Bolivia, 1973 — dissident coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 18 August 1973, during the military dictatorship of General Hugo Banzer in Bolivia, two years to the day after Banzer had launched his own coup against Juan Jose Torres on 18 August 1971. Banzer ruled with a repressive regime, known as the Banzerato, that banned left-leaning parties, suspended the trade union confederation, closed the universities, and relied on a coalition with the MNR and the Bolivian Socialist Falange. His rule was marked by recurring internal plots and purges, including against former allies: his first Interior Minister and co-conspirator in the 1971 coup, Colonel Andres Selich, was accused of plotting to overthrow Banzer and died of blows sustained in custody in 1973.
Banzer would drop all pretense of elections after a 1974 military revolt in Santa Cruz. The August 1973 coding sits in this period of conspiracy and counter-conspiracy within Banzer's authoritarian regime.
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
14508181973
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Banzer held power through recurring internal plots; his dictatorship lasted until 1978.
Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. 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
Chicago Tribune
Los Angels Times
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 →