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Colonial period During most of the Spanish colonial period, this territory was called "Upper Peru" or "Charcas" and was under the authority of the Viceroy of Lima. Local government came from the Audiencia de Charcas located in Chuquisaca (La Plata — modern Sucre). Bolivian silver mines produced much of the Spanish empire's wealth, and Potosí, site of the famed Cerro Rico — "Rich Hill" — was, for many years, the largest city in the Western Hemisphere. A steady stream of enslaved natives served as labor force. As Spanish royal authority weakened during the Napoleonic wars, sentiment against colonial rule grew. |
Independence was proclaimed in 1809, but 16 years of struggle followed before the establishment of the republic, named for Simón Bolívar, on August 6, 1825. During the presidency of Mariscal Andres de Santa Cruz, Bolivia enjoyed the most glorious period of her history with great social and economic advancement. Different wars against almost all of its neighbors were fought during this period with sound victories against its enemies, though the turning point took place on the fields of Paucarpata where the Confederacion Peru-Boliviana lead by Mariscal Santa Cruz defeated the Chilean and Peruvian rebel armies, on the same field a peace treaty known as the Paucarpata Treaty was signed with the unconditional surrender of the Chilean and Peruvian rebel army, allowing them to go back to Chile with all of their arms and equipment intact; later this treaty was discarded by the Chilean parliament. The rebel Peruvians and the Chilean army set off to a new war against Santa Cruz, defeating the Confederation on the fields of Yungay using the same arms and equipment Santa Cruz allowed them to carry back home. After this moment for nearly 60 years, coups and short-lived constitutions dominated Bolivian politics. Going through a vicious economic and political crisis, Bolivia's weakness was demonstrated during the War of the Pacific (1879–83), during which it lost its access to the sea, and the adjoining rich nitrate fields, together with the port of Antofagasta, to Chile. Since independence, Bolivia has lost over half of its territory to neighboring countries due to wars. Bolivia also lost the state of Acre (known for its production of rubber) when Brazil persuaded the state of Acre to secede from Bolivia in 1903. An increase in the world price of silver brought Bolivia a measure of relative prosperity and political stability in the late 1800s. During the early part of the 20th century, tin replaced silver as the country's most important source of wealth. A succession of governments controlled by the economic and social elite followed laissez-faire capitalist policies through the first third of the century. Living conditions of the native people, who constituted most of the population, remained deplorable. Forced to work under primitive conditions in the mines and in nearly feudal status on large estates, they were denied access to education, economic opportunity, or political participation. Bolivia's defeat by Paraguay in the Chaco War (1932–35) marked a turning point. |
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The Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (MNR) emerged as a broadly based party. Denied its victory in the 1951 presidential elections, the MNR led the successful 1952 revolution. Under President Víctor Paz Estenssoro, the MNR introduced universal adult suffrage, carried out a sweeping land reform, promoted rural education, and nationalized the country's largest tin mines. Twelve years of tumultuous rule left the MNR divided. In 1964, a military junta overthrew President Paz Estenssoro at the outset of his third term. The 1969 death of President René Barrientos Ortuño, a former member of the junta elected President in 1966, led to a succession of weak governments. Alarmed by public disorder, the military, the MNR, and others installed Col. (later General) Hugo Banzer Suárez as President in 1971. Banzer ruled with MNR support from 1971 to 1974. Then, impatient with schisms in the coalition, he replaced civilians with members of the armed forces and suspended political activities. The economy grew impressively during most of Banzer's presidency, but human rights violations and eventual fiscal crises undercut his support. He was forced to call elections in 1978, and Bolivia again entered a period of political turmoil. |
Elections in 1979, 1979, and 1981 were inconclusive and marked by fraud. There were coups, counter-coups, and caretaker governments. In 1980, Gen. Luis García Meza Tejada carried out a ruthless and violent coup that did not have popular support. He pacified the people by promising to remain in power only for one year. (At the end of the year, he staged a televised rally to claim popular support and announced, "Bueno, me quedo," or, "All right; I'll stay [in office]." He was deposed shortly thereafter.) His government was notorious for human rights abuses, narcotics trafficking, and economic mismanagement; during his presidency the inflation that would later cripple the Bolivian economy could already be felt. Later convicted in absentia for crimes including murder, García Meza was extradited from Brazil and began serving a 30-year sentence in 1995. After a military rebellion forced out García Meza in 1981, three other military governments in 14 months struggled with Bolivia's growing problems. Unrest forced the military to convoke the Congress elected in 1980 and allow it to choose a new chief executive. In October 1982, twenty-two years after the end of his first term of office (1956-60), Hernán Siles Zuazo again became President. Severe social tension, exacerbated by economic mismanagement and weak leadership, forced him to call early elections and relinquish power a year before the end of his constitutional term. |
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Sánchez de Lozada pursued an aggressive economic and social reform agenda. The most dramatic change undertaken by the Sánchez de Lozada government was the "capitalization" program, under which investors, typically foreign, acquired 50% ownership and management control of public enterprises, such as the state oil corporation, telecommunications system, airlines, railroads, and electric utilities in return for agreed upon capital investments. The reforms and economic restructuring were strongly opposed by certain segments of society, which instigated frequent and sometimes violent protests, particularly in La Paz and the Chapare coca-growing region, from 1994 through 1996. The Sánchez de Lozada government pursued a policy of offering monetary compensation for voluntary eradication of illegal coca by its growers in the Chapare region. The policy produced little net reduction in coca, and in the mid-1990s Bolivia accounted for about one-third of the world's coca going into cocaine. During this time, the umbrella labor organization of Bolivia, the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), became increasingly unable to effectively challenge government policy. A teachers' strike in 1995 was defeated because the COB could not marshall the support of many of its members, including construction and factory workers. The state also used selective martial law to keep the disruptions caused by the teachers to a minimum. The teachers were led by Trotskyists, and were considered to be the most militant union in the COB. Their downfall was a major blow to the COB. The COB also became mired in internal corruption and infighting in 1996. In the 1997 elections, Gen. Hugo Banzer, leader of the ADN, former dictator (1971-1978), won 22% of the vote, while the MNR candidate won 18%. Gen. Banzer formed a coalition of the ADN, MIR, UCS, and CONDEPA parties which held a majority of seats in the Bolivian Congress. The Congress elected him as president and he was inaugurated on August 6, 1997. During the election campaign, General Banzer had promised to suspend the privatization of the state owned oil company, YPFB. Considering the weak position that Bolivia was in vis-a-vis international corporations, though, this seemed unlikely. The Banzer government basically continued the free market and privatization policies of its predecessor, and the relatively robust economic growth of the mid-1990s continued until about the third year of its term in office. After that, regional, global and domestic factors contributed to a decline in economic growth. Financial crises in Argentina and Brazil, lower world prices for commodity exports, and reduced employment in the Coca sector depressed the Bolivian economy. The public also perceived a significant amount of public-sector corruption. These factors contributed to increasing social protests during the second half of Banzer's term. At the outset of his government, President Banzer launched a policy of using special police units to physically eradicate the illegal coca of the Chapare region. The policy produced a sudden and dramatic 4-year decline in Bolivia's illegal coca crop, to the point that Bolivia became a relatively small supplier of coca for cocaine. Those left unemployed by coca eradication streamed into the cities, especially El Alto, the slum neighbor of La Paz. The MIR of Jaime Paz Zamora remained a coalition partner throughout the Banzer government, supporting this policy (called the Dignity Plan). On August 6, 2001, Banzer resigned from office after being diagnosed with cancer. He died less than a year later. Banzer's U.S.-educated Vice President, Jorge Fernando Quiroga Ramírez, completed the final year of the term. Quiroga was constitutionally prohibited from running for national office in 2002 but can do so in 2007. In the June 2000 national elections, former President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (MNR) placed first with 22.5% of the vote, followed by coca advocate and native peasant leader Evo Morales (Movement Toward Socialism, MAS) with 20.9%. Morales edged out populist candidate Manfred Reyes Villa of the New Republican Force (NFR) by just 700 votes nationwide, earning a spot in the congressional run-off against Sánchez de Lozada on August 4, 2002. A July agreement between the MNR and the fourth-place MIR, which had again been led in the election by former president Paz Zamora, virtually ensured the election of Sánchez de Lozada in the congressional run-off, and on August 6 he was sworn in for the second time. The MNR platform featured three overarching objectives: economic reactivation (and job creation), anti-corruption, and social inclusion. |
In April 2000, the social movements in Bolivia came together to protest the privatization of water provision in Cochabamba. Three years earlier, the government sold rights to manage water in the city to Aguas del Tunari, a conglomerate led by Bechtel corporation. With a contract that permitted them only to invest the money they had collected in charges, the company raised water prices dramatically. They also made drawing water from community wells or gathering rainwater illegal, giving Aguas del Tunari exclusive rights. Protests that included Cochabamba residents, those who had come in to the city from the country, and coca growers took over the city. Some allege that they turned violent but this is disputed. Then president Banzer responded by sending in the military, who reacted with extreme force to the protests. One soldier was filmed fatally shooting an unarmed 17-year-old, Victor Hugo Daza, in the face. Roadblocks paralyzed parts of the country. The protesters were helped along by policemen, who took the opportunity to go on strike for higher wages. Finally the government gave into the protesters demands and revoked the water contract. It was an unprecedented moment of unity for the Bolivian social movements against neoliberal reform. 1-2 During February 2003, four-year economic recession, tight fiscal situation, and widespread corruption inside the government mounted again in a police revolt that nearly toppled the government of President Sánchez de Lozada; several days of unrest left more than 30 persons dead. The government stayed in power but remained unpopular. Widespread protests broke out in October and revealed deep dissatisfaction with the government. Approximately 80 people died during the demonstrations which led President Sánchez de Lozada to resign from office on October 17, and Lozada subsequently fled the country for quasi-exile in the United States. In a constitutional transfer of power, Vice President Carlos Mesa assumed the Presidency and promised to hold a binding referendum on the export of Bolivian natural gas. The referendum took place on July 18, and the electorate voted overwhelmingly in favor of development of the nation's hydrocarbon resources and the imposition of a 51% tax on their extraction. Mesa planned to detail the government's development plans in legislation to be introduced to Congress. Mesa, a well-known journalist, enjoyed popularity with the Bolivian public previous to ascending the presidency, but he faced the same difficulties — social divisions, a radical opposition committed to extra-parliamentary action, and an ongoing fiscal deficit — as the previous administration. On June 6, 2005, congress was forced to accept the resignation of President Carlos Mesa when more than 80,000 protestors surrounded the presidential palace demanding nationalization of the gas industry. The protestors argued that native communities, one third of Bolivia's population, were not adequately represented in government. Consequently, the campesinos and native population, angered by the inequitable dividends paid by the multinational petroleum companies, set up roadblocks throughout the country and placed all the major cities under siege. With Carlos Mesa stranded in the Palace of Plaza Murillo, the congress and senate closed, protestors roamed the streets of La Paz threatening to drive the "corbateros" (those clothed in suits and ties) from the country. A civil war was averted when, on June 9, 157 members of congress converged on the Casa de La Libertad in Sucre and nominated Eduardo Rodríguez, then serving as President of the Supreme Court, to the Presidency of the Republic. President Rodriguez, to avert a civil war, promised to hold new national elections in December 2005. |
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The 2005 Bolivian presidential election was held on December 18, 2005. The two main candidates were Juan Evo Morales Ayma of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) Party, and Jorge Quiroga, leader of the Democratic and Social Power (PODEMOS) Party and former head of the Acción Democrática Nacionalista (ADN) Party. Morales won the election with 54 percent of the votes, an absolute majority unprecedented in Bolivian elections. He was sworn in on January 22, 2006 for a five-year term. Prior to his official inauguration in La Paz, he was inaugurated in an native ritual at the archeological site of Tiawanaku, before a crowd of thousands of native people and representatives of social movements from across Latin America. However, those rituals do not represent the views/opinions of most Quechua native speakers; it only represents native Aymaras. Since the Spanish Conquest in the early 1500's, this region of South America, with a majority native population, has been ruled by external forces, and Morales has stated that the 500 years of colonialism are now over, and that the era of autonomy has begun. His recent presidential election victory has also brought new attention to the U.S. drug war in South America and its heavy emphasis on coca crop eradication. The US-led "Plan Dignidad" (dignity plan), which seeks to reduce coca production to zero, is seen by many Bolivians as an attack on their livelihoods and way of life. Morales has said his government will try to interdict drugs, but he wants to preserve the legal market for coca leaves and promote export of legal coca products. On May 1, 2006, Morales nationalized two Brazilian Petrobras refineries which produces more than 70% of Bolivian natural gas. The announcement was timed to coincide with the International Workers Day. While Morales stated that the nationalization initiative will not take the form of expropriations or confiscations, he directed the military to occupy and secure various energy installations. Foreign energy companies were given a six month "transition period" to re-negotiate contracts, or face expulsion. |
Bolivia Information: Inside
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