Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada

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Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (April 2003)

Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Bustamante (born July 1, 1930 in La Paz , Bolivia ), known as "Goni", is a Bolivian politician who was President of Bolivia from 1993 to 1997 and in 2002/2003.

Life

After a military coup, his father, a diplomat, fled into exile in the United States . In Chicago , Gonzalo took philosophy and English literature in college and graduated with very good grades.

After graduating, he went back to Bolivia and devoted himself to film art . After that he found an interest in aerial photography , mining, and finally politics.

Sánchez de Lozada was President of Bolivia for the first time between 1993 and 1997. On August 6, 2002 he was re-elected to the office of President as a candidate for the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR), where he prevailed against Evo Morales , the candidate of the Movimiento al Socialismo . After neither of the two candidates had an absolute majority after the election , Sánchez de Lozada, who won the most votes with 22.46 percent, was elected president by the newly elected parliament. This ended several weeks of political uncertainty in Bolivia.

Sánchez de Lozada announced extensive reforms and austerity measures, which in February 2003 led to a police strike. After he had reached agreements with US oil companies on the sale and export of natural gas at low prices, mass protests broke out in September, during which in October ( "black October" ) the military killed at least 60 and more than 400 were injured. In October 2003, Sánchez de Lozada was forced to resign and he fled into exile in the United States. Carlos Mesa took over the presidency.

In February 2005, the La Paz public prosecutor brought genocide charges against Sánchez de Lozada and 13 former ministers of his government. In October 2008, Bolivia filed an extradition request to the United States for Sánchez de Lozada and two of his former ministers (ex-Defense Minister Carlos Sánchez Berzaín and Ex-Energy Minister Jorge Berindoague). Her case is pending before the Supreme Court for genocide, breach of the constitution and embezzlement. In 2011 two ex-government ministers and five ex-military officers were sentenced to between three and 15 years in prison. Sánchez de Lozada enjoys political asylum in the USA and is still considered the richest man in Bolivia.

Sánchez de Lozada liked to be addressed by his nickname "Goni" (diminutive of the first name) in political life. Since he speaks Spanish with a broad American-English accent due to his childhood and youth in the USA , he was simply called "the gringo " for the majority of his critics .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ teleSUR: Bolivia envió a EEUU trámite de extradición de Sánchez de Lozada  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , October 18, 2008@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.telesurtv.net  
  2. ^ According to the agreement: Bolivia demands extradition of ex-president. In: amerika21. November 15, 2011, accessed November 19, 2011 .

Bibliography

  • Rafael Sevilla / Ariel Benavides: Bolivia - the misunderstood country? Horlemann, Bad Honnef, 2001.
  • Johannes Winter / Andre Schamansky: Are the Andean states ungovernable? Causes of the political crisis in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. In: Zeitschrift Entwicklungspolitik No. 14, year 2005, pages 30–34.

Web links

Commons : Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
predecessor Office successor

Jaime Paz Zamora
Jorge Quiroga 		President of Bolivia
1993–1997
2002–2003
Hugo Banzer
Carlos Mesa
personal data
SURNAME Sánchez de Lozada, Gonzalo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sánchez de Lozada Bustamante, Gonzalo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bolivian President
DATE OF BIRTH July 1, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH La Paz , Bolivia