Bolivia, 1959 — dissident coup attempt
Event Summary
On 19 April 1959 the Bolivian Socialist Falange launched a second rising in La Paz against President Hernan Siles Zuazo, which ended in a failed assassination attempt on the president and a bloody suppression that killed 22 people and led to the death of the FSB's founding leader Oscar Unzaga de la Vega. The revolt came six months after the Falange's failed October 1958 attempt, amid the continuing economic hardship and factional strife of Siles Zuazo's first term. Unzaga died during the failed coup, in circumstances officially reported as suicide but long disputed by his party, and his death cost the Falange much of its momentum.
Siles Zuazo survived and governed to the end of his term in 1960, when Victor Paz Estenssoro returned to the presidency, and the MNR held power until the military coup of November 1964.
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
14504191959
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 assassination attempt 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
The Sun
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 →