On July 21, 1978 General Juan Pereda seized power in Bolivia in a coup that forced the resignation of the long-ruling military dictator Hugo Banzer, after a blatantly rigged election in Pereda's favor was annulled, opening the most unstable stretch in modern Bolivian history. Banzer, in power since 1971, had bowed to pressure for a democratic opening and backed Pereda as his surrogate candidate in the July 9, 1978 election, but the fraud was so brazen (more votes were cast than there were registered voters) that the National Electoral Court annulled the result on July 19. Banzer announced he would hand power to a military junta pending new elections, but Pereda, demanding that his claimed victory be recognized, staged a coup from Santa Cruz with civilian and military backing.
After negotiations, Banzer resigned and transferred power to a Junta of Commanders, which installed Pereda as president on July 21, 1978. Banzer was not physically harmed and later founded a political party.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Hugo Banzer, forced to resign on July 21, 1978 when his surrogate Pereda seized power; he was not physically harmed, and later returned to politics.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Hugo Banzer (dictator forced to resign)
Juan Pereda (general installed as president)
The Junta of Commanders (the body that transferred power to Pereda)
Sources
The July 1978 Bolivian coup was the military takeover of the Bolivian government by General Pereda at the expense of the Banzer regime, and the Junta of Commanders that seized power promptly installed General Pereda as President of Bolivia on July 21, 1978, with Pereda serving as head of government until 24 November 1978, when he was overthrown in another coup led by General Padilla.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, July 1978 Bolivian coup d'etatopen source ↗
President Banzer admitted to the fraud and had the National Electoral Court annul the election results, announcing he would transfer power to a military junta to hold new elections in six months, but General Pereda staged a military coup in Santa Cruz demanding his victory be recognized, and after negotiations Banzer resigned and transferred power to the Junta of Commanders, which installed Pereda on July 21, 1978.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, July 1978 Bolivian coup d'etatopen source ↗
Pereda's ascent to the presidency marked the beginning of the most unstable period in Bolivian history, with nine presidents in a little over four years from 1978 to 1982, in comparison to only one in the previous seven years.
Pereda himself requested a new election, but before it could take place he staged a coup, forcing Banzer to resign on July 21, 1978, and Banzer was exiled by Pereda to Argentina before returning in 1979 to found the Nationalist Democratic Action party.
SOURCE REVIEWEDBritannica, Hugo Banzer Suarezopen source ↗
Editorial Note
Arc link: this July 1978 coup ends the seven-year rule of Hugo Banzer, connecting to his own August 1971 coup against Juan Jose Torres and his November 1974 self-coup (Supreme Decree 11947, enriched in the Bolivia records of batches 20 and 24). Fate coding: Banzer was forced to resign, not physically harmed, and later exiled to Argentina, matching the dataset's not-harmed fate. Paired context: this is the first of two Bolivia coups in this batch; Pereda himself was overthrown by Padilla four months later (the 1978-11-24 record). Coding note: the dataset labels this a military coup; it followed the annulment of a fraudulent election that Banzer had rigged for his surrogate Pereda, who then seized power when the result was voided. Historical weight: this opened a period of extreme instability, with nine presidents in about four years.
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:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Hugo Banzer, forced to resign on July 21, 1978 when his surrogate Pereda seized power; he was not physically harmed, and later returned to politics..
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; 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
“Bolivian Rightist Leads Foes bat Lacks Majority,” July 16, 1985
Chicago Tribune
“Bolivian President Resigns in Uprising, Pereda Rules,” July 22, 1978
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 →