Bolivia, 1974 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an attempted military coup in Bolivia on 7 November 1974, a failed military revolt against the right-wing government of Colonel Hugo Banzer that became the trigger for Banzer to abandon even the pretense of shared civilian rule. Banzer had seized power in 1971 and governed in alliance with the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement and the Bolivian Socialist Falange, but his coalition was fractious and the military restive. When officers mounted a revolt on 7 November 1974, Banzer suppressed it and then used the crisis to consolidate absolute power, banning all political parties and union activity, dismissing his civilian partners, and ruling thereafter solely with the backing of the armed forces as an outright military dictator.
This hardening extended his rule, part of the wider pattern of Operation Condor era authoritarianism in the Southern Cone, until economic troubles and political pressure forced him from power in 1978, opening a turbulent transition back toward civilian government.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
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
14511071974- Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-145-1974-11-07-2
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Colonel Hugo Banzer suppressed the November 1974 revolt and used it to impose an outright 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
Baseline Source-Document Entries
CSP
Wikipedia
New York Times
Chicago Tribune
The Guardian
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 →