Bolivia, 1958 — dissident coup attempt
Event Summary
On 21 October 1958 the Bolivian Socialist Falange, the main conservative opposition to the ruling MNR, mounted a rising in La Paz in a failed bid to overthrow President Hernan Siles Zuazo, and the government declared martial law the next day. The revolt came at a moment of acute strain, weeks after the July 1958 legislative elections in which the MNR again swept the Chamber of Deputies while the Falange won only a handful of seats, and amid the economic hardship produced by the IMF stabilization program and the fragmentation of the revolutionary movement. Three people were killed suppressing the La Paz rising.
Siles Zuazo survived, and the Falange, whose leader Oscar Unzaga would die in the next failed attempt in April 1959, remained unable to dislodge the MNR, which held power until the 1964 military coup.
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
14510211958
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Hernan Siles Zuazo survived the FSB rising and governed to the end of his term in 1960.
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
Powell and Thyne
Washington Post
Hartford Courant
New York Times
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 →