Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada
| Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 74th and 77th President of Bolivia | |
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In office August 6, 1993 – August 6, 1997 |
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| Vice President | Víctor Hugo Cárdenas (1993-1997) |
| Preceded by | Jaime Paz Zamora |
| Succeeded by | Hugo Bánzer Suárez |
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In office August 6, 2002 – October 17, 2003 |
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| Vice President | Carlos Mesa (2002-2003) |
| Preceded by | Jorge Quiroga Ramírez |
| Succeeded by | Carlos Mesa |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Sánchez de Bustamante July 1, 1930 La Paz, Bolivia |
| Nationality | Bolivian |
| Political party | MNR |
| Spouse(s) | Ximena Iturralde |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago (A.B.) |
| Religion | Christianity |
Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada y Sánchez de Bustamante (born July 1, 1930), familiarly known as "Goni", is a Bolivian politician and businessman, who served as President of Bolivia for two non-consecutive terms. He is a lifelong member of the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR). As Minister of Planning in the government of President Víctor Paz Estenssoro, Sánchez de Lozada used "shock therapy" in 1985 to cut hyperinflation from an estimated 25,000% to a single digit within a period of less than 6 weeks.
Sánchez de Lozada was twice elected President of Bolivia, both times on the MNR ticket. During his first term (1993–1997), he initiated a series of landmark social, economic and constitutional reforms. Elected to a second term in 2002, he struggled with protests and events in October 2003 related to the Bolivian gas conflict. Official reports said that 59 protesters, soldiers and policemen died; most deaths were of protesters or bystanders. He resigned and went into exile in the United States in October 2003. In March 2006, he resigned the leadership of the MNR.
The government of Evo Morales has unsuccessfully been seeking his extradition from the US to stand a political trial for the events of 2003. Victims' representatives have pursued compensatory damages for extrajudicial killings in a suit against him in the United States under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). In 2014 the US District Court in Florida ruled the case could proceed under the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA); both sides filed appeals on this ruling in 2015.
The son of a political exile, Sánchez de Lozada spent his early years in the United States, where he attended boarding school at Scattergood Friends School in rural Iowa. He studied literature and philosophy at the University of Chicago. As a result of this experience, his Spanish is accented, leading many Bolivians to refer to him as "El Gringo."
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