Editing Hugo Banzer (section)

==Civilian political leader==
Upon leaving office, Banzer formed the [[Nationalist Democratic Action|ADN]] party ''(Acción Democrática Nacionalista)'', a large organization that attracted most conservative groups under his leadership. Banzer ran for elections in 1979 and 1980, obtaining third place in both contests. The 1979 contest remained inconclusive because, no candidate having received the necessary 50% of the vote, Congress had to determine the president.  The legislature would have likely picked Siles had it not been for the coup of 17 July 1980 which installed a reactionary (and cocaine-tainted) dictatorship led by General [[Luis García Meza]]. With the military's reputation badly damaged by the excesses of the 1980–1982 dictatorship, it was decided to accept the 1980 election results and reconvene the Congress elected that year. That body duly elected Siles as president.

Banzer opposed bitterly the UDP government of Siles which lasted from 1982 to 1985, but turned more conciliatory when [[Víctor Paz Estenssoro]] was elected president (by congress, due to the virtual unattainability of the 50% necessary for direct election) in 1985. Indeed, Banzer's party claimed authorship of some of the most prominent neoliberal economic reforms instituted by Paz to curb galloping hyperinflation, repress the influence of labor unions, and generally reduce government control of the economy. 

Banzer finished second in the [[1989 Bolivian general election|1989 elections]] closely behind the MNR's [[Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada]] and ahead of the centre-left [[Revolutionary Left Movement (Bolivia)|Revolutionary Left Movement]]'s [[Jaime Paz Zamora]].<ref name=Assies1989>{{cite book|title=Crisis in Bolivia: The Elections of 2002 and their Aftermath|url=https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/3405/1/B38_-_Crisis_in_Bolivia_The_Elections_of_2002_and_their_Aftermath.pdf|date=January 2003|accessdate=19 April 2004|last1=Assies|first1=Willem|last2=Salman|first2=Ton|publisher=[[University of London]]|isbn=1900039605|page=11}}</ref> Until the 1989 election Banzer and Paz Zamora had been staunch political enemies, but driven by a shared disdain for the MNR they came to a deal. Banzer and the ADN agreed to vote in congress for Paz Zamora to become president, in return for Paz Zamora's promise to support Banzer in a future election.<ref name=Assies1989/>

At the [[1993 Bolivian general election|1993 election]] Banzer once again finished second to the MNR and Sánchez de Lozada. The MNRs plurality, in coalition with the small center-left Bolivia Libre party, made it possible to confirm the MNR's electoral victory. In the 1997 elections, however, Banzer finished first by a small plurality, and was able to take the presidency with the support of Paz and others in a grand coalition ranging from Paz' [[Revolutionary Left Movement (Bolivia)|Revolutionary Left Movement]] to Banzer's ADN on the right.