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

"Bolivia is a country with a reputation, " writes James Dunkerley. "Not so long ago it was for Che Guevara, for whose death its citizens are on occasions held to be collectively responsible. More recently it has been for cocaine. But in general it is for political disorder." Rebellion in the Veins demonstrates that behind the succession of coups lies an exceptional and coherent record of political struggle. The country's location at the heart of Latin America has not, however, guaranteed it the attention it deserves. Dunkerley here redresses the balance in a masterly survey of Bolivian society since the early 1950s. The revolution of 1952 was, with the Cuban revolution, the most radical attempt in the western hemisphere since the Second World War to break the cycle of capitalist underdevelopment. It was channeled into a more familiar pattern of repression and dictatorship only after bitter struggles, and Dunkerley analyses the pressures that compromised it, providing lucid accounts of the country's economy, political history and class structure, as well as its relations with the United States. The succession of military dictatorships from 1964 to 1982 are described, but this period was by no means one of unrelieved quietude. There was an extraordinarily vital popular resistance, and the unusual sophistication of working-class politics forms a stirring narrative. The tragic death of Che, after a doomed rural guerrilla campaign in eastern Bolivia, had a profound effect on the country's politics. The fate of his imitators, and the eventual resurgence of more classical forms of mass struggle, has provided valuable lessons for what Dunkerley predicts will be a second Bolivian revolution. The story is carried through to the restoration of parliamentary democracy in 1982, presided over by Hernán Siles Zuazo, who first came to power in the revolution thirty years earlier -- Provided by Publisher Map: Bolivia ......Page 7 Map: Che's Guerrilla Campaign, 1967 ......Page 8 Foreword ......Page 9 1. Background to revolt ......Page 15 The rule of the Rosca ......Page 20 Decay in the Countryside ......Page 34 The Rise of Mass Politics ......Page 41 2. The National Revolution ......Page 54 Establishing a New Regime ......Page 56 Nationalisation of the Mines ......Page 70 Agrarian Reform ......Page 81 Consolidating the Party ......Page 91 3. Revolution in Retreat, 1956-64 ......Page 99 Stabilisation and Resistance ......Page 101 Repression and Development under Paz ......Page 119 4. The Long Night ......Page 136 "Order restored ......Page 138 Ñancahuazú ......Page 152 5. Crisis of Hegemony, 1969-71 ......Page 178 Ovando Changes Course ......Page 181 Torres and the Popular Assembly ......Page 197 6. The Banzenato, 1971-78 ......Page 223 "Paz, Orden, Trabajo ......Page 225 Managing the Boom ......Page 241 "Nueva Bolivia" in retreat ......Page 252 7. In Search of Democracy, 1978-80 ......Page 271 Negotiating an exit ......Page 273 Poll versus Putsch ......Page 292 8. The Delinquent Dictatorship ......Page 316 The "Government of National Reconstruction ......Page 319 Coca and Cocaine ......Page 332 Retrenchment versus Retreat ......Page 352 Afterword ......Page 373 Notes ......Page 377 Glossary ......Page 400 Index ......Page 402 A masterly survey of Bolivian society and politics since the early 1950s