René Barrientos

René Barrientos Ortuño (May 30, 1919 – April 27, 1969) was a Bolivian military officer and politician who served as his country's Vice President in 1964 and as its President from 1964 to 1969.

General Barrientos came to power in the aftermath of the overthrow of the government of Paz Estenssoro in a United States of America's CIA-backed coup. During his five-year rule, Barrientos and the army suppressed all opposition to his conservative regime, including a guerrilla group led by Che Guevara in 1967.

Early years

Barrientos was a native of Tarata, department of Cochabamba, and was of mixed Quechua and Spanish descent. He was a career military officer, graduating from the military academy in 1943 and earning his pilot's license in 1945. Later in the 1940s, he gravitated toward the reformist Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario, or MNR) party of Víctor Paz Estenssoro. Barrientos played a part in the Bolivian Revolution of 1952, when the MNR toppled the established order and took power. In fact, he was given the honor of flying out of the country to bring back the revolutionary leader Víctor Paz Estenssoro, then in exile, once the rebellion succeeded. In 1957, Barrientos was rewarded when he was named commander of the Bolivian Air Force.