Bolivia, 1946 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
On 13 June 1946 conservative military elements attempted a revolt against President Gualberto Villarroel of Bolivia, one of a series of failed uprisings against his reformist RADEPA and MNR government that were financed largely by the big tin mining interests known as the Rosca. Villarroel, who had taken power in a December 1943 coup against President Enrique Penaranda, had alienated the mining oligarchy with labor reforms and higher tax demands while his regime's repression of opponents eroded its popularity. The June revolt failed like the earlier attempts at the end of 1944 and mid-1945, and Villarroel remained in office.
His survival proved brief: within weeks a tripartite strike movement of teachers, students, and workers escalated into the July La Paz riots, and on 21 July 1946 a mob stormed the Palacio Quemado and lynched him, hanging his body from a lamppost in the Plaza Murillo.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
14506131946
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Gualberto Villarroel survived the June 1946 attempt and remained in office, but was lynched by a mob on 21 July 1946 when his government collapsed.
Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
Minneapolis Star
New York Times
Toronto Daily Star
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →