Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada y Sánchez Bustamante (born July 1, 1930), familiarly known as "Goni", is a former two-term president of Bolivia. He is credited for "shock therapy" (with Jeffrey Sachs) — the extreme measures taken by Bolivia to cut down on rampant hyperinflation caused by excessive government spending.
He studied literature and philosophy in the United States, and is sometimes criticized in Bolivia as "El Gringo" — referring to his poor Spanish, highly American upbringing, and pro-US policies. He is a member of the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario, MNR). He obtained 22.46% of the vote in the June 30, 2002 elections.
Gas War & resignation
An uprising of syndical cocalero and radical indegenous groups —among them Evo Morales, (a Socialist-populist leader and the main opponent to Lozada) and Felipe Quispe, leader of the peasant union and former prisoner after being involved in terrorism and guerillas in the 80's —brought about a civil uprising known as the Bolivian Gas War to stop Lozada from exporting Bolivia's raw natural gas reserves to Chile. In order to bring an end to the uprising and bring back order to the chaotic cities of La Paz and El Alto, which appeared to have no end in sight and in which some fifty people had died, Lozada was forced to resign on 17 October 2003. He left Bolivia in the same day for exile to United States.
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Last updated: 06-02-2005 18:31:08
