Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
POLITICAL & ECONOMIC STRIFE
During the 20th century wealthy tin barons and landowners controlled Bolivian farming
and mining interests, while the peasantry was rele- gated to
pongueaje,
a feudal system of
peonage. Civil unrest brewed, with the most significant development being the emergence
of the Movi- miento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) political party. It united the
masses behind the common cause of popular reform, sparking friction between peasant
miners and absentee tin bosses. Under the leadership of Víctor Paz Estenssoro, the MNR
prevailed in the 1951 elections, but a last-minute military coup prevented it from actually
taking power. What ensued was a period of serious combat, which ended with the defeat of
the military and Paz Estensorro's rise to power in what has been called the National Re-
volution of 1952. He immediately nationalized the mines, evicted the tin barons, put an end
to
pongueaje
and set up Comibol (Corporación Minera de Bolivia), the state entity in
charge of mining interests. The MNR remained in power for 12 years but even with US
support it was unable to raise the standard of living or increase food production substan-
tially.
The '60s and '70s were decades of military
coups, dictators, brutal regimes of torture, ar-
rests and disappearances, as well as a marked
increase in cocaine production and trafficking.
In 1982 Congress elected Hernán Siles
Zuazo, the civilian left-wing leader of the
Communist-supported Movimiento de la
Izquierda Revo- lucionaria (MIR), which began
one of the longest democratic periods in Bolivian history to date. His term was beleaguered
by labor disputes, government overspending and huge monetary devaluation, resulting in a
truly staggering inflation rate that at one point reached 35,000% annually.
When Siles Zuazo gave up after three years and called general elections, Paz Estenssoro
returned to politics to become president for the fourth time. He immediately enacted harsh
measures to revive the shattered economy including ousting labor unions, imposing a wage
freeze and eliminating price subsidies, then deployed armed forces to keep the peace. Infla-
tion was curtailed within weeks, but spiraling unemployment threatened the government's
stability.
To encourage the settlement of the Amazon, Paz
Estenssoro promoted road building (with Japanese
aid) in the wilderness and opened up vast indigen-
ous lands and pristine rainforest to logging in-
terests.
