Bolivian Democracy Day

On Sunday, October 10, 1982, Bolivia left behind one of the darkest pages of its history, the era of dictatorships that struck the country since 1964, sowing terror and death. Hernán Siles Zuazo assumed the presidency. The people celebrated.

Around 4:30 p.m. that day, in the Legislative Palace of the city of La Paz, the seat of government, the head of the Democratic and Popular Unity (UDP) pronounced the expected "yes, I swear", which was received with applause by the crowd concentrated in the Murillo square, in its surroundings, in other parts of the city and the country.

Two days before, Siles stepped on Bolivian soil again after his exile. He promised hope, a "new time", one of "freedom, democracy and social justice". He arrived from Lima, Peru, in a Bolivian Air Force (FAB) plane. He had been proclaimed constitutional president, alongside Jaime Paz Zamora as vice-president.

Already in Peruvian territory he had launched a prophetic phrase. "The march of democracy is unstoppable in Latin America and will soon reach the entire South". At that time, the boots of the military were still marking the pace of repression in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay; Panama and a good part of the map of Central America.