René Barrientos

René Barrientos Ortuño (May 30, 1919 – April 27, 1969) was a Bolivian politician who served as his country's vice-president in 1964 and as its president from 1964 to 1969. General Barrientos came to power by overthrowing the social reform government of Paz Estenssoro in an army backed coup. During his five-year rule, Barrientos and the army suppressed all opposition to his conservative regime, including a minor organized insurgency by Che Guevara... more

René Barrientos Ortuño (May 30, 1919 – April 27, 1969) was a Bolivian politician who served as his country's vice-president in 1964 and as its president from 1964 to 1969. General Barrientos came to power by overthrowing the social reform government of Paz Estenssoro in an army backed coup. During his five-year rule, Barrientos and the army suppressed all opposition to his conservative regime, including a minor organized insurgency by Che Guevara in 1967. Barrientos is a native of Tarata, department of Cochabamba, and is of mixed Quechua and Spanish descent.He was a career military officer, having earned 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... less