predecessor successor birth_name birth_place death_date death_place nationality profession birth_date order term_start article_title term_end name
luis garcía meza guido vildoso celso torrelio villa chuquisaca , bolivia 23 april 1999 la paz , bolivia bolivian military 3 june 1933 69th president of bolivia 4 september 1981 celso torrelio
 21 july 1982 celso torrelio
celso torrelio

celso torrelio villa -lrb- june 3 , 1933 , chuquisaca , bolivia - april 23 , 1999 , la paz -rrb- was a military general , a member of the junta of commanders of the armed forces -lrb- 1981 -rrb- , and de facto president of bolivia between september 1981 and august 1982 .
a native of padilla , department of chuquisaca , torrelio joined the bolivian army and rose to the rank of general .
he served as the notorious dictator luis garcía meza 's minister of interior after the departure -lrb- forced by washington -rrb- of the equally infamous colonel luis arce .
the garcía meza regime became internationally known for its extreme brutality .
some 1,000 people are estimated to have been killed by the bolivian army and security forces between july 1980 and august 1981 .
in addition , the garcía meza government was deeply involved in drug trafficking activities , and may have come to power financed directly by the drug cartels .
this led to the complete isolation of the regime .
even the new , conservative u.s. president , ronald reagan , kept its distance and seemed to prefer better options .
eventually , the international outcry was sufficiently strong to force garcía meza 's resignation on august 3 , 1981 .
the high command of the military of bolivia at that point entrusted general celso torrelio with the presidency .
although the military 's idea was to replace the polarizing garcía meza with a less controversial and more acceptable leader equally as committed to the principles of the anti-communist national security doctrine , their plan did not come to fruition .
the regime continued to be shunned internationally , and despised domestically .
furthermore , a very grave economic crisis loomed on the horizon , the result of years of mismanagement , a global recession , and the onset of the so-called latin american debt crisis .
faced with the choices of mounting a fresh repressive campaign to re-equilibrate the reeling regime -lrb- with the increased international isolation such a move would entail -rrb- or call elections , the high command chose the latter .
in july 1982 , general torrelio was replaced with general guido vildoso , who was charged with returning the country to democratic rule .
torrelio then retired and did not return to play any role in bolivian politics .
torrelio was replaced by the junta of commanders of the armed forces -lrb- 1982 -rrb- .
