When President Hugo Banzer unveiled his national drug plan three years ago there were few believers.

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After the truce, Mr Banzer shuffled his cabinet to give his government a fresh look.

ECONOMIST: Bolivia

President Hugo Banzer, the former dictator democratically elected last year, may do better.

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He leads the opposition to Mr Banzer's government, but has recently been seeking agreements with the president, apparently to sideline Mr Paz.

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One of the matters Mr Sanchez de Lozada raised at a long meeting with Mr Banzer earlier this month was his fear of electoral fraud.

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Though he came to power democratically in 1997, Mr Banzer after all was Bolivia's unelected boss, thanks to a military coup, from 1971 to 1978.

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Opposition politicians also suspect that Mr Banzer's reforming instincts are skin-deep.

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But there the parallels stop: since handing over power, General Banzer is generally reckoned to have worked, not selflessly, maybe, but diligently, in politics to re-establish and uphold democracy.

ECONOMIST: Bolivia

General Banzer was forced to stand down in 1978 by a worsening economy, erosion of support in the armed forces and a big hunger strike, which led to international pressure for elections.

ECONOMIST: Bolivia

To their credit, President Banzer, elected in 1997, and his vice-president, Jorge Quiroga, who is in charge of the reforms, waited until the new system was in place to appoint seven new judges to the 12-member Supreme Court.

ECONOMIST: Bolivia