Lidia Gueiler Tejada

Lidia Gueiler Tejada

Lidia Gueiler Tejada (born August 28, 1921 in Cochabamba ; † May 9, 2011 in La Paz ) was the first and only female president of Bolivia until Jeanine Áñez was self-appointed . Lidia Gueiler was an interim solution for the presidency and ran it from November 16, 1979 to July 17, 1980. Gueiler Tejada was related to the actress Raquel Welch .

biography

Lidia Gueiler Tejada was born in Cochabamba and studied to become an accountant. In the 1940s she became a member of the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario . In elections in 1952, the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario came to power and Lidia Gueiler Tejada was a member of the Bolivian parliament from 1956 to 1964. In 1964 she fled abroad when the military overthrew the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario. She spent fifteen years abroad and joined the Partido Revolucionario de la Izquierda Nacionalista (the revolutionary party of left nationalists). After returning to Bolivia in 1979, she again successfully ran for election and became President of the Chamber of Deputies.

In 1979, President Wálter Guevara Arze was replaced by General Alberto Natusch Busch in a military coup . Thereupon the population rebelled and fought back with a national strike. Natusch Busch could not stay in office and it was agreed to appoint Lidia Gueiler Tejada as provisional president. She ruled from November 16, 1979 to July 17, 1980.

In July 1980, a coup Luis García Meza Tejada , supported by the Argentine intelligence unit Batallón de Inteligencia 601 his cousin Lidia Gueiler Tejada from office and set up a cruel reign of terror: Political parties were banned, members of the opposition and political opponents deported and the press muzzled made - the new regime was deeply involved in the drug trade .

predecessor	Office	successor
Alberto Natusch Busch	President of Bolivia 1979–1980	Luis García Meza Tejada

Web links

• Biography, literature & sources on Lidia Gueiler Tejada FemBio of the Institute for Women's Biography Research