Transcript United States` Influence on Agrarian Reform

• colonial mita system
• Latifundia system
• Export economy
Gran Chaco War 1932-1935
First sindicato in Ucurena, Cochabamba Valley, Bolivia
Fig 1. De la Cova, Antonio Rafael. Paraguyans seize Fort Muñoz on December 19, 1933. Digital Image. Latin American Studies.
December, 1997. http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/chaco-war-3.htm.
April 9th, 1952
La Paz, Bolivia
Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR)
• Universal suffrage
• Nationalization of tin mines
• Agricultural reform & land redistribution
President Victor Paz Estenssoro
Fig 2. Gisbert, Teresas. M.N.R. march. Scientific Electronic Library Online: Vivencias de la insurrecciòn: Testimonio. 2012.
http://www.scielo.org.bo/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2077-33232012000200010.
“A signal for insurgency.”
– Josè Rojas, member of the Ucureña sindicato1
1. Andrew Pearse, “Peasants and revolution: the case of Bolivia,” Economy and Society 1:4 (1972): 339-424, doi:
10.1080/03085147200000022, 405.
Fig 3. Revoluciòn de 1952 en Bolivia. Hoy Bolivia: Historia. August 4, 2012.
http://hoybolivia.com/Noticia.php?IdNoticia=59750.
Fig 5. Healy, Kevin. A meeting of Aymara Indians in the Altiplano region. Digital Image. Geographic: Theodora, Countries of
the World. December, 1989. Inter-American Foundation.
http://www.photius.com/countries/bolivia/government/bolivia_government_the_peasantry.html.
• July 1952, $200,000 towards “cooperative program of
agriculture”2
• October 1952, “a friend of Bolivia”3
• June-July 1953, negotiations
“a tin contract as lien to guarantee the proposed
$10,000,000 loan for agricultural development.”4
2. U.S. Department of State, “Bolivia: Agriculture,” United States Treaties and Other International Agreements, 3.2 UST 2978
(Washington, DC, 1952), 2978.
3. Dean Acheson, “Memorandum by the Secretary of State to the President” (Washington D.C., May 22, 1952) in ”Bolivia,”
Foreign Relations of the United States 1952-1954: Volume IV The American Republics, ed. by William Z. Slany, U.S. Department of
State Publication 9354 (Washington D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1983): 510.
4. John M. Cabot, “Bolivian Tin” Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs
(Washington D.C., June 22, 1953) in ”Bolivia,” Foreign Relations of the United States 1952-1954: Volume IV The American Republics,
ed. by William Z. Slany, U.S. Department of State Publication 9354 (Washington D.C.: United States Government Printing
Office, 1983): 533-534.
Fig 6. De la Cova, Antonio Rafael. Victor Paz Estenssoro. Latin American Studies: The Bolivian National Revolution 19521964. December, 1997. http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/bolivian-revolution.htm.
April 1952- August 1953
“Death to the patrones!”5
“The movement developed its own dynamic
and slipped out of the control of all national
actors.”6
6. James V. Kohl, “The Role of the Peasant in the Bolivian Revolutionary Cycle, 1952-1964” (PhD diss., University of New
Mexico, 1969), 68.
7. James M. Malloy and Richard S. Thorn, Beyond the revolution: Bolivia since 1952 (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1971), 126127.
8. Richard W. Patch, “Bolivia: The Restrained Revolution,” The Annals of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science 334 (Sage Publications, March 1961), 131.
Fig 8. Anabria, Harry S. Woman with a bundle of barley in the altiplano. Digital Image. Countries and Their Cultures:
Bolivia. 2016. http://www.everyculture.com/A-Bo/Bolivia.html.
“No planned reform could have been as
sweeping as the one initiated by the Indians
themselves and only formalized by the
government.”7
“campesinos are generally proud
to have their vote and heir own
parcel of land… even more
important appears to be a
cherished intangible dignidad
de la persona.”8
9. Dwight B. Heath, Charles J. Erasmus, and Hans C. Buelcher, Land Reform and Social Revolution in Bolivia (New York:
Frederick A. Praeger Publishers, 1969). 383.
Fig 9. Ergueta, Luis Antezana. La revoluciòn antes de la Revoluciòn Foto 2. La Razòn. Archive file. Cordero y biblioteca del
congreso de EEUU. April, 2012. http://www.la-razon.com/index.php?_url=/suplementos/tendencias/revolucionRevolucion_0_1596440361.html.