Coup Atlas Research Database
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14506051974AttemptedMilitary coup

Bolivia, 1974 — military coup attempt

Bolivia (BOL)South America, AmericasJune 5, 1974

Event Summary

The dataset records an attempted military coup in Bolivia on 5 June 1974, during the right-wing military government of Colonel Hugo Banzer, whose regime, though backed by the traditional parties and the armed forces, was repeatedly shaken by plots from rival factions within Bolivia's notoriously coup prone military. Any coup attempt in June 1974 came within that instability and did not unseat Banzer, who continued to face challenges from both left and right. Later in 1974 Banzer moved decisively to consolidate his grip, and after a further failed military revolt in November 1974 he banned all political activity, dissolved his alliance with the civilian parties, and established an outright military dictatorship ruling solely with the support of the armed forces.

Banzer governed until he was forced from power in 1978, part of the long cycle of Bolivian military rule that the dataset documents across many entries before the eventual return to civilian government.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Colonel Hugo Banzer survived the June 1974 plotting and consolidated his military dictatorship
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Hugo Banzer (president of Bolivia, target)
Dissident military officers (plotters)

Sources

Hugo Banzer seized power in Bolivia in August 1971 and established a right-wing military government backed by the traditional parties and the armed forces.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Hugo Banzer open source ↗
Banzer's regime was repeatedly challenged by plots from rival factions within Bolivia's military during his rule.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Hugo Banzer open source ↗
On 7 November 1974 a failed military revolt preceded Banzer's move to ban all political activity and rule solely with military support.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, List of coups and coup attempts by country open source ↗
Banzer ruled Bolivia as a military dictator until he was forced from power in 1978.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Hugo Banzer open source ↗

Editorial Note

No discrete documentation of a coup attempt precisely on 5 June 1974 in Bolivia was found in accessible English sources this session; the entry records the dataset's coding and the verified context of the Banzer government amid Bolivia's chronic military plotting, with plotter identity for this specific date unconfirmed, flagged. Pairs with the Bolivia 1974-11-07 record in this batch.

Cross-Reference

Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
14506051974
Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-145-1974-06-05

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Colonel Hugo Banzer survived the June 1974 plotting and consolidated his military dictatorship.

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

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

CSP

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Luttwak

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Wikipedia

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 →

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