Melgarejo, Mariano (c. 1820–1871)

Bolivian dictator and most notorious of the caudillos who dominated 19th-century Bolivia. Melgarejo seized power in 1864 and survived a series of rebellions before he was overthrown by the last in a series of military uprisings seven years later.

Melgarejo sold disputed land to Brazil, allowed Chilean businessmen to exploit Bolivian nitrate deposits, and seized large tracts of Indian land in the Altiplano (high plateau) to be sold to the highest bidder. This policy deprived virtually all Indians in the area of their land within a few decades.