David Padilla Arancibia (13 August 1927 – 25 September 2016) was a Bolivian general who served as the 53rd president of Bolivia from 1978[1] to 1979.

He was serving in that capacity when he deposed the also de facto government of General Juan Pereda on 24 November 1978.

Pereda had taken the presidency in July of the same year simply because it was available to him, many military leaders having grown tired of the constant manipulations of dictator Hugo Banzer for his personal political ends.

His goal was simple: to transfer power to whoever won the upcoming presidential elections and effect a retreat of the military to its barracks and posts of operation, where they belonged.

He left the governing palace as an almost universally respected former de facto military leader — a rarity indeed in the history of Bolivia.