- Celso Torrelio
Infobox_President | name=Celso Torrelio
nationality=Bolivian
term_start=4 September ,1981
term_end=21 July ,1982
predecessor=Luis García Meza
successor=Guido Vildoso
birth_date=birth date|1933|6|3|mf=y
birth_place=Chuquisaca ,Bolivia
dead=
death_date=death date and age|1999|4|23|1933|6|3|mf=y
death_place=La Paz , Bolivia
spouse=
party=
order=69thPresident of Bolivia
vicepresident=Celso Torrelio Villa (
June 3 ,1933 ,Chuquisaca ,Bolivia -April 23 ,1999 ,La Paz ) was a military general and de facto president of Bolivia between September 1981 and August 1982.A native of Padilla, department of
Chuquisaca , Torrelio joined the Bolivian Army and rose to the rank of general. He served as the notorious dictatorLuis García Meza 's Minister of Interior after the departure (forced by Washington) of the equally infamous Colonel Luis Arce. The García Meza regime became internationally known for its extreme brutality. Some 1,000 people are estimated to have been killed by the Bolivian army and security forces between July 1980 and August 1981. In addition, the García Meza government was deeply involved indrug trafficking activities, and may have come to power financed directly by the drug cartels. This led to the complete isolation of the regime. Even the new, conservative U.S. President,Ronald Reagan , kept its distance and seemed to prefer better options. Eventually, the international outcry was sufficiently strong to force García Meza's resignation on August 3, 1981. The high command of the Bolivian armed forces at that point entrusted General Celso Torrelio with the presidency.Although the military's idea was to replace the polarizing García Meza with a less controversial and more acceptable leader equally as committed to the principles of the anti-communist National Security Doctrine, their plan did not come to fruition. The regime continued to be shunned internationally, and despised domestically. Furthermore, a very grave economic crisis loomed on the horizon, the result of years of mismanagement, a global recession, and the onset of the so-called Latin American debt crisis. Faced with the choices of mounting a fresh represive campaign to re-equilibrate the reeling regime (with the increased international isolation such a move would entail) or call elections, the high command chose the latter. In July 1982, General Torrelio was replaced with General
Guido Vildoso , who was charged with returning the country to democratic rule. Torrelio then retired and did not return to play any role in Bolivian politics.ource
*Prado Salmón, Gral. Gary. "Poder y Fuerzas Armadas, 1949-1982."
External links
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19990506/ai_n14234711 Obituary from "The Independent"]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
