History of Bolivia (1920–1964)

The Liberal Party's long rule of Bolivia, one of the most stable periods in the country's history, ended when the Republicans seized the presidency in a bloodless coup d'état in 1920. Fernando Díez de Medina, a Bolivian writer, commented on the change: "Twenty years of privilege for one group ends, and ten years of privilege for another begins." Republican Party soon split into two parties: one led by Bautista Saavedra with his Republican Socialist Party and another led by Daniel Salamanca, who established the Genuine Republican Party. Saavedra, President between 1920 and 1925, had the support of the urban middle class, while Salamanca was more conservative. Several minor political parties influenced by socialist or Marxist thought also emerged. During the Republican rule, the Bolivian economy underwent a profound change. Tin prices started to decline in the 1920s. After peaking in 1929, tin production fell dramatically as the Great Depression nearly destroyed the international tin market. This decline was also caused by the decrease in the tin content of ore and the end of new investment in the mines in Bolivia. As economic growth slowed, Republican presidents relied on foreign loans. Saavedra (1920–25) and Hernando Siles Reyes (1926–30) borrowed heavily in the United States to finance major development projects, despite opposition by Bolivian nationalists to the favorable terms for the lender. The so-called Nicolaus loan aroused national indignation because it gave the United States control over Bolivia's tax collections in return for a private banking loan of US$33 million. Labor unrest, such as the miners' strike in Uncia in 1923, was brutally suppressed. The unrest reached new heights of violence after the drastic workforce reduction during the Great Depression. Indian peasants continued to rebel in the countryside. However, they had been disarmed, and their leaders had been executed after participating in the overthrow of the Conservative Party in 1899. Now, for the first time, the Indians found support for their cause among the elite. Gustavo Navarro, who took the name Tristan Marof, was Bolivia's most important Indianist. He saw in the Inca past the first successful socialism and the model to solve rural problems. As Indian uprisings continued during the Liberal rule, Siles Reyes promised to improve their situation and organized the National Crusade in Favor of Indians. The social legislation of the Republican governments was weak, however, because neither Saavedra nor Siles Reyes wanted to challenge the rosca (tin mining magnates' political representatives). Siles Reyes's four years of inconsistent rule and unfulfilled promises of radical changes frustrated workers and students. In 1930, he was overthrown when he tried to bypass the constitutional provision forbidding reelection by resigning to run again. A military junta ruled until March 1931, when Republican leader Daniel Salamanca (1931–34) was elected as a candidate of the Republican and Liberal coalition. Although he was an esteemed economist before taking office, Salamanca was unable to suppress social unrest and to solve the severe economic problems caused by the Great Depression. Criticism of his administration mounted in all sectors of Bolivian society. Initially reluctant to enter into an armed conflict with Paraguay, he nevertheless led Bolivia into the Chaco war, a move supported by the military and traditional groups. == Chaco War (1932–1935) ==

|thumb|upright The Chaco War originated in a long-standing dispute between Bolivia and Paraguay over the Gran Chaco region. This vast area was largely undeveloped except for some minor oil discoveries by Standard Oil in Bolivia and by Royal Dutch Shell in Paraguay. The Chaco, which Bolivia traditionally regarded as its province, became more significant to Bolivia after it lost its Pacific coastline to Chile in 1879. Bolivia hoped to access the Atlantic Ocean with an oil pipeline across the Chaco to the Paraguay River. Despite mediation attempts by various countries, the increased number of border incidents led the military high commands of Bolivia and Paraguay to prepare for the inevitability of war. President Salamanca used one of the border incidents to break diplomatic relations with Paraguay and to increase Bolivia's military budget, even though the country had severe economic problems. Convinced that Bolivia's better-equipped, German-trained troops outnumbered the Paraguayan army and could win the war, Salamanca went to war in September 1932. The war raged for the next three years. The Bolivians experienced defeat in all major battles. By the end of 1934, they had been driven back 482 kilometers from their original positions deep in the Chaco to the foothills of the Andes. Serious strategic errors, poor intelligence, and logistical problems reaching the distant battle lines contributed to the losses. In addition, the morale of the Bolivian troops was low, and the highland Indian troops could not adapt to the extreme climate in the low-lying Chaco. Despite the high command's decision to end the war, Salamanca was determined to continue at all costs. In 1934, when he traveled to the Chaco to take personal command over the war, Salamanca was arrested by the high command and forced to resign. His vice-president, José Luis Tejada Sorzano, who was known to favor peace, was installed as president (1934–36). Salamanca's overthrow proved a turning point in the Chaco War. New, more capable Bolivian officers stopped the Paraguayan troops, who fought closer to Bolivian supply lines. On June 14, 1935, a commission of neutral nations (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and the United States) declared an armistice; a definite settlement was finally reached in 1938. Bolivia lost the Chaco but retained the petroleum fields, which Paraguay had failed to reach. Both countries suffered heavy losses in the war. Bolivia lost an estimated 65,000 people killed and 35,000 wounded or captured out of a population of just under 3 million. The humiliating disaster of the Chaco War had a profound impact on Bolivia, which saw the conflict as a watershed event in the history of the 20th century. The traditional oligarchy was discredited because of its inept civilian and military leadership in the war. Unable to deal with growing criticism, its members blamed the loss of the war on the low potential of the Bolivians and saw the earlier pessimistic assessment in Alcides Arguedas's famous novel Pueblo Enfermo (A Sick People) confirmed. After the war, middle-class professionals, writers, and young officers questioned the traditional leadership. This group, which came to be known as the Chaco Generation, searched for new ways to deal with the nation's problems. It resented the service of the rosca on behalf of the tin-mining entrepreneurs. It criticized Standard Oil Co., which had delivered oil to Paraguay clandestinely through Argentine intermediaries during the war. The Chaco Generation was convinced of the need for social change. Gustavo Navarro, now more radical than during the 1920s, proclaimed the famous slogan "land to the Indians, mines to the state". The military, which came to power in 1936, tried to bring about change with popular support. == Prelude to the National Revolution, 1935–1952 ==

Radical military government On May 17, 1936, Colonel David Toro Ruilova (1936–37) overthrew President Tejada in a military coup. Because the officer corps wanted to avoid a civilian investigation of the military's wartime leadership, backing for the coup came from all ranks. The main backers were a group of younger officers who wanted to bring profound change to Bolivia. Toro, the leader of this group, hoped to reform the country from the top down. His program of "military socialism" included social and economic justice and government control over natural resources. He also planned to set up a corporate-style political system to replace the democratic system established in 1825. Toro attempted to get civilian support with far-reaching social legislation and nominated a print worker as the first labor secretary in Bolivia. He also nationalized the holdings of Standard Oil without compensation and called for convening a constitutional congress that would include the traditional parties, new reformist groups, and the labor movement. The trend toward reform, however, could not be halted, and several new groups gained control of the Congress during Peñaranda's presidency. Although very different in ideological outlooks, these groups agreed on the need to change the status quo. They included the Trotskyist Revolutionary Workers Party (Partido Obrero Revolucionario, POR), which had already been formed in 1934, as well as the Bolivian Socialist Falange (Falange Socialista Boliviana, FSB), founded in 1937 and patterned on the Spanish Falange. The Leftist Revolutionary Party (Partido de Izquierda Revolucionaria, PIR) was founded in 1940 by a coalition of radical Marxist groups. The labor sector did not cooperate with the government, and the PIR became discredited because of its alliance with the conservative forces. In 1946, the workers endorsed the Thesis of Pulacayo, in which the miners called for permanent revolution and violent armed struggle for the working class. As the labor sector became more radical, the government resorted more and more to oppression, and confrontations increased. The dismissal of 7,000 miners and the brutal suppression of yet another uprising in Catavi in 1949 made any cooperation between the government and the workers impossible. The MNR emerged as the dominant opposition group. Although most of its leaders, including Paz Estenssoro, were in exile in Argentina, the party continued to be represented in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. During the sexenio, the party, despite its predominantly middle-class background, repeatedly took the side of the workers and adopted their radical ideology. The MNR also came to support the defense of Indian rights, as violence in the countryside increased when the promises given at the National Indigenous Congress were not fulfilled. The MNR's attempts to gain power during the sexenio were unsuccessful. Its 1949 coup attempt failed, although, with the support of the workers and some military officers, it gained control of most major cities except La Paz. The MNR's attempt to gain power by legal means in 1951 also failed. In the presidential election of May 1951, the MNR's Paz Estenssoro, who remained in exile in Argentina, ran for president, and Siles Zuazo ran for vice president, both on a platform of nationalization and land reform. With the support of the POR and the newly formed Bolivian Communist Party (Partido Comunista de Bolivia, PCB), the MNR won with a clear plurality. The outgoing president persuaded the military to remove the MNR from taking power. Mamerto Urriolagoitia Harriague (1949–51), who succeeded the ailing Hertzog in 1949, backed a military junta under General Hugo Ballivián Rojas (1951–52). Under Ballivián, the government made a last futile attempt to suppress the growing unrest throughout the country. By 1952, the Bolivian economy had deteriorated even further. The governments of the sexenio had been reluctant to increase taxes for the upper class and to reduce social spending, resulting in high inflation. The tin industry had stagnated since the Great Depression despite short revivals during World War II. Ore content had declined, and the richer veins were depleted, increasing tin production costs; at the same time, tin prices on the international market fell. A disagreement with the United States over tin prices temporarily halted exports and caused a decline in income, further hurting the economy. The agricultural sector lacked capital, and food imports had increased, reaching 19% of total imports in 1950. The land was unequally distributed - 1,000 hectares or more estates held 92% of the cultivable land. The social unrest that resulted from this economic decline increased during the last weeks before the 1952 National Revolution when a hunger march through La Paz attracted most sectors of society. The military was severely demoralized, and the high command called unsuccessfully for unity in the armed forces; many officers assigned themselves abroad, charged each other with coup attempts, or deserted. ==Bolivian National Revolution, 1952==

By the beginning of 1952, the MNR again tried to gain power by force, plotting with General Antonio Seleme, the junta member in control of internal administration and the National Police (Policía Nacional). On April 9, the MNR launched the rebellion in La Paz by seizing arsenals and distributing arms to civilians. This included a large number of indigenous miners and peasants. Armed miners marched on La Paz and blocked troops on their way to reinforce the city. After three days of fighting, the desertion of Seleme, and the loss of some 600 lives, the army surrendered, and Paz Estenssoro assumed the presidency on April 16, 1952. Radical reforms The "reluctant revolutionaries", as some called the leaders of the multiclass MNR, looked more to Mexico than to the Soviet Union, for example. But during the first year of Paz Estenssoro's presidency, the radical faction in the party, which had gained strength during the sexenio when the party embraced the workers and their ideology, forced the MNR leaders to act quickly. In July 1952, the government established universal suffrage, with neither literacy nor property requirements. In the first postrevolutionary elections in 1956, eligible voters increased from approximately 200,000 to nearly 1 million. The government also moved quickly to control the armed forces, purging many officers associated with past Conservative Party regimes and drastically reducing the forces' size and budget. The government also closed the Military Academy (Colegio Militar) and required that officers take an oath to the MNR. The government then began nationalizing all mines of the three great tin companies. First, it made the export and sale of all minerals a state monopoly to be administered by the state-owned Mining Bank of Bolivia (Banco Minero de Bolivia, Bamin). Then, it set up the Mining Corporation of Bolivia (Corporación Minera de Bolivia, Comibol) as a semi-autonomous enterprise to run state-owned mines. On October 31, 1952, the government nationalized the three big tin companies, leaving the medium-sized mines untouched and promising compensation. In this process, two-thirds of Bolivia's mining industry was turned over to Comibol. The reforms were also meant to provide farmers with credit with which to buy tools, seed, and any other materials needed to operate their farms. The bankrupt economy increased the factionalism within the MNR. Whereas the left wing demanded more government control over the economy, the right-wing hoped to solve the nation's problems with aid from the United States. During the presidency of Hernán Siles Zuazo (1956–60), who won the election with 84% of the vote, United States aid reached its highest level. In 1957, the United States subsidized over 30% of Bolivia's budget. Siles Zuazo's stabilization plan seriously damaged the coalition of MNR and COB. The COB called immediately for a general strike, which threatened to destroy an already disrupted economy; the strike was called off only after passionate appeals by the president. To quell the unrest, Zuazo decided to rebuild the armed forces. During his administration, the strength of the armed forces grew due to a new concern for professionalism and training, technical assistance from the United States, and an increase in the size and budget of the military. In addition, the military's role in containing unrest increased its influence within the MNR government. Conflicts within the MNR increased during Paz Estenssoro's second term of 1960–64. Together with the United States, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Inter-American Development Bank, Paz Estenssoro endorsed the "Triangular Plan", which called for a restructuring of the tin-mining industry. The plan demanded the end of the workers' control over Comibol operations, the firing of workers, and a reduction in their salaries and benefits; it was strongly opposed by the COB and Lechín's MNR faction. In 1964, Paz Estenssoro decided to run again for president and accepted General René Barrientos Ortuño as vice presidential candidate. Because most opposition groups abstained, Paz Estenssoro was reelected with the support of the military and the peasants. Paz Estenssoro had come to rely increasingly on the military, whose role as a peacekeeper had made it a political arbiter. But this support was to prove unreliable; the military was already planning to overthrow him. ==References==