An attempt on the life of Acting President Tomás Monje Gutierrez touched it off. Just before noon a demented young ex-officer named Luis Oblitas rushed into the Presidential Palace, clubbed the secretary, leveled his gun at the President and shouted, "I'm going to be President."
"Fire," said the President, unbuttoning his vest and spreading his arms. "I am here by the will of the people." The madman hesitated, and in that moment the police were upon him.
Outside, in the Plaza Murillo, where last July a mob lynched Dictator Villarroel, the news rapidly drew a crowd that swelled to 80,000....
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