One More Time

Since Bolivia won its independence from Spain in 1825, it has been rocked by more than 180 uprisings--most of them successful. Last October, General Juan Jose Torres, 50, led his leftist military regime to power in comic-opera fashion: while a right-wing junta was busily jostling then President Alfredo Ovando Candia out of office. Torres quietly gained the support of the air force and moved into the presidential palace. Last week Torres in his turn was battling yet another revolution.

The rebellion began after Torres arrested 30 soldiers and civilians for alleged plotting against his regime. Right-wing army elements revolted in the eastern city of Santa Cruz and soon claimed military support in six of Bolivia's nine provinces. The rebels proclaimed as President one of the men arrested a day earlier, General Hugo Banzer.

In La Paz, Torres vowed that he would defend his regime "unto the end" against the "uprising of the fascists." He was supported by elements of the army and by the powerful Central Labor Organization, which began to organize its membership into "commando" units. At week's end forces loyal to Torres were reported to have regained control of Oruro, a strategic rail and highway town that links La Paz with the all-important tin mines.

Then fighting broke out in La Paz, the seat of government, where, in the folklore of Bolivia, a revolution is won or lost. It began when cadets at the military academy declared themselves for the rebels and began taking on two loyal battalions. Torres' forces hastily began to barricade the streets. When the armed forces commander gave Torres an ultimatum to resign, Torres reportedly answered: "You will have to carry me out of here dead." Later, however, just before four rebel tanks trained their guns on the palace, the President left hurriedly to join his loyalist forces. As the battle raged, the only certainty was that Bolivians were once again killing other Bolivians in earnest.

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