Rebellion in the Veins: Political Struggle in Bolivia, 1952-1982

208 Pages·1984·38.433 MB·English

by  James Dunkerley

James Dunkerley was born in the Thames valley in
1953. He studied at the universities of York and
Oxford and was subsequently Research Fellow in
Latin American Studies at the universities of Lon
don and Liverpool. He now works for the Latin
American Bureau, London. The author of The
Long War: Dictatorship and Revolution in El Salva
dor (Junction Books 1982) and Los Origenes del
Poder Militar (La Paz 1984), he is currently prepar
ing a detailed historical survey of the Bolivian revo
lution of 1952 and, with Jenny Pearce, a survey of
the contemporary crisis in Central America.
v
J
ames Dunkerley
Rebellion in the Veins
t1
i
Political Struggle in Bolivia,
1952-82
. Verso
j
3;:L~
·J)8S"~
To Ana Maria
l CJ! Ktf
Noqayllapi Tukukuchum
L 1
kinsantin mundoj rigornin:
wajcha kaywan, sapan kaywan,
Runaj wasinpi kausaywan.
British Library
Cataloguing in Publication Data
Dunkerley, James
Rebellion in the veins.
1. Bolivia - Politics and government, 1952-
I. Title
984' .052 F3326
ISBN 0 86091 089 X
086091 7940 Pbk
© James Dunkerley 1984
Verso Editions
15 Greek Street London WI
Filmset in Baskerville by
Red Lion Setters, London
Printed in Great Britain by
The Thetford Press
Thetford, Norfolk
..
Contents
Map: Bolivia
IX
Map: Che's Guerrilla Campaign, 1967
X
Foreword
Xl
1. Background to Revolt
1
The Rule of the Rosca
Decay in the Countryside
The Rise of Mass Politics
2. The National Revolution
38
Establishing a New Regime
N ationalisation of the Mines
Agr:arian Reform
Consolidating the Party
3. Revolution in Retreat, 1956-64
83
Stabilisation and Resistance
Repression and Development under Paz-
4. The Long Night
120
'Order Restored'
~ancahuazu
5. Crisis of Hegemony, 1969-71
158
Ovando Changes Course
Torres and the Popular Assembly
6. The Banzerato, 1971-78
201
'Paz, Orden, Trabajo'
Managing the Boom
'Nueva Bolivia' in Retreat
7. In Search of Democracy, 1978-80 249 BOLIVIA
• National capital --- International border
Negotiating an Exit o Department capital .... Department boundary
• Town - Railroad
Poll versus Putsch
0:--______: ::25~0 Miles
400 Kilometres
292
8.- The Delinquent Dictatorship
The 'Government of National Reconstruction' ..
'7 -;,,,,
~ ~
Coca and Cocaine
,, -," ,oJ
Retrenchment versus Retreat , '"
~,~ -'( -"0'''' PANDO
Afterword 345 \ ,C obija .. ,- BRA-ZIL
349 \ ,.' .- ... ..
Notes "- ..... ,
Glossary 372 PERU \
.~--,
374 ')
Index ,.
I
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I
SANTACRUZ -----,~I
(
I, ,
\
\
I
I
PARAGUAY
ARGENTINA
'
\
I /
,
CHE'S GUERRILLA CAMPAIGN, 1967 -..: ~ Foreword
///
\
",/ "
/
SANTACRUZ /
J
I I
__ , Samaipata _ /1 I
---, '-- I
.............
/ Bolivia is a country with a reputation. Not so long ago it was for Che
/ Guevara, for whose death its citizens are on occasions held to be collect
/
/ ively responsible. More recently it has been for cocaine. But in general
I
it is for political disorder. Readers of serious newspapers may retain in
the back of their minds the fact that the country has experienced a
large number of military coups; they will not, in all probability, recall
the exact number, but it is very high. Yet, Guevara was an intruder,
an Argentine arriving from Cuba to fight an internation.al revolution.
The fact that he did not understand Bolivia played an important part
in determining that he died there. In recent years production of
cocaine has indeed flourished in the east of the country, but while a
great many peasant farmers are involved in the cultivation of the coca
leaf from which the drug is obtained, the small number of traffickers
/ in cocaine have become a cosmopolitan breed, in no sense represent
I
ative of the nation as a whole and capable of influencing its govern
(
f ment only for a very short period.
I The question of Bolivia's political instability is more profound.
I
Even inside Latin America the country's politics are frequently treated
I
with a certain indulgence as a cacophonous provincial struggle between
"P,rin cipal guerrilla r- (
encampment, Nancahuazu r/ "'"" pompous officers and surly indian workers locked into some indigenous
y,A~~~M"i teleology that denies the Andean state even a modicum of order and
has deprived the nation of considerable opportunities for material
p~ogress. Behind such an image one can perceive traces of racism and
a rather crude geo-political determinism: a country situated away
I Lagunillas J-. .... ) ,
I ( \/ '--- from the sea in the bleak fastnesses of the Andes and overwhelmingly
.;.~aperilla '~-;'.o populated by indians does not make for mature and pacific govern
',_. ... \ I 0Santa Cruz
Monteagudo \ \{/ ) \" I ment. Perhaps it was for this reason that someone once described
. of ,------- Ecuador, which has a similar population but more order, as 'Bolivia
.,"
Muyupampa \' ' on valium'. The newspapers trot out the mathematics of disorder-all
\ i ,-- . -, ,:
t -~, PARAGUAY of it fifth-hand and incorrect-but do not pose the question that if
--- Roads or tracks Choret{ ARG~~TlNA \ disorder is so prevalent might it not be order itself? Could there not be
- Railway
• Camin a system in the chaos? Should it not be understood less as interruption
- Rivers CHUQUISACA \ \ than as continuity?
Foreword XtlZ
Xl!
The era of Anglo Saxon empires changed all this. Bolivia became
Such questions are not pursued because, on the face of things, Boli
the world's leading producer of tin, but in a manner that neither pro
via is not a very important country. Although its debt is high, so is that
pelled internal development nor drew the country out of its isolation.
of almost every Latin American state, and the $3.8 billion owed to the
It has remained a backward economy, a society inextricably bound up
banks by Bolivia does not even begin to compare with the $90 billion
with the exigencies of forging an existence in the most difficult of
debt on Brazil's books, threatening to plunge the international finan
physical conditions and still deeply enmeshed in an ancient autoch
cial system into chaos. Bolivia has not smuggled its way into interna
thonous culture. There have, of course, been important changes and
tional recognition by dint of prowess at football. It won the Latin
the imprint of foreign intrusion is not hard to find. The urban middle
American championship for the first and only time early in the 60s,
class is, like its hemispheric peers, considerably better dressed than
provoking celebrations of such magnitude that there was a moment
that in Europe, consumes a healthy ration of beer brewed by German
ary lapse in the operation of both state and civil society; but even the
immigrants, and is very familiar with the exchange rate of the us
most ardent fan will, when pressed, admit that this may have been
dollar. If it were to be characterised by a social distinctiveness other
marginally affected by the fact that foreign teams were obliged to play
than its small size and relative poverty, it would perhaps be that it is
for ninety minutes at an altitude of 12,000 feet. The clubs of La Paz,
uncommonly well-mannered. This parochial peculiarity is matched
Oruro and Potosi rarely lose the home legs of international fixtures;
by other minor anomalies that are markedly less indigenous. The
an alarmingly palid Zico summed up the situation after Brazil went
stamp of the British presence in the opening decades of the century
down to a listless defeat in 1982: 'It is suicide to play football in Boli
has been left in the mines through the continued usage of words such
via'. Neither does the country have outstanding territorial claims
as 'winch', 'block-caving', and 'sink and float', all of which are an
against metropolitan states; its principal dispute is with Chile, which
integral part of the vocabulary of a proletariat that is, far from coinci
in 1880 took possession of Bolivia's coastal lands, thereby sealing it off
dentally, amongst the most militant in the world. The football league
from the sea and, apparently, the rest of the world.
features teams like 'The Strongest' and 'Blooming', 'Always Ready'
We need no intricate conspiracy theory involving lesser mortals who
being relegated at the end of the 1981 season. A major source of
are not citizens of the republic to sustain the view that history has con
finance for the emerging Amazonian department of the Beni is known,
nived at Bolivia's marginalisation. Between 200 and 500 A.D. Tiwa
for reasons which are not entirely local in their origin, as BIG Beni
naku was established as the major religious centre for a large swathe of
Banco Industrial y Ganadero del Beni. There are, of course, the more
an Andean population that upheld one of the most advanced 'illiterate
familiar stigmata of imperial}sm in garish Coca Cola signs, the large
civilisations' in world history. Its dominance lasted until 1000. Only
and offensive buildings of N oi-th American banks, and an inordinately
partially subdued by the Inca empire, the area that is today Bolivia was
large number of Japanese cars. Bolivia is, therefore, an occupied
for a period of 150 years the source of incomparable wealth for the Span
country, but its occupation has been remarkably uneven as a result of
ish empire. Potosi became one of the largest and richest cities in the
_a singular but largely ignored history.
Americas, the site of a vast productive enterprise involving not just
The revolution of April 1952, la Revoluci6n Nadonal, remains one
forced labour but also highly sophisticated wage systems, complex
of the most under-studied of the post-World War Two political revo
engineering works, and industrial relations no less charged or intract
~tions. There are two English language books in print that consider it
a ble than those in many contem porary centres of monopoly capitalism.
1th more than passing reference; even in Spanish its bibliography
In 1800, when this system was on the verge of collapse, the population of
cannot compare with that of the revolutions in Mexico, Cuba, Nicar
Bolivia was larger than that of any other region of South America except
agua or even EI Salvador. Like many other national liberation
Brazil, and over five times greater than that of Argentina. Even in
struggles waged in the aftermath of the war it failed to achieve its
1850, when the first phase of European immigration ""as in sight,
objectives yet for a while it was an event that matched the scope of the
Bolivia had twice as many people as Argentina, and its Rop1J.lation of
Mexican revolution before it, concentrating the attention of the
2.1 million easily overhauled that of 1.4 million in Chile\.
XlV
Foreword xv
Americas if not the world. Today it continues to have a special inter
phenomena that need to be deconstructed and analysed with respect
est for sympathisersofTrotskyism, who identify in Bolivia one of the
to their synchronic characteristics as well as their historical develop
strongest continge.~ts oft~eir movement but otherwise some know
ment. Nonetheless, the need to know 'what has happened' exists at
ledge of 1952 and wnatfollowed it is the exclusive preserve of a ha~d­
various levels, and if this version is pitched uncomfortably close to the
ful of academics who are marginalised less by their intellectual attrIb
track along which the freight train of Whig history trundles happily to
utes than by the fact that they have chosen to focus them in this area.
and fro, it is to be hoped that it provides at least some basic elements
The revolution was a long time - two Bolivian generations - ago, b~t
for the construction of a fuller and richer discussion.
it is still the central feature of the country's political history. At a time
Although they frequently did not share my naive estimation of the
when Latin America is once again the scene of critical political con
possibilities and ramifications of harnessing the results of historical
flicts that are in some respects comparable to the Bolivian experience,
research to a polemical survey of contemporary politics, a great many
the events of 1952 and their legacy should be reclaimed for political as
people have contributed in a more or less direct way to this book. Most
well as historical purposes.
have assisted by encouraging preparation of a separate, more acade
In endeavouring to provide some foundation for such a retrieval I
mic study of 1952, the results of which were partly siphoned off to pro
have adopted a straightforward chronological and narrative approach.
vide the basis for the present text. My chief debt is without doubt to
I am conscious that this has to no small degree constrained the man
Laurence Whitehead, who, in addition to motivating fruitful discus
ner in which I have depicted an essentially alien land and society,
sions on Bolivia over many years, has ignored the central tenet of aca
where, for example, a 'valley' is frequently not a graduated depression
demic practice by making generous loans of original material and his
in the landscape but a narrow, barely accessible gorge between steep
own varied and incisive writings. These have been pillaged extensively
peaks, a land where over a quarter of all vehicles are lorries, only a fif
but the source is, I think, attributed in each case. I have also been
tieth of all roads are paved, and communications are qualitatively
aided with enthusiasm, humour, and constant efficiency in the face of
worse than, say, in Chile or Argentina. It is not difficult to see that
often appalling conditions by the staff of the library of the Universi
such factors have important political effects and need to be incorpor
dad Mayor de San Andres, La Paz. To its director, the distinguished
ated into our vision of public confusion. Similarly, I have not dwelt on
historian Alberto Crespo Rodas, and his assistants Luis Verastegui
the subtle but critical differences between the family unit in Bolivia
and Jenny Penaranda, my thanks. The text has also benefited a great
and that in modern Europe or North America, explained at length
the particular importance of 'Level 411' in the Siglo xx mine, or deal from discussions with two politicians who have played an impor
tant part in the writing of their country's history: Guillermo Lora
! attempted to unravel the specific connotations of·'Lechingrado' or
~. 'Lechin's tree', to which Alejandro Orfila, the general secretary of the (POR) and Jose Luis Roca (PDC). For reasons of space it has not been
~ possible to include the results of a modest oral history project on 1952
Organisation of American States, was obliged to walk in order to con-
which was undertaken in 1981 and 1982 and funded by the Social
verse with the legendary leader of the COB. Perhaps most impor
Science Research Council (New York), the Nuffield Foundation, and
tant of all, the present survey desists from extended discussion of life
the British Academy. However, many of the testimonies that were
in the countryside and those features of the social organization of
recorded have exercised a strong influence on sections of the text. Of
Bolivia's indigenous peoples which would normally be considered the
those who participated, I should like to make a special note of gratitude
province of anthropologists. The existence if not the full character of
to the following: Daniel Saravia; Victor L6pez; Filem6n Esc6bar; Sin
these features should emerge from a text that has the simple purpose
foroso Cabrera; Colonel Arsenio Gonzalez; Rene Ruiz Gonzalez; and
of providing a panoramic view of a political history that is sufficiently
Alfonsina Paredes. Very special thanks go to Zelma Aguilar and
complex and unknown to require consideration in measured stages. A
Penelope Woolcock, who were largely responsible for the success of
chronological depiction does, of course, carry with it a plethora of
the project and imposed their own stamp upon it. I am also grateful to
problems, not least of which is the imposition of linear order on
Wilbert Van Miert, who sent me press cuttings when I was out of the
xV!
country, and Rolando Morales Anaya, who kept me apace with the
complexities of the contemporary economy. Alberto and Chela Agui
lar were, as always, in the front line, dispensing affection, domestic
support, and occasional protection from the consequences of my erra
tic behaviour. At my other home Bill Schwarz has passed judgement
on the acceptability of all anecdotes, suffered aimless monologues
well past midnight, and adroitly quizzed dubious passages into shape.
Thanks to him this book has in no sense resulted in the oppression,
repression or depression of the household that produced it. Finally, I
have been sustained throughout by the independent love of Dylan and
Penny, whose affection extended to reading a draft. It is a long list,
but none of its members can be brought to task for the errors or
1.
idiocies that the curious reader may dig out; these will be mine alone.
BACKGROUND
TO REVOLT
Late in the afternoon of Tuesday 8 April 1952 a rather
corpulent senior army officer left the front entrance of the presidential
Palacio Quemado and hurriedly made his way through the cobbled
streets of La Paz to the nearby offices of the Direcci6n General de Poli
das. A bystander bra ving the sharp autumnal chill on the benches of the
Plaza Murillo to observe the comings and goings of dignatories would
not, in all probability, have expressed much surprise. Although La
Paz had no television and its papers kept the photographic content of
their editions to an absolute minimum, General Antonio Seleme Var
gas was well known to pacenos as a more than usually active and volu ble
minister of government in the junta of General Hugo Ballivian. It was g"0:
Seleme who was responsible for making the regime's constant accusa- ~
tions against the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) for ~
planning a rebellion and 'entering into alliance with the communists'; ~
under his direction police chief Donato Millan had his men search ~
bread queues for subversive literature and engage in frequent round- ~
ups of union militants and left-wingers. In recent weeks the minister's ~
carabineros had been particularly emphatic in breaking up large ~
popular demonstrations demanding supplies of bread, meat and' ~
Background to Revolt 3
2
sugar, which, with inflation running at over 65 per cent, were the had gone to the house of an MNR militant, Raul Canedo Reyes, and
objects of keen speculation and rarely to be found in the markets. sworn loyalty to the party, an oath that was preserved for posterity by
That a busy senior member of the cabinet should visi~lthe palaceft a discreetly hidden tape-recorder. While the general was holding his
the end of a working day was eminently unremarkable. That he should final discussion with the president the MNR's Comite Revolucionario
depart without an escort might perhaps have stirred the curiosity of had collected at the Canedo house under the chairmanship of Hernan
those cognisant of military protocol; but there were few observers that Siles Zuazo to finalise plans for a rising of which Seleme would be mili
afternoon, which showed no signs of unusual political activity or tary chief and which would elevate him to the presidency until new
crisis. The city was recovering from the damage caused by very heavy elections were held in October. <'
late summer rains and preparing for Easter weekend. Despite a recent Seleme's dismissal meant that the plans for the rising had to be
increase in cinema prices there were the usual long queues; the Cine brought forward since the support of his 2,000 policemen was cruci~
Princes a was registering particularly good audiences for 'Amor 0 to the capture of the capital. Hence the speed with which the general
Pecado?' (The Astonished Heart'), starring Noel Coward, Celia John made his way to the police headquarters where he appraised Millan
son and Margaret Leighton. The attention of the press had been and Colonel Cesar Aliaga of his plans. These caused the consternation
diverted from rumours of another golpe (coup) by a heated exchange of the former, who was compelled to release a group of movimientistas
his men had apprehended when they were taking up position, but
of views on the price of Bolivian tin between the producers and a
relieved the latter, whom the MNR had recruited separately as a justi
Texan senator by the name of Lyndon B. Johnson. The economic
If situation was exceedingly poor and the junta had finally been obliged fiable safeguard against the fickle tendencies of his commander.
Seleme then made off to see Siles in an effort to persuade him to bring
to promise fresh elections by the end of the year, but there was little
evidence of either an imminent collapse of the regime or an upturn in the Falange Socialista Bolz'viana (FSB) into the rising. In the event,
last-minute talks with the FSB resulted only in acrimony and news of
the activity of the MNR.
the coup reaching the army commander, General Humberto Torres
The manifestly nervous Seleme knew otherwise. After over thirty
Ortiz, who rapidly left his home to assemble a force from the principal
years of largely undistinguished service as an artillery officer in which
garrisons stationed in the altiplano (Andean plain). Ballivian also pru
he had fought one international and one civil war and maintained his
dently chose not to sleep at the palace that night. This meant that
commission through 14 changes of government, the 48·year old
Seleme was unable to negotiate an early surrender or talk his col
cacha bambino of Arab extraction must have been aware that he had
leagues into a switch of allegiances, a move of which he had high
embarked upon the most critical week in his public life. Although
hopes since Torres Ortiz had himself held discussions with the MNR
to the great surprise of the president's adjutant - the meeting with
and was not expected to fall in behind Ballivian. However, this state
Ballivian had ended with warm abrazos and protestations of loyalty
of affairs also facilitated the comparatively easy occupation of the city
and admiration on both sides, it had also confirmed Seleme's dismis
centre from midnight onwards by the carabineros and armed units of
sal from the cabinet. Indeed, the most surprising feature of the
the MNR. At 6 a.m. on the 9th. the state-controlled Radio Illimani
encounter was that the ex-minister did leave the Quemado alone and
went on the air to announce that the revolution had triumphed.
not under arrest since the president and the majority of his colleagues
The MNR was experienced in such actions and had prepared the:
were convinced that Seleme was preparing a coup. The day before
ground well, grooming officers in key positions, especially in the!
this accusation had been made at a cabinet meeting by the young
police. Amongst those who had promised support was Captain Israel
minister of labour, Colonel Sergio Sanchez, a man who Seleme knew
Tellez, commander of the arsenal at Orkojahuira; but when Tellez
to have high ambitions of his own and whose nickname of 'peroncito'
was finally able to coax the key to the strongroom out of a reluctant
betrayed a proclivity for populist gestures that sat uneasily within the
warrant officer the rebels discovered only 80 weapons and a limited
stern authoritarian policies of the regime. Sanchez had been both cor
amount of ammunition. Obligatory military service ensured that the
rect and unnervingly precise in his timing. The previous day Seleme