Plurinational State of Bolivia

Bolivia Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia Tetã Hetãvoregua Mborivia Wuliwya Suyu Puliwya Mamallaqta
Capital	Sucre La Paz
Common languages	Spanish Guarani Aymara Quechua
Government	Unitary presidential republic
• President	Luis Arce
• Vice President	David Choquehuanca
Area
• Total	1,098,581 km²
Population
• 2019 estimate	11,428,245
Currency	Boliviano

Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a country in South America. It is currently led by a socialist government with the current ruling party being the Movement for Socialism which has been in power since 2006, except for a year-long coup which occurred in 2019. The MAS party has implemented many socialist policies that has achieved numerous social achievements. Bolivia has been the target of multiple CIA coups.

History

Pre-Colonial Bolivia

Bolivia is home to numerous indigenous nations and most notably home to part of the Incan Empire, a thriving civilisation that lasted from around 1400 until about 1533 when it fell as a result of Civil War, Disease brought from Europe, and Colonization by Spain led by the brutal Conquistador Francisco Pizarro.

Spanish Colonization

The initial looting of South America by European forces were initially fixated on silver and gold to personally enrich the conquistadors, but the invading forces soon realised this would not be a sustainable source of wealth since merely increasing the amount of gold and silver would eventually just cause inflation for the colonising forces. The real source of wealth for the Spanish was found in brutal exploitation of the indigenous nations through the encomienda system. The encomienda system granted land and indigenous subjects, which were essentially slaves, as a reward to nobles and soldiers from Spain. Most of the class politics in modern Bolivia can trace their roots to colonization and the encomienda system. The feudal nature of the encomienda system would change over time, but the process of extracting labor and resources from Bolivians to the imperial core (the U.S. and Europe) has remained a principal problem for Bolivians which would not be effectively overcome until the seizing of state power by the Movement for Socialism in 2006.

Bolivian Independence

During the 19th century, Independence movements swept through the Americas. The racial and class politics of Latin America was and is very complex with competing notions of independence such as the independence for nobility, indigenous nations, and African slaves who were now large in number due to the Atlantic Slave Trade. South American independence movements began gaining ground in the early 1800s and were led by elite Creole (mixed race) South Americans who had increasingly differing desires than those of the colonial authorities. Simón Bolívar, along with his right hand man Antonio José de Sucre, led multiple wars and rebellions over the course of decades beginning around 1800 against Spanish Royalists in modern day Columbia, Ecuador, and Venezuela in pursuit of a united South American Republic. In the Southern Cone, Argentina and Chile, José San Martín led an army made up of former slaves and poor peasents in a triumphant march across the Andes mouintains to defeat the Spanish royalists in Chacabuco Chile in july of 1821. The struggel against the Spanish Crown finaly ended on Juy 26 of 1822 when Bolívars' and San Martíns' armies converged in Ecuador to defeat the Spanish ending a two decade long struggle.

Post-independence Bolivian history up until the 1950s, was a tumultuous time marked by devastating wars, coups, and internal struggles amongst the ruling elites typically on conservative and liberal grounds.

The War of the Pacific 1879-1882

The War of the Pacific was fought between neighbouring Peru and Chile which resulted in the devastating loss of territory including Bolivia's crucial access to the sea. This war caused Bolivia to become one of only two landlocked countries in South America with the other being neighbouring Paraguay. Bolivia's status as a landlocked country has had negative impacts to this day and remains a diplomatic issue between Bolivia and Chile.

The Chaco War 1932-1935

The Chaco War was fought between Bolivia and Paraguay over the sparsely populated and semi-arid land between the two countries. Some attribute the war to a dispute between the U.S. oil company Standard Oil (backing Bolivia) and the Royal Dutch Shell (backing Paraguay). By the end of the war, tens of thousands lay dead on both sides.

The soldiers were made up of the indigenous peasantry and the urban middle class who would both become aware of their mutual states of impoverishment. After the war, the opressed draftees would not return to their roles passivley. Indigenous activists who had gained a new perspective on their exploitation would go on to form the first labor unions of Bolivia in the years following the Chaco War.

The Chaco War resulted in another humiliating loss of territory and human lives which had the unforeseen consequence of raising the class conciseness of the oppressed indigenous masses. The following decades would see the organized indigenous labor become a crucial political force in Bolivia.

The Emergence of Bolivian Labor 1935-1952

The economic and political crises spurred by the Great Depression and the Chaco War sparked the founding of numerous leftist political parties, such as the pro-Soviet Partido Izquierda Revolucionaria (PIR) and the Trotskyist Partido Obrero Revolucionario (POR), showcasing a serious desire for systemic change in Bolivia. Military leader David Toro, de facto 35th president of Bolivia from 1936-1937, capitalized on the leftist movements by nationalizing Standard Oil which many had felt was responsible for the disastrous Chaco War. This marks the first time the left had won major gains indicating the increasing importance of the long toiling indigenous masses.

In 1941, the most important political party of the era, the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR), was founded by moderate-left and middle-class intellectuals. In December of 1942, government forces under conservative president General Enrique Peñaranda opened fire on striking miners from Patiña Catavi mine killing hundreds. The MNR led by Víctor Paz Estenssoro opportunistically capitalized on this tragedy by attacking the Peñaranda government and supporting the miners thus winning over the support of much of Bolivias labor movement for their party. This marked another major example of political forces in Bolivia beginning to see the usefulness in organized labor as a crucial political ally.

Social unrest would continue for the next few years as the MNR and factions within the military began consolidating power. In 1943, an important secret society within the military called the Razón de Patria (RADEPA) formed which would seize power with the help of the MNR. Major Gualberto Villarroel emerged as the new leader of the military junta that ruled Bolivia which the United States refused to recognize until the MNR was expelled from the official government. In 1945, the Villarroel administraiton supported the founding of the National Indigenous Congress which marked the first time the indigenous masses were included in offical Bolivian politics. The Villarroel would govern Bolivia for three years until the regime fell out of popularity after harsh political repression of the opposition. Villarroel was killed during a poplular protest turned riot in July of 1946. From 1946-1952, Bolivia would be led by a series of repressive conservative leaders causing the MNR to go into exile.

Operation Condor

In 1971, the United States overthrew the left-wing president Juan Torres, who was later kidnapped and killed by CIA-backed death squads. His successor, Hugo Banzer, tortured and executed thousands of dissidents and brutally crushed a strike of tin workers. In 1975, the CIA gave Banzer information that was used to locate and target leftist priests and nuns.

Movement for Socialism

In 2006, Evo Morales, a member of the Movement for Socialism party and the first indigenous president of Bolivia, was elected. He was president until 2019, when the CIA organized a military coup against him after he won the 2019 election by more than 10%. The United States created over 60,000 fake Twitter accounts to spread capitalist propaganda and Jeanine Áñez took power without an election. Áñez was an imperialist liberal who called the indigenous Aymara people "satanic." In 2020, a general election was held and Luis Arce, another member of Movement for Socialism, won the election in a landslide. This election was confirmed to be fair by international observers.

In January of 2022, the Bolivian government intercepted US weapons that were intended for right-wing separatist groups in the wealthy Santa Cruz region.