National Unity Committee (Bolivia)
National Unity Committee Comité de Unidad Nacional | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | CUN |
| Founded | November 1977 |
| Registered | April 1978 |
| Dissolved | April 1979 |
| Ideology | National conservatism Technocracy |
| Political position | Right-wing |
| National affiliation | Nationalist Union of the People (1978) |
The National Unity Committee (Spanish: Comité de Unidad Nacional; CUN) was a political party in Bolivia that existed from 1977 to 1979. The party espoused national conservative and technocratic principles, and generally sat at the right wing of the political spectrum.
Established at the outset of the democratic transition in November 1977, the party primarily consisted of technocrats who had served in the government of Hugo Banzer. Led by Gastón Villa and later Ronald MacLean, it endorsed Banzer as its candidate for president before shifting its support to the regime's surrogate, Juan Pereda. The CUN was a component of the Nationalist Union of the People in the 1978 general election, and its leadership was responsible for the alliance's election manifesto.
The CUN won four seats in the Chamber of Deputies as part of Pereda's landslide victory. Following the annulment of the results due to electoral fraud, the party supported the coup d'état that propelled Pereda to the presidency. It held several posts in the Pereda administration and was responsible for two ministries in the president's cabinet, being the only party to remain in government by the end of Pereda's tenure.
Deposed alongside Pereda in another coup d'état in November 1978, the CUN faded into obscurity. Its membership was largely folded into Nationalist Democratic Action, founded by Banzer to contest the 1979 general election. Multiple past members, including MacLean, continued their political careers in the new party.