Gualberto Villarroel

Gualberto Villarroel López (15 December 1908 – 21 July 1946) was a Bolivian military officer who served as the 39th president of Bolivia from 1943 to 1946.

Gualberto Villarroel was born on 15 December 1908 in Villa Rivero, Cochabamba Department.

He was the son of Enrique Casto Villarroel and María López.

At age 11, Villarroel's parents decided that provincial education was insufficient and enrolled him fiscal school and later into the Sucre National School in Cochabamba.

He graduated in 1924, going on to enroll in the Military College of the Army in 1925, graduating with the rank of second lieutenant as part of the Pérez Tercero Infantry Regiment in 1928.

A distinguished cadet, he was awarded the Order of Abdon Calderón for best student by the Ecuadorian government.

In 1931, he rose to the rank of lieutenant.

Villarroel saw action in the Chaco War (1932–35) against Paraguay.

He caught the attention of Hans Kundt, commander-in-chief of the army, who highlighted the young man's creativity in combat.

Villarroel became a member of RADEPA (Razón de Patria, or Fatherland's Cause), an open-military faction of young officers founded in 1934 by Bolivian prisoners of war in Paraguay.

It sought mass support, backed military intervention in politics, and hoped to prevent excessive foreign control over Bolivia's natural resources.

As part of the 8th Ayacucho Infantry Regiment, he participated in the battles of Cañada Strongest and Ybybobó being promoted to captain in 1935.

He also participated in the final defense of Villamontes in 1935.

After Bolivia's disastrous defeat in the conflict, he became convinced that the country needed profound structural changes and supported the progressive Military Socialist regimes of David Toro and Germán Busch.

Following Busch's suicide in August 1939, conservative forces reasserted themselves, took power, and won the 1940 elections in which the traditional parties linked to the country's big mining interests triumphed at the polls with General Enrique Peñaranda.

While the Peñaranda administration had managed to wrest control of government from the previous progressive political forces, it was unable to stop their spread.

In 1941, Peñaranda had used the fabricated story of a "Nazi Putsch" in Bolivia to suppress the MNR, causing the U.S. to suspect them of having pro-Nazi affiliations.

Villarroel, in turn, was seen as "a Mussolini of the Andes" and a puppet of Buenos Aires.

The government of Argentina under the fascist-leaning President Pedro Pablo Ramírez was the only in Latin America to recognize Villarroel.

The newly installed Villarroel government within hours of its assumption to power sought to reassure the U.S. of its desire for good relations and support of the war effort.

In an interview, Paz Estenssoro assured that "the new Government does not alter Bolivia's international position at the side of the United Nations."

Negotiations over tin sales, vital to the Bolivian economy, rested on recognition by the United States.

Hence, Villarroel's government committed to negotiations over the exclusive sale of quinine, the nationalization of German and Japanese companies, and a new tin contract at hopefully higher prices.

Despite their efforts, the view by the U.S. that Villarroel and the MNR were, in fact, a pro-fascist regime resulted in Secretary of State Cordell Hull issuing a memorandum on 10 January describing their pro-Axis sympathies.

By 28 January, all 19 American governments (except Argentina) had publicly refused recognition of the Villarroel regime.

While on 11 February Villarroel removed three cabinet members including two top MNR leaders, Carlos Montenegro and Augusto Céspedes, the U.S. maintained that the composition of the revolutionary junta precluded recognition and that "it is not felt that these shifts have materially altered the character of the Junta."

The consequences of the Catavi massacre on 21 December 1942 which caused the deaths of 19 striking miners would ultimately bring down the government.

Before the coup, opposition leaders requested that the president resign.

Peñaranda, in turn, evaded a response and ordered the immediate change of military assignments for the RADEPA leaders, thus removing them from the center of conflict.

In response, the date of the coup was brought forward.

Between September and December 1943, RADEPA secretly conspired with the newly formed Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR) to overthrow Peñaranda.

On 20 December 1943, the RADEPA-MNR alliance overthrew the government.

Former economy minister Víctor Paz Estenssoro announced in a broadcast, "Bolivian people, the work of iniquity has ended. The nation has ceased to be the property of the Peñaranda Rivera Castillo family."

Villarroel was allowed to take residence in the Palacio Quemado as de facto president while members of the MNR, including Paz Estenssoro, took various positions in his cabinet.

At age 35, he was one of the youngest presidents in Bolivian history.

According to Bolivian journalist Augusto Céspedes, "The coup surprised no one more in Bolivia than the United States Ambassador."

The U.S. government had enjoyed good relations with the Peñaranda administration which had brought Bolivia into World War II as an Allied Power and pledged the country's tin resources to the war effort.

The fall of Peñaranda alarmed the State Department which immediately suspended diplomatic relations with Bolivia and refused to recognize the Villarroel government.

Under the mounting weight of U.S. pressure, the remaining MNR ministers, Víctor Paz Estenssoro, Rafael Otazo, and Wálter Guevara resigned on 5 April 1944.

A reformist, sometimes compared with Argentina's Juan Perón, he is nonetheless remembered for his alleged fascist sympathies and his violent demise on 21 July 1946.