Jean-Baptiste Bagaza (29 August 1946 – 4 May 2016) was a Burundian army officer and politician who ruled Burundi as president and de facto military dictator from November 1976 to September 1987.

Born into the Tutsi ethnic group in 1946, Bagaza served in the Burundian military and rose through the ranks under the rule of Michel Micombero after his rise to power in 1966.

Despite having participated in the genocidal killings of 1972, he introduced various reforms which modernised the state and made concessions to the country's ethnic Hutu majority.

[1] In May he was, at the rank of captain, appointed adjunct chief of staff of the Burundian military in charge of logistics—largely because of his family's connections to the Micombero, replacing purged Hutu officer Martin Ndayahoze.

[1] The constitution was temporarily suspended by a military junta, the 30-member Supreme Revolutionary Council, which declared Bagaza president on 10 November 1976.

[7] Under Bagaza, a programme of economic modernization was begun to allow the emergence of small-scale capitalist agriculture, involving the construction of two new hydroelectric dams which still form the basis for Burundi's energy infrastructure.

[3] He also initiated road building programs, expanded the availability of drinking water, and developed a port on Lake Tanganyika.

His infrastructure investments helped to shape Burundi's export ecenomy which came to rely on coffee, tea and sugar.

[8] After the election, Bagaza organized a military operation against the Catholic Church in Burundi,[3] regarding it as a threat to his power.

[5] He also tried to implement other "eccentricities" such as restricting bar openings and officially limiting the time as well as money Burundians were allowed to spend for traditional betrothal and mourning ceremonies.

[1][7] Bob Krueger argued that these policies ultimately alienated too many Burundians and led to Bagaza's deposition,[1] a view shared by Watt.

[10] A military coup broke out in September 1987, led by Major Pierre Buyoya, while Bagaza was abroad in Quebec, Canada.

In 2005, there were rumours that radical followers of Bagaza were organising a rebel group known as "Justice and Liberity United Front".

[16] When major unrest erupted in the country in the period leading up to the 2015 election, Bagaza and the other three still-living ex-presidents called for an international intervention.