You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and maybe it's when I had a hand in.

I'm Tammy Walker and I produce podcasts for the BBC.

My role is to give new and diverse creators a voice with the opportunity to build a career.

That's the thing I love about Podcast.

You start with just a good idea.

But then you have the space to see where it goes.

And doing that at the BBC means we can really run with the best stories

while developing the most unique audio talent.

So if you like what you hear, why not check out the huge range of

podcast we've got on BBC Sounds. Hello, thanks for downloading the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service

with me Laura Jones. Today we're going back to 1984 to the South American country of Bolivia

when President Swasso went on hunger strike in an attempt to stabilize the nation.

I've been speaking to his daughter Marcella Ciles from the capital, Lappaz.

The hunger strike was mostly because he was so frustrated that he couldn't govern.

He had no majority in Congress. His party was a

union of different parties. Each one was pulling in their own direction. Strikes

all over the country, I mean there was a huge inflation and he could do nothing about it.

In 1982, Dr. Enan Ciles Swasso returned from exile in Peru where he'd been living for two years

after escaping in a boat from Bolivia.

He'd been president before but he wasn't that keen on taking back control of a country in crisis.

In the last seven years before he took office again

there were seven military coups and he was in exile we all were in Lima Peru

...