On to Elections

At first glance, it looked like a classic Latin American power grab. A long line of cars pulled up to the La Paz military airport, and Army General Alfredo Ovando escorted Air Force General Rene Barrientos to the steps of a waiting C-54. Moments later, Barrientos was on his way to Switzerland. Only a few days before, Barrientos and Ovando had been co-Presidents of Bolivia's 14-month-old military junta. Now, there was only Ovando.

In Bolivia, where things are seldom what they seem, the little tableau was actually normal democratic process. The junta had called presidential elections for July 3. And Barrientos, the country's leading candidate, was only sticking to the constitution, which provides that a candidate must resign any public office he holds six months before the balloting. To rest up and get in shape for the long campaign ahead, Barrientos decided to spend a few weeks abroad.

If his past performance is any gauge, Barrientos will need the rest. At least twice a week while coPresident, he jumped behind the controls of his rickety DC-3 and went whistle-stopping to the remotest corners of his Andean nation, donning Indian hats and ponchos, beaming through storms of confetti and trading quips with campesinos in their native Quechua tongue. He ran his government with the same dash and flamboyance.

Early last year, when Communist union leaders resisted his reforms for Bolivia's notoriously inefficient tin mines, Barrientos slapped the mines under military control, ordered troops into troubled areas and exiled 200 union leaders, including Union Boss Juan Lechin. After a bloody series of battles that left 102 dead and 350 wounded, the miners finally gave in. Helped along by a high tin market, the mines moved from under a $3,000,000 deficit in the first five months of last year to a net year-end profit of some $2,000,000--their first year in the black since 1953.

As the government candidate (Ovando isn't interested) and Bolivia's most popular and colorful figure, Barrientos seems to have a clear field in the elections. Assuming, that is, that he does not kill himself on one of his barnstorming tours. As one of his friends comments: "Only a dead Barrientos will quit trying to be President."

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