Ovando Candía, Alfredo (1917–1982)

Alfredo Ovando Candía (b. 1917; d. 1982), army officer and president of Bolivia (1964–1966, 1969–1970). Ovando graduated from the Bolivian Military Academy in 1936, after having been in active service during the Chaco War. He pursued further military studies in Bolivia and Argentina. He rose regularly in rank, before and after the Bolivian National Revolution of 1952. He became a division general in 1952 and was named army chief of staff in 1957 and commander in chief of the armed forces in 1962.

When President Víctor Paz Estenssoro was overthrown in November 1964, the deposed president was confident of Ovando's loyalty, but Ovando was, in fact, the major co-conspirator with General René Barrientos in Paz Estenssoro's ouster. Ovando and Barrientos became copresidents from 1964 to 1966, when Barrientos resigned to become a candidate for election as president. During Barrientos's administration, Ovando continued as commander in chief of the armed forces. When Barrientos died in April 1969, Vice President Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas took over, but late in September, Ovando ousted Siles and assumed the presidency.

In his second presidential term, Ovando launched a "nationalist" program, the centerpiece of which was the nationalization of the Gulf Oil Corporation's holdings in Bolivia, for which he promised to compensate the company. He also encouraged the reorganization of the labor movement and patronized several new leftist parties. He extended diplomatic relations to, and received a loan from, the Soviet Union.

In October 1970 a right-wing military coup resulted in Ovando's resignation. He had second thoughts and attempted to resume his office, but it was too late. After several days of confusion, a more leftist-oriented general, Juan José Torres, became president. Ovando was named ambassador to Spain. After Torres's own overthrow in August 1971, Ovando resigned.

See alsoBarrientos Ortuño, René; Bolivia, Political Parties: Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (MNR); Paz Estenssoro, Víctor.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Christopher Mitchell, The Legacy of Populism in Bolivia (1977).

Additional Bibliography

Grindle, Merilee Serrill, and Pilar Domingo. Proclaiming Revolution: Bolivia in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge, MA: David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University, 2003.

Soto S., César. Historia del Pacto Militar Campesino. Cochabamba, Bolivia: Ediciones CERES, 1994.

                                   Robert J. Alexander