually it is the most senior peacetime rank, with more senior ranks (for example, field marshal, marshal of the air force, fleet admiral) being used only in wartime or as honorary titles. In some armies, however, the rank of captain general , general of the army , army general or colonel general occupied or occupies this position. Depending on circumstances and

152-551: A candidate. At that point Ovando became sole President, leading the country to the elections from which the popular Barrientos emerged victorious. With the new president having taken the oath of office in August 1966, Ovando returned to his post as Commander of the Bolivian Air Forces. Uncharismatic but tenacious, Ovando was biding his time, counting on the fact that he would be the logical choice to run for elections once Barrientos' term ended in 1970, perhaps with some electoral "help" from

190-693: A clandestine Marxist supporter, and denounced Barrientos and many of his aides as being on the CIA 's payroll. This event embarrassed US military School of the Americas (SOA) graduate Barrientos as a US-controlled puppet, and prompted Ovando to distance himself from the president with an eye to the projected 1970 elections. (The US SOA notoriously trained many Latin American dictators and death squads in counterinsurgency tactics and torture and disappearance techniques). The worries proved unnecessary, for Barrientos perished in

228-568: A military junta. Ovando was the key actor of the coup and aspired to become president, but Barrientos emerged as the new ruler due to his popularity. In May 1965, the Barrientos-Ovando co-presidency was created by the governing junta, with the objective of containing discontent and division in the Armed Forces. In 1966, Barrientos resigned from the junta and ran for election on a ticket with the civilian Luis Siles Salinas, which he won and assumed

266-496: A new Marxist guerrilla movement emerged in the lowlands near La Paz, this time constituted mostly by Bolivian university students aligned with the outlawed Ejército de Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Army, or ELN). The new guerrilla outbreak was easily controlled, but Ovando's response had been rather vacillating and timid. He offered a generous safe haven to guerrillas who gave up the fight, for example, in contrast to Barrientos' call for "heads on spikes" in 1967. The forces of

304-459: A plane to Arica , Chile . Army justified their takeover of power to "avoid the danger of anarchy, capitulation and disorder." The revolutionary junta appointed Alfredo Ovando Candía as President of the Republic and Juan José Torres as Commander of the Armed Forces. A civic-military cabinet was formed that contained figures from nationalist, progressive and right-wing positions. Ovando's cabinet

342-471: A tragic helicopter crash on 27 April 1969. His vice-president, a little-known Christian-Democrat politician named Luis Adolfo Siles , was sworn as president soon thereafter, in accordance to the Constitution. Siles' poor relations with Ovando led Siles to support the candidacy of the popular Mayor of La Paz, Armando Escobar, as the true successor of the now-constantly eulogized Barrientos, threatening to spoil

380-540: The Bolivian National Revolution and the reflection of the influence of the Peruanismo of Juan Velasco Alvarado. This document spoke of a transformation of Bolivia's economic, political and sociocultural structures. The document also explains the construction of an independent foreign policy and a campaign to eradicate the guerrilla threat. The Armed Forces under the direction of Commander Torres drafted

418-513: The Bolivian Workers' Center (COB). The Revolutionary Mandate of the Armed Forces, the ideological basis of the new government, was presented to the Bolivian nation. The manifesto was written by Juan José Torres and signed by officers Rogelio Miranda , David Lafuente Soto and Admiral Alberto Albarracín. It was a " nationalist and revolutionary " program, which meant the resumption of ideals of

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456-538: The Armed Forces junta carried out a military coup. The events were peaceful and there were few shots fired, with the Government Palace , the Municipal Mayor's Office and other state offices being taken over. The Armed Forces assumed power through the proclamation of a document called Revolutionary Mandate of the Armed Forces . Siles Salinas, who was visiting Santa Cruz de la Sierra , was sent into exile boarding

494-565: The Bolivian military and failed to fully satisfy the increasingly more belligerent forces of the Left, especially the workers and students. Worse, the military (in whose name he served) had become polarized, with some sectors supporting the President and even calling for a further leftward turn (General Juan José Torres ) and others criticizing Ovando and urging a more conservative, anti-Communist, and pro U.S. stance (General Rogelio Miranda ). In June 1970,

532-499: The Bolivian operations of the U.S.-based Gulf Oil Corporation and called on known leftist intellectuals to become part of his cabinet. Ovando also announced his political adherence to the principles espoused by other so-called "leftist military" regimes then in vogue in Latin America, foremost of which were the regimes of Peru's Juan Velasco and Panama's Omar Torrijos . Ovando's populist stance surprised many conservative members of

570-549: The Constitution and received approval from the High Command. For his part, Ovando was absent because his wife was having surgery at a clinic in the United States When he was informed of Barrientos' death, Ovando returned to La Paz and accepted the inauguration of Siles Salinas. The civilian government of Siles Salinas was born without any solid political base and lacked independence from the Armed Forces, which limited much of

608-497: The Constitution in 1964 in order to allow himself to run for re-election (a largely frowned-upon move in the largely personalistic world of Bolivian politics), General Ovando, along with the vice-president and former head of the Air Force René Barrientos , toppled Paz from power. They ruled together in a Junta (sometimes called "The Co-Presidency) until January 1966, when Barrientos resigned in order to register himself as

646-646: The Peasant Military Pact and military personnel close to him. The popular mayor of La Paz and also a military man Armando Escobar Uría also ran. On September 19, FSB deputy Ambrosio García Rivera made an accusation in the Bolivian Parliament. According to García, General Ovando Candía had received $ 600,000 from the Gulf Oil Company to finance his presidential campaign. In response to the serious accusation, Ovando resigned as commander to enable an investigation, reaffirming his position - his resignation

684-488: The air force rank of air chief marshal as the equivalent of the specific army rank of general. This latter group includes the British Royal Air Force and many current and former Commonwealth air forces—e.g. Royal Australian Air Force , Indian Air Force , Royal New Zealand Air Force , Nigerian Air Force , Pakistan Air Force , etc. In most navies , flag officers are the equivalent of general officers, and

722-481: The army in question, these ranks may be considered to be equivalent to a "full" general or to a field marshal five-star rank (NATO OF-10). The rank of general came about as a "captain-general", the captain of an army in general (i.e., the whole army). The rank of captain-general began appearing around the time of the organisation of professional armies in the 17th century. In most countries "captain-general" contracted to just "general". The following articles deal with

760-430: The carefully laid plans of Ovando. Furthermore, Ovando had been undergoing a political metamorphosis, and had come to conclude that he had to move to the Left in order to be acceptable as president in the ideologically super-charged atmosphere of the late 1960s. The changes he planned to institute could be difficult to enact in the presence of a potentially hostile Congress. For these reasons, Ovando decided not to wait for

798-616: The commander Juan José Torres , who sent troops to occupy the facilities. This event was designated by the Ovando regime as “Day of National Dignity”. The 1967 Constitution was suspended after the September 26 coup - only being restored with the takeover of David Padilla 's transitional government in 1978. During the first months of the Ovando regime, three mysterious murders occurred in Bolivia. The first of these occurred in November 1969, against

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836-546: The defeated Bolivian army during the early years of MNR rule. By the early 1960s, President Víctor Paz Estenssoro came to rely more heavily on the military in the face of growing political divisions among the governing elites. Equally as important in this rebirth was the considerable pressure exerted by the United States to modernize and equip the troops for a decidedly more political role: that of fighting possible Cuba-styled Communist insurgencies. When Paz Estenssoro amended

874-512: The early 1930s, when he served in the Chaco War against Paraguay . Originally rather apolitical, he was chosen (among others) to lead the reconstituted Armed Forces of Bolivia in the aftermath of the 1952 Revolution that installed in power the reformist Revolutionary Nationalist Movement party, better known as the MNR. Ovando lived through the relative deprivation, reduced budgets, and loss of prestige of

912-449: The elections (which no one could guarantee he could win, with the popular Escobar as candidate) and on 26 September 1969, he executed a coup d'état that overthrew Siles. Ovando's short (13 month) dictatorship was difficult and marked by political violence. Upon taking office, he declared himself in favor of fundamental changes aimed at enhancing the deplorable living conditions of the vast majority of Bolivians. To this end, he nationalized

950-526: The naval rank of admiral is equivalent to the specific army rank of general. A noteworthy historical exception was the Cromwellian naval rank " general at sea ". In recent years in the American service there is a tendency to use flag officer and flag rank to refer to generals and admirals of the services collectively. 1969 Bolivian coup d%27%C3%A9tat 1969 Bolivian coup d'état (also known as the  26 September Revolution  by supporters )

988-501: The new government with Siles Salinas as his vice president. At this time, two military currents prevailed in the Armed Forces, the conservative line, linked to the repression of the Ñancahuazú Guerrilla and represented by Barrientos and the institutionalist line, linked to the ideals of the 1952 Revolution and represented by Ovando. On April 27, 1969, President Barrientos died in a controversial helicopter crash. His vice president, civilian Siles Salinas, took office in accordance with

1026-518: The outgoing administration. Soon, major differences emerged between Ovando and the president, however, especially in regard to the massacre of miners at Siglo XX in June 1967, and the so-called Arguedas Affair of 1968. In early 1967, a guerrilla force had been discovered to be operating in the rural Bolivian southwest under the leadership of the Argentine-Cuban revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara . While

1064-626: The popular insurgency was eventually crushed by the US-trained Bolivian military troops under American CIA command, Guevara was captured and executed in October 1967. This event fostered a major spin-off scandal that surfaced in 1968. That year, Barrientos' trusted friend and Minister of Interior, Antonio Arguedas, disappeared with the captured diary of Che Guevara, which soon surfaced in Havana. From abroad, Arguedas confessed himself to have been all along

1102-435: The president's actions. This period was full of tensions between the government and commander Ovando Candía. A new guerrilla focus was born in Bolivia, the so-called Teoponte Guerrilla carried out several attacks, a situation that would lead Commander Ovando Candía to accuse President Siles Salinas of leading a weak government. Elections were promised for 1970. Ovando ran for these elections, supported by peasants through

1140-423: The pro-Barrientos peasant leader Jorge Soliz Román, an opponent of Ovando. The other two took place between February and March 1970, against journalist Jaime Otero Calderón and couple Alfredo and Martha Alexander. Despite popular measures such as the nationalization of Gulf, the Ovando government failed to consolidate political support from both the left and the right. This would lead to a polarized environment in

1178-561: The progressive UDP alliance of former President Hernán Siles , but otherwise never participated in active politics again. He died in La Paz on 4 January 1982, at the age of 63. His wife died in 2014. General In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel . The adjective general had been affixed to officer designations since the late medieval period to indicate relative superiority or an extended jurisdiction. Other nomenclatures for general officers include

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1216-465: The rank of general, or its equivalent, as it is or was employed in the militaries of those countries: Some countries (such as the United States) use the general officer ranks for both the army and the air force , as well as their marine corps ; other states only use the general officer ranks for the army, while in the air force they use air officers as the equivalent of general officers. They use

1254-484: The right had had enough. On 6 October 1970, an anti-government coup d'état took place via a junta of commanders of the Bolivian Military . However, the polarized forces of the military were evenly split. Much blood was shed on the streets of various major cities, with garrisons fighting each other on behalf of one camp or the other. Eventually, President Ovando sought asylum in a foreign embassy, believing all hope

1292-473: The titles and ranks: In addition to militarily educated generals, there are also generals in medicine and engineering. The rank of the most senior chaplain, (chaplain general), is also usually considered to be a general officer rank. In the old European system, a general, without prefix or suffix (and sometimes referred to informally as a " full general "), is usually the most senior type of general, above lieutenant general and directly below field marshal as

1330-726: Was a military coup carried out by the Bolivian commander Alfredo Ovando Candía that deposed President Luís Adolfo Siles Salinas , former vice-president of René Barrientos who had taken office after his death. Ovando seized power in the name of a "nationalist and revolutionary" program formulated in the Revolutionary Mandate of the Armed Forces . Ovando's coup belonged to a trend of military regimes of nationalist and progressive orientation in Latin America, represented by Juan Velasco Alvarado and Omar Torrijos Herrera . On November 4, 1964, generals René Barrientos Ortuño and Alfredo Ovando Candía overthrew Víctor Paz Estenssoro and formed

1368-571: Was lost. But the leftist military forces re-asserted themselves under the combative leadership of General Juan José Torres , and eventually triumphed. Embarrassed by his quick abandonment of the fight, and worn out by 13 grueling months in office, Ovando agreed to leave the presidency in the hands of his friend, General Torres. The latter was sworn in and rewarded Ovando with the Bolivian ambassadorship to Spain . Ovando remained in Madrid until 1978, when he returned to Bolivia. In his latter years, he supported

1406-508: Was refused by the president. Peasant protests arose in Oruro and Cochabamba demanding the resignation of Siles Salinas. Faced with the possibility of losing the elections, Ovando chose to take power by force. Prior to this action, it is believed that Ovando had studied the Peruvian military regime headed by Juan Velasco Alvarado , admiring his authoritarian and nationalist model. On September 26,

1444-565: Was surrounded by intellectuals, among them Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz . The first decisions of Ovando, now President of the Revolutionary Government, were to cancel the 1970 elections and invalidate the oil statute. There was no resistance to the coup, which was viewed with disbelief by the Bolivian population, who received the news of the Viloco tragedy through the media. It was also cautiously embraced by left-wing organizations such as

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