Culture and Customs of Bolivia (Culture and Customs of Latin America and the Caribbean)

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Culture and Customs of Bolivia

Map of Bolivia. (Cartography by Bookcomp, Inc.)

Culture and Customs of Bolivia

´N JAVIER A. GALVA

Culture and Customs of Latin America and the Caribbean Peter Standish, Series Editor

Copyright 2011 by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Galva´n, Javier A., 1965– Culture and customs of Bolivia / Javier A. Galva´n. p. cm. — (Culture and customs of Latin America and the Caribbean) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–313–38363–2 (hard copy : alk. paper) — ISBN 978–0–313–38364–9 (ebook) 1. Bolivia—Social life and customs. 2. Bolivia—Civilization. I. Title. F3310.G35 2011 984—dc22 2010049847 ISBN: 978–0–313–38363–2 EISBN: 978–0–313–38364–9 15 14 13 12 11

1 2 3 4 5

This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. Greenwood An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

Series Foreword

vii

Preface

ix

Acknowledgments

xv

Chronology

xvii

1

The Context: Geography, People, and History

1

2

Religion

27

3

Social Customs and Lifestyle

43

4

Literature

75

5

Broadcasting and Print Media

91

6

Cinema

111

7

Performing Arts: Music, Dance, and Theater

125

8

Architecture, Native Textiles, Visual Arts, and Fashion Design

141

Glossary

159

Bibliography

163

Index

173

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Series Foreword

CULTURE IS A PROBLEMATIC word. In everyday language, we tend to use it in at least two senses. On the one hand, we speak of cultured people and places full of culture—uses that imply a knowledge or presence of certain forms of behavior or of artistic expression that are socially prestigious. In this sense, large cities and prosperous people tend to be seen as the most cultured. On the other hand, there is an interpretation of culture that is broader and more anthropological; culture in this broader sense refers to whatever traditions, beliefs, customs, and creative activities characterize a given community—in short, it refers to what makes that community different from others. In this second sense, everyone has culture; indeed, it is impossible to be without culture. The problems associated with the idea of culture have been exacerbated in recent years by two trends: less respectful use of language and a greater blurring of cultural differences. Nowadays, culture often means little more than behavior, attitude, or atmosphere. We hear about the culture of the boardroom, of the football team, of the marketplace; there are books with titles like The Culture of War by Richard Gabriel (1990) or The Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch (1979). In fact, as Christopher Clausen points out in an article published in the American Scholar (Summer 1996), we have got ourselves into trouble by using the term so sloppily. People who study culture generally assume that culture (in the anthropological sense) is learned, not genetically determined. Another general assumption made in these days of multiculturalism has been that cultural differences should be respected rather than put under pressure to change.

viii

SERIES FOREWORD

But these assumptions, too, have sometimes proved to be problematic. Multiculturalism is a ﬁne ideal, but in practice it is not always easy to reconcile with the beliefs of the very people who advocate it—for example, is female circumcision an issue of human rights or just a different cultural practice? The blurring of cultural differences is a process that began with the steamship, increased with radio, and is now racing ahead with the Internet. We are becoming globally homogenized. Since the English-speaking world (and the United States in particular) is the dominant force behind this process of homogenization, it behooves us to make efforts to understand the sensibilities of members of other cultures. This series of books, a contribution toward that greater understanding, deals with the neighbors of the United States, with people who have just as much right to call themselves Americans. What are the historical, institutional, religious, and artistic features that make up the modern culture of such peoples as the Haitians, the Chileans, the Jamaicans, and the Guatemalans? How are their habits and assumptions different from our own? What can we learn from them? As we familiarize ourselves with the ways of other countries, we come to see our own from a new perspective. Each volume in the series focuses on a single country. With slight variations to accommodate national differences, each begins by outlining the historical, political, ethnic, geographical, and linguistic context, as well as the religious and social customs, and then proceeds to a discussion of a variety of artistic activities, including the media, cinema, literature, and the visual and performing arts. The authors are all intimately acquainted with the countries concerned; some were born or brought up in them, and each has a professional commitment to enhancing the understanding of the culture in question. We are inclined to suppose that our ways of thinking and behaving are normal. And so they are . . . for us. We all need to realize that ours is only one culture among many, and that it is hard to establish by any rational criteria that ours as a whole is any better (or worse) than any other. As individual members of our immediate community, we know that we must learn to respect our differences from one another. Respect for differences between cultures is no less vital. This is particularly true of the United States, a nation of immigrants, but one that sometimes seems to be bent on destroying variety at home and, worse still, on having others follow suit. By learning about other people’s cultures, we come to understand and respect them; we earn their respect for us; and, not least, we see ourselves in a new light. Peter Standish East Carolina University

Preface

BOLIVIA IS A country of extremes, both socially and geographically. There is a long litany of superlatives to describe this Andean nation, and many of these unique items are tangible geographical features. For example, La Paz is the highest administrative capital city in the world at 12,000 feet (3,600 m). The neighboring suburb city of El Alto has the highest soccer stadium, golf course, airport, and ski run on the globe. The nearby Lake Titicaca (shared with Peru), at 12,500 feet (3,810 m), is the highest commercially navigable lake on the planet; it covers an area of 3,500 square miles (9,064 km2), which makes it larger than the entire island of Puerto Rico. The Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt ﬂat, and it is roughly the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. Bolivia’s diverse geography includes high-mountain glaciers, barren deserts, and even part of the Amazon jungle. Moreover, the six highest peaks in the Andes Mountain Range are also located within its borders. The contrast between high and low altitudes affects what people eat, where they live, and even their leisure activities. In addition, there are those fascinating facts that are the result of historical events. For example, Bolivia is the only nation in the Western Hemisphere with two recognized capital cities: La Paz and Sucre. Then, due to multiple wars with its neighbors, Bolivia is now a landlocked country with an active naval military force, but no access to the ocean. Its navy ofﬁcers continue their operations by training on Lake Titicaca. From a social vantage point, there are also extremes reﬂected in Bolivia. The Instituto Nacional de Estadı´stica (INE) has an entire division dedicated

x

PREFACE

to the pursuit of understanding the role of statistics in daily life and the implications for social government policies. Their data reveals that Bolivia is still the poorest nation in South America and perhaps the third poorest in Latin America after Haiti and Nicaragua. Consequently, it has the lowest standard of living in the continent. The dichotomy between rural and urban environments is painfully obvious. Up to now, Bolivia remains the country with the highest percentage of indigenous population (over 60 percent) in the Western Hemisphere, and most of them still live in the countryside. The Aymara and Quechua populations have traditionally represented the most economically disadvantaged groups in the nation, and they have recently started social protests in the last decade demanding better living conditions and a government-initiated land reform. In addition, Bolivia has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the Americas—60 deaths for every 1,000 births. Moreover, according to the INE, the country also has one of the lowest literacy rates on the continent—86 percent—but it is even signiﬁcantly lower among the indigenous population, especially women. A noticeable factor is that the economic gap between urban and rural populations continues to increase; they are two different worlds with extremely different experiences and opportunities. In an attempt to enact some level of social justice, recent changes to the 2009 constitution have certainly improved the legal and social conditions of the indigenous population. These include a better recognition of their cultural contributions, their participation in a national health care system, and the incorporation of rural children onto the education path rather than the usual agricultural demands. However, despite all the well-intentioned rhetoric of social justice and equality, the elements of racism and discrimination against indigenous people continue to affect this unique Andean society. Personally, I view Bolivia as a fascinating country to write about, study, and explore. As a history professor, I often notice that most of my students in the United States are not very familiar with it; most of the time, they cannot even ﬁnd it on a map. When I ask my beginning college students about famous Bolivians or important historical events, they are likely to mention Raquel Welch (born as Raquel Tejada and the daughter of a Bolivian father), or note that Bolivia is the place where the famous Ernesto Che Guevara was killed in 1967. While these two examples are both factually correct, they represent a very limited view of this culturally rich nation. I viewed the opportunity to write this book as a powerful educational tool about a country that is hardly ever covered in depth by Latin American historians and is often overlooked by foreign-language textbooks. While the didactic value of the project was an initial motivation for writing this book, the rugged beauty of Bolivian landscapes, its cultural complexities, and the

PREFACE

xi

warmth of its people were also powerful incentives. Moreover, 2009–2010 also happens to be a special period to be writing this book. It marks the bicentennial anniversary of the beginning of independence movements throughout Latin America. The 200-year celebrations sparked a series of events to commemorate the struggle for freedom from Spain, which in turn marked the genesis of new nations in the continent. While Bolivia declared its independence in 1809, the 200-year anniversary celebrations continued into 2010 and 2011 as well, especially in the cities of La Paz and Santa Cruz. Bolivians are keenly aware of their statistics on poverty, literacy, and mortality rates. This data is widely publicized and discussed in the national media. However, they have also grown tired of foreigners reminding them of their comparative social conditions, mostly because they know that their culture is much more complex than just the discouraging statistical charts and graphs. The multiple cultures of Bolivia have endured the harsh living conditions of imposing geography and a legacy of conquest, exploitation, and even repressive dictatorships. Consequently, a crucial objective of this book is to highlight the richness and variety of the cultures of this Andean nation that since 2009 is ofﬁcially called the Plurinational State of Bolivia. This book is not intended to be an all-inclusive encyclopedia of Bolivia. Instead, it highlights the most salient and essential aspects of its national culture. While it is focused on the 20th and 21st centuries, historical events have also left an indelible print on modern culture that is vividly manifested in the form of languages, religion, native dress, economics, arts, sports, and politics. The book is equally divided into two equally important sections. The ﬁrst four chapters deal with how and where people live. Geography is discussed in detail as well as social traditions, religious practices, Bolivian cuisine, and the tumultuous development of political institutions. The last four chapters explore the creative talent of Bolivians actively engaged in literary movements, painting styles, architectural inﬂuence, theater productions, fashion design, and an emerging ﬁlm industry. It also offers a detailed analysis of contemporary print and broadcasting media. There is a tremendous amount of creative and artistic talent in Bolivia. Unfortunately, modern Bolivian cinema and arts are not well known in the United States—yet. For example, the remarkable trajectory of Jorge Sanjine´s and Marcos Loayza as ﬁlm directors is not recognized beyond South America. Nevertheless, as the 21st century begins, Bolivian cinema is beginning to achieve international accolades together with other visionaries like painter Mamani Mamani, sculptor Francine Secretan, architect Carlos Caldero´n, folklore musicians Kjarkas, playwright and literary critic Karmen Saavedra, ﬁction writer Rodrigo Hasbu´n, and fashion designer Lilian Castellanos.

xii

PREFACE

Most conversations in Bolivia eventually touch on three predictable topics: fu´tbol soccer, the effects of poverty, and politics. The election of Evo Morales Ayma as president in 2005 sparked both tremendous optimism and ﬁerce opposition simultaneously. He is the ﬁrst indigenous head of state in Bolivian history, and perhaps the most public Bolivian ﬁgure in the last decade. His Aymara background allows him to understand the plight of the disadvantaged people in the country. Upon his conﬁrmation, he promised to enact deep changes to the distribution of national wealth following the goals of his political party Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS). His political style and incendiary rhetoric have recently placed Bolivia at odds with the United States over important diplomatic topics, such as coca production, mineral rights, and national sovereignty. Washington has also grown weary of Morales’s relationships with countries that are not traditional allies of the United States, such as Venezuela and Cuba. In 2009, Morales was reelected to another ﬁve-year term as president. Most people who voted for him were cognizant of his speciﬁc achievements, mostly because they were strategically published right before the elections. Examples of the 100 logros (100 accomplishments) highlighted Morales’s involvement with the most disadvantaged communities in the nation. However, at the end of 2010, many of his most fervent followers, especially in rural areas, have already started to turn against him because he has not delivered on the promises he made during his campaign efforts. The new constitution approved in 2009 was intended to make profound social, economic, historical, legal, and educational changes in Bolivia. Morales has used his immense popularity to change the balance of power in favor of the most economically disadvantaged population. His overall goal is to create a signiﬁcant redistribution of wealth, using the state as an active participant in the process. Morales continues to take the nation on a path of socialism where the government creates and manages industries, mostly because his MAS political party currently has a plurality of votes on the National Assembly. Some of the signiﬁcant changes include: adopting another 35 indigenous tongues as national languages along with Spanish, a decision that has serious economic and bureaucratic consequences for the national education system; the addition of the wiphala (the ﬂag used by most Andean indigenous groups) as another national symbol; and the controversial law of regional autonomy, which provides advantages to indigenous groups but punishes successful entrepreneurs and several regions with afﬂuent and vibrant economies. In September 2010, Morales began to show signs of political greed. He declared his intention to seek a second reelection in 2014, which might require yet another amendment to the existing constitution. His opponents

PREFACE

xiii

reacted quickly to this political bombshell with harsh criticism. However, the idea that Morales is a dictator-in-training obfuscates the current political environment in Bolivia. The opposition constantly uses hostile rhetoric in the public media to present their conservative point of view, and most newspapers certainly highlight the shortcomings of the government on their front pages almost every day. It makes for a good story and a logical one as well, but it often stretches (and occasionally distorts) the reality of national events. It is true that the general population now sees how the president and his allies are using their political majority to dismantle their political opposition by using legal and judicial tricks to have other elected ofﬁcials removed from ofﬁce and replaced with MAS representatives. On the eve of 2011, even indigenous groups now organize protests on a regular basis because the government’s promises of land, regional rights, and ﬁscal autonomy are not being applied consistently for every region in the country. Morales will certainly face a deeply divided country for his potential reelection in 2014. Understanding the political landscape in Bolivia is crucial because it affects multiple sectors of cultural and social activity. In a country with enormous ﬁnancial challenges, the federal and regional governments often become the promoters and coordinators of cultural events. For example, the federal government established and still oversees funding for the Comisio´n Nacional de Cine (CONACINE) in order to subsidize a national cinema industry; federal funds also ﬁnance multiple community events organized by the Ministry of Culture; and the federal ofﬁce of the Secretary of Education is about to embark in 2011 on an ambitious project to develop an educational curriculum in languages like Quechua and Aymara that are now recognized under the modern 2009 constitution. Out of all the Andean nations in South America, Bolivian culture seems to be the most connected to its indigenous past. It affects modern music, education, performing arts, religion, community celebrations, native textiles, and visual arts. Despite economic difﬁculties, regional festivals and carnivals continue to thrive in Oruro, La Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz. Centuries of adversity have not killed the Bolivian spirit. On the contrary, it has nourished a sense of pride in native cultures and traditions, which is reﬂected in its vibrant arts scene. At a social level, Bolivians are literally trying to deﬁne themselves. The federal government commissioned several important research and poll studies in 2009 and 2010 to ﬁnd out exactly how people view themselves. One of the many surprising results was that there seems to be a lack of national identity. While it was a shock to many in public ofﬁce, it is hardly a new revelation to the average Bolivian. It actually seems contradictory to propose a countrywide debate about national unity when the government simultaneously

xiv

PREFACE

dominates the headlines discussing the 2010 new laws of Regional Autonomy and Decentralization, which have sparked discussions along the line of breaking away from the centralized government. For 2011, the National Assembly is scheduled to discuss the apparent contradiction of recently adopting the name of Plurinational State of Bolivia, and at the same time attempting to achieve a national identity. Regardless of the social and economic conditions, most average Bolivians are rather optimistic about the future. They are also eager to share with the world some of their best hidden secrets: the ﬂora and fauna in the Bolivian Amazon jungle, the emerging fashion industry in Santa Cruz, the unexpected beauty of pink ﬂamingoes living on a high-altitude desert, and the colonial architectural gems of the Jesuit Missions in San Jose´ de Chiquitos. Bolivians are not yet entirely sure about the potential results and consequences of taking the nation on a socialist path. Their point of view is best expressed in one of those ambivalent comments typically used at the end of a conversation: Ya veremos—“We’ll see.”

Acknowledgments

WRITING IS USUALLY a quiet and solitary exercise. Fortunately, the ﬁnal manuscript is the result of a group of people working together toward a common goal. I will be forever thankful to the research staff at the Bolivian Instituto Nacional de Estadı´stica (INE) in La Paz; they offered unconditional technical support and even social interpretations of their meticulous and valuable statistical data. My acquisitions editor at ABC-CLIO, Kaitlin Ciarmiello, was the anchor for this project; she was always prompt, responsive, and extremely professional. Bridget M. Austiguy-Preschel was the skillful production coordinator for ABC-CLIO. Other editorial staff at PreMedia Global were also crucial in seeing this project until the end: Matthew Van Atta provided careful and insightful comments during the copyediting stages, and N. Magendra Varman oversaw the overall copyediting and typesetting process. Their suggestions, corrections, and keen observations made this book a much better ﬁnal product. At a personal level, I am extremely lucky to have direct family members and friends who offer invaluable advice. My wife Maya has always offered support for my academic and research ventures; this book was no exception. I am eternally grateful for all her patience and words of encouragement. My son Marco is now almost four years old, and he is now aware that I am actually writing a book. His comments and questions have made me see the world through a different lens. My compadre Peter was my travelling companion during my latest visit to Bolivia in 2010. The experiences we shared related to this Andean geography and culture will remain with us for

xvi

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

decades to come. Our camaraderie and intellectual curiosity has grown stronger as a result of this project. My hope is that this book on Bolivia provides an introduction to people unfamiliar with this Andean nation, its rich culture, and its great potential for the future. The factual information for this manuscript was carefully researched. However, this book would not have been possible without the human element and the stories of a multitude of Bolivians who were willing to talk to me about their lives. While sharing a meal or a cup of tea, they shared their opinions, frustrations, traditions, hopes, and expectations for the future. I am deeply humbled and indebted to the Bolivian population, whose experiences, struggles, and triumphs I have narrated in this book. I can only hope that their spirit is captured and reﬂected in my writing.

Chronology

600 CE

The Tiwanaku culture settled near Lake Titicaca, becoming the oldest civilization established in the highlands of modern-day Bolivia. They left impressive stone-carved monuments. Their descendents are the Aymara and Quechua.

1200

Coca leaves were already used for religious purposes.

1300

Tiwanaku’s inﬂuence receded, and the Inca Empire annexed the area to its vast territory.

1440

From Cuzco, the Inca Empire conquered the eastern territories that are now modern-day Bolivia.

1531

Spanish expeditions arrived in Ecuador and claimed Alto Peru for the Spanish Crown. Alto Peru would eventually become the nation now called Bolivia.

1536

The Spanish conquistadores took control of the Andean Empire. Diego de Almagro ruled the territory that is now Bolivia, which became ﬁrst known as Charcas and then as Alto Peru´, or Upper Peru.

1538

Diego de Almagro was assassinated by other feuding Spaniards.

1544

Diego Huallpa, an indigenous llama herder, discovered silver in Cerro Rico. The exploitation of the precious metal by the Spanish colonizers turned the nearby city of Potosı´ into one of the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The mining industry caused the death of

xviii

CHRONOLOGY thousands of Amerindians in Bolivia, but it provided Spain with an extreme amount of wealth.

1552

The ﬁrst Catholic bishopric was established in Upper Peru.

1558

The Spanish authorities created an audiencia, or Spanish courts, in the city of Chuquisaca, which is the modern-day city of Sucre. Its proximity to the city of Potosı´ made this judicial center very inﬂuential. The jurisdiction of this area, known as Charcas, reached distances as far as Paraguay and even Cuzco.

1663

Jesuit priests established the ﬁrst institution of higher learning in Upper Peru, called the Pontiﬁcal Higher University of San Francisco Xavier of Chaquisaca, in modern-day Sucre.

1776

Upper Peru (now Bolivia) was originally part of the Viceroyalty of Peru under the Spanish colonial administration. In 1776, Spain created a separate Viceroyalty of Rı´o de La Plata, and Upper Peru was transferred to be part of the new viceroyalty with its capital city in Buenos Aires. The move was intended to reduce the inﬂuence of the emerging elite population in the city of Lima.

1781

Tupac Amaru II, born Jose´ Gabriel Condorcanqui, was killed. He led a rebellion in 1780 in defense of the Aymara Indians. His rebellion continued mostly in Upper Peru.

1809

Independence of Upper Peru was declared, but it would take 16 years of constant struggle against the Spaniards.

1824

Simo´ n Bolı´var led the independence of Peru from the Spanish Crown. Also, Antonio Sucre, one of Bolı´var’s lieutenants, defeated the Spanish army at the crucial Battle of Ayacucho in Peru.

1825

On August 6, Upper Peru became an independent republic separated from Peru. It named the nation Bolivia in honor of Simo´n Bolı´var. Soon after, Antonio Jose´ de Sucre becomes Bolivia’s ﬁrst president, and the capital city of Sucre is named in his honor.

1826

Simo´ n Bolı´var wrote the ﬁrst constitution of Bolivia, which was quickly ratiﬁed by a congress in Chuquisaca.

1836–39

The ephemeral political union of Bolivia and Peru disintegrated.

1851

The national anthem of Bolivia, “Bolivianos, el Hado Propicio,” was adopted. Jose´ Ignacio de Sanjine´s wrote the lyrics; he was one of the original signers of the Bolivian Declaration of Independence and the ﬁrst Constitution of Bolivia. The national ﬂag was also adopted.

CHRONOLOGY

xix

1861

Sebastia´n Dalance wrote Los Misterios de Sucre, the ﬁrst novel published by a Bolivian writer.

1867

Bolivia lost part of its northern Amazon territory to Brazil.

1879–84

During the War of the Paciﬁc against Peru and Chile; Bolivia lost the Atacama Desert territory and therefore access to the Paciﬁc Ocean. These lands were rich in nitrate, a valuable mineral. Chile took control of all 527 miles (850 km) of Bolivian coasts. To this day, Bolivia remains a landlocked nation.

1896

Bernardino Peccioti, a Franciscan friar, wrote the ﬁrst issue of Cro´nica Guaraya, the ﬁrst published newspaper in Bolivia.

1897

Jose´ Clerc and Francisco Cerro achieved the ﬁrst radio transmission in Bolivia linking La Paz with the towns of Mira Flores and Obrajes.

1903

Bolivia lost even more of its northern territories (Acre) to Brazil.

1904

First silent ﬁlm shot in Bolivia titled “Retrato de Personajes Histo´ricos y de Actualidad,” which showed a mini-biography of government ﬁgures and other salient people of the period.

1907

The Conservatorio Nacional de Mu´sica was established.

1910

Tin became the main product exported by Bolivia, replacing the importance of silver.

1919

Alcides Arguedas published his novel Raza de bronce (The Bronze Race), which marks the genesis of indigenismo, or indigenousoriented literature in Latin America.

1921

Jesu´s de Machaga mobilized thousands of peasants for an Aymara rebellion with a common goal of agrarian reform.

1923

Another rebellion by Bolivian miners was violently squashed.

1929

Two brothers, Enrique and Rodolfo Castas, launched the ﬁrst commercial radio station in the nation called Radio Nacional de Bolivia.

1930

First ﬁlm with sound was shown in Bolivia at the Teatro Municipal in La Paz.

1932–35

Bolivia lost roughly 70 percent of its Chaco territory to Paraguay during the Chaco War, which at the time was speculated to have oil reserves. No oil has yet been found in the area.

1938

The current national borders were established.

1945

A government decree created the Orquesta Sinfo´nica Nacional and its headquarters in La Paz.

xx 1952

CHRONOLOGY The 1952 revolution had a profound effect in Bolivia. It was organized by the Movimiento Nacional Revolucionario (MNR). It approved land reform, the nationalization of mines and oil ﬁelds, and the improvement of educational programs. The new 1952 constitution established that all Bolivians had the right to vote. It removed the literacy requirement previously enforced. Since this date, married individuals vote at the age of 18 and single people vote at 21 years of age.

1953

Right after the Revolution of 1952, the government in charge from the Movimiento Nacional Revolucionario (MNR) established the Instituto Cinematogra´ﬁco Boliviano (ICB).

1956

A new generation of pioneering architects founded the inﬂuential Colegio de Arquitectos de Santa Cruz, an organization of professional practicing architects in Bolivia.

1964

The establishment of the ﬁrst wave of military rulers that lasted almost 20 years.

1967

On October 9, Ernesto Che Guevara was apprehended and killed in Bolivia. He was in a mission to organize Bolivian workers and peasants.

1968

On March 23, El Dı´a del Mar (Day of the Sea) was established. The celebration maintains the hope alive that one day Bolivians will eventually obtain sovereign access to the Paciﬁc Ocean again.

1973

The Franz Tamayo Literary Competition for Short Stories was established in La Paz to promulgate the creativity and imagination of Bolivian writers. The National Fiesta del Charango was established as an annual event. It is intended to recognize and enhance the versatility of this instrument in the national music scene.

1976

Cinemateca Boliviana is established to rescue the audiovisual materials that had been lost and to promote the development of new fullfeature ﬁlms. The Premio Co´ndor de Plata (Silver Condor Prize) is established in La Paz to recognize the work done on short musical ﬁlms.

1979

Lydia Gueliler Tejada became the ﬁrst female president of Bolivia. She was appointed by the lower congressional house (Chamber of Deputies), and she ruled as the interim president from November 16, 1979, until July 17, 1980, when a military coup d’e´tat took her out of power.

CHRONOLOGY

xxi

1980

The growth of coca leaves used for the illegal production of cocaine became a signiﬁcant problem. Originally, the use of coca leaves had been part of daily life for many indigenous communities in Bolivia for hundreds of years, including for medicinal purposes.

1980s

Cocaine trafﬁcking became organized at international levels.

1980–82

Dictator Luis Garcı´a Meza orchestrated a brutal military coup that cost the nation hundreds of lives and left the country devoid of most national assets. Inﬂation reaches some of the highest points in Bolivia’s national history.

1986

The international market for tin prices plummeted creating havoc in the Bolivian economy. Thousands of mining workers lost their jobs.

1988

On July 19, Law 1088 (or the Coca and Controlled Substance Law) was enacted to initiate a gradual voluntary eradication of coca leaves. It also established an alternative system with specially assigned courts, judges, and prosecutors to target drug producers and trafﬁckers. The United States was extremely inﬂuential in the process of writing this punitive law that bypasses the traditional law enforcement mechanisms. As a result, it faced strong opposition from the cocaleros (coca leaf growers) who were supposed to be allowed an amount of legal cultivation of coca leaves aimed at local and legitimate needs of the plant.

1989

Remedios Loza became the ﬁrst woman in the Bolivian Congress to wear traditional Aymara outﬁts.

1990s

The government of Bolivia instituted strategies to eradicate the illegal drug trade based on cocaine. Traditional Bolivian music began to add lyrics to folksy and melancholic songs creating a new musical genre.

1991

The Bolivian Congress approved La Ley General del Cine (Law 1302) to offer support and coordinate the process of ﬁlm development, locations, copyrights, etc.

1992

After Law 1302, the government set up the Consejo Nacional del Cine, or CONACINE, to offer legal and artistic representation to the industry.

1997

Bolivia joined the Kyoto Convention to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The remains of Ernesto Che Guevara were found in Vallegrande, Bolivia. They are then transferred to be buried in Cuba.

xxii 2000

CHRONOLOGY The Bolivian government approved Law 2029 granting the Aguas de Tunari Company a contract to manage the municipal water in Cochabamba. When the water rates more than doubled, a series of grassroots protests from January to April opposed this privatization of the water supply. This became known as the Cochabamba Water Wars. The military was sent to control the rebels and eventually two people were killed. The law had been designed by the United States as a condition to renew a loan to Bolivia, and the protesters, including Evo Morales, called for an end of the U.S.-sponsored program. The very ﬁrst Festival Internacional de Teatro de La Paz was established as an annual event.

2001–2003

The government began a coca eradication program, which resulted in violent protests by local indigenous farmers dependent on the trade of coca for legitimate purposes.

2003

President Gonzalo Sa´ nchez de Lozada resigned his post and went into exile in the United States. He was accused of genocide as part of the brutal military reaction to control a massive protest regarding the exportation of natural gas to the United States. Over 60 deaths resulted from this event, which became known as “Black October.”

2005

In December, Evo Morales obtained 54 percent of the electoral votes to become the ﬁrst indigenous person to be elected as president of Bolivia. He belongs to the political party Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), or Movement Toward Socialism.

2006

In March, shortly after taking over as the new president, Evo Morales increased the minimum wage by 50 percent.

2008

In September, the United States and Bolivia expelled each other’s ambassadors and severed diplomatic relations. The increasing tension between the two nations escalated over each other’s perception on their individual role on the war on drugs. Bolivian writer Mara Lucy Garcı´a published her seminal anthology titled Escritoras Bolivianas, which compiles the outstanding talent of Bolivian female writers expanding four generations. In December, President Evo Morales establishes the ﬁrst government-run newspaper titled Cambio to publish the ofﬁcial point of view of the Bolivian government.

2009

On January 25, Bolivians approved a new constitution (their 17th). It provided the indigenous populations with more economic and political rights.

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On February 7, the new Bolivia constitution adopted the wiphala (a ﬂag displaying squares of seven colors used by the indigenous groups of Bolivia), making it a co-ofﬁcial national symbol. It must now be raised with the other national ﬂag in all public and civic events and in front of all public institutions. On March 14, President Evo Morales, backed by a newly approved constitution this year, took control of land seized by the government from wealthy ranchers. Then, he handed over 94,000 acres of it to indigenous Guaranı´ people who had been victims of human rights violations. 2010

In July and August, the Bolivian Congress approves a landmark legislation called Autonomı´as y Decentralizacio´n, a new law that provides speciﬁc communities with greater administrative and ﬁscal control and less dependence on the federal centralized government. It beneﬁts indigenous communities the most, but it imposes restrictions on other regions with economic inﬂuence. In late September, President Evo Morales declared his intention to seek a second reelection to the executive ofﬁce in 2014. His statement unleashed a wave of both criticism and support; it might require another amendment to the existing constitution.

2011

The federal government planned to ﬁnish the installation of 82 regional radio stations in rural communities to deliver relevant programming in both Spanish and indigenous languages. The National Congress worked to approve national guidelines and legal framework against racism and discrimination. They have already deﬁned the potential victims to include the following groups: Afrobolivians, indigenous groups, women, people with HIV-AIDs, the handicapped, and immigrants as well as all gay, lesbians, and transsexual individuals. Bolivia signed a treaty with Iran for a dual effort to develop nuclear energy for electricity. Federico To´rrez Ma´rquez, an Aymara author from El Alto, became the ﬁrst winner of the Premio de Narrativa en Lengua Originaria (Literary Award in an Indigenous Language) with his novel titled Jach’a tuntachawita-pachakutiwi in Aymara (De la Gran Asamblea al Retorno in Spanish, or From the Great Assembly to the Great Return in English).

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1 The Context: Geography, People, and History

HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY are crucial components to develop an understanding of any giving culture. These two elements have shaped ancient Bolivian civilizations in ways that continue to interact even today. For example, this Andean territory has had different names. The ﬁrst known inhabitants were part of the Tiwanaku (also spelled Tihuanaco) civilization located near Lake Titicaca. After that, the Inca Empire expanded its inﬂuence in the area by conquering and incorporating the Bolivian territory under its control. Then, under the Spanish colonial rule beginning in 1536, the area became known ﬁrst as Charcas and then as Alto Peru (Upper Peru). Eventually, after its independence from Spain in 1825, it was called Bolivia in honor of its military hero Simo´n Bolı´var. The ﬁrst constitution of 1826 gave it the ofﬁcial name of La Repu´blica de Bolivia. The nation has since then had 17 constitutions to reﬂect changes in society. Then, the latest constitution approved in 2009 (constitution number 17) recently changed the country’s ofﬁcial name to the Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia, or the Plurinational State of Bolivia. It recognizes the individuality and uniqueness of all the indigenous groups. Clearly, the metaphor of the melting-pot society does not apply in this Andean country. A more appropriate image would be more like a salad bowl, where the green lettuce represents the collective population of Bolivia, and the individual ingredients reﬂect the ethnic groups that are clearly unique and distinct from one another. Bolivia is the only country in the Americas with two capital cities. This peculiar arrangement often creates confusion for outsiders. In 1839, the city

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of Sucre was declared as the constitutional capital. It received its name to honor its hero Antonio Jose´ de Sucre, one of Bolivia’s liberators working directly under Simo´n Bolı´var. Today, Sucre is still the seat of the judicial branch, or the Supreme Court. On the other hand, La Ciudad de Nuestra Sen˜ora de La Paz (now simply known as La Paz) is the administrative capital. During the convention of 1899, it became the ofﬁcial site for both the executive branch (the Presidential house) and the legislative building for the national Congress. La Paz is the national epicenter of trade, industry, and ﬁnance. Throughout national history, however, La Paz (or city of peace) has not been very peaceful since it has experienced numerous protests, rebellions, and even revolutions. Overall, the country is divided into nine departamentos (similar to states or provinces in other nations). The names of the departments with their respective capital cities are (in alphabetical order): 1. Beni (Trinidad) 2. Chuquisaca (Sucre) 3. Cochabamba (Cochabamba) 4. La Paz (La Paz) 5. Oruro (Oruro) 6. Pando (Cobija) 7. Potosı´ (Potosı´) 8. Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz de la Sierra) 9. Tarija (Tarija)

These departments are themselves divided into 100 provincias, which in turn are subdivided into municipalities, and ultimately cantons that handle local issues and administrative affairs. The major cities are La Paz, El Alto, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Cochabamba, Sucre, Oruro, and Potosı´. In general, La Paz is an ever-expanding city that serves as the de facto national capital; Cochabamba offers moderate climate and fertile agriculture; Potosı´ represents the legacy of former wealth taken from its silver mines; Santa Cruz is a large city with a small-town feeling, but it is the economic engine for the entire nation; Sucre was the cradle of independence and is known as the “white city” due to its well-preserved colonial architecture; and Oruro has some of the best cultural festivals in Bolivia. GEOGRAPHY There are many misconceptions about Bolivia, including that its geography is an inhospitable and barren landscape at high altitudes that lacks the

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Capitol building of Chiquisaca in Sucre. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

availability of oxygen. While part of this view is true, many people are surprised to discover that Bolivia also offers tropical climates, part of the Amazon Jungle, dry deserts, and high-altitude glaciers. Bolivia’s geography—especially its altitude—is much more than a beautiful background for a photo opportunity. It is actually an important feature of daily life. It affects where people live, the food they harvest, how they walk, their pace of life, what they wear, and even how well they are able to breathe. For example, the common sickness of soroche (high-altitude sickness) causes symptoms such as diarrhea, headaches, and slight fever due to the lack of oxygen and physical activity. The common regional advice comes extremely handy for recent arrivals: “Come poquito, camina lentito, y duerme solito” (Eat just a bit, walk slowly, and sleep alone). Upon arriving at one of the international airports, it quickly becomes obvious that the climate conditions in Bolivia are determined by geographical features. Technically, the country is located in tropical latitudes directly above the Tropic of Capricorn. However, its climate varies from the humid tropical lowlands to polar glaciers in the highest peaks of the Andes. Bolivia is a landlocked nation in South America. Without direct access to the ocean, it is surrounded by ﬁve neighboring countries: Brazil and Peru on the north, Paraguay and Argentina on the south, more of Brazil on the

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east, and both Peru and Chile on the west. Its area covers 424,165 square miles (1,098,581 km2), which makes it larger than both Spain and France combined, or roughly the size of both California and Texas together. Despite being completely surrounded by other nations, Bolivia does have indirect access to the Atlantic Ocean via the Paraguay River. There are three main geographic areas in Bolivia: the Altiplano or highplateau, the Yungas, and the lowlands (which include the Chaco area and the Amazon Basin). The Altiplano, at 11,000 feet (3,660 m) above sea level, is a high-altitude platform of land located between two parallel sets of the Andes Mountains that run north to south. This territory is often referred to as “the hole” because it is a valley located between two towering mountain ranges (Cordillera Occidental and Oriental). This area has a dry cold climate, and the temperatures can vary dramatically between day and night. This is where the administrative capital city of La Paz is located, and it expands onto the less famous slum-city of El Alto, which is the fastest-growing city in the country. This poor suburb of La Paz is a high-growth area of Aymara immigrants from the countryside. More than 60 percent of Bolivians lives in the Altiplano region, despite its thin air. While visitors quickly realize the lack of oxygen at this altitude, the local population is already accustomed to it, and they plan their physical activities accordingly. Other major cities located on the Altiplano region are Oruro and Potosı´. The Yungas area in the eastern part of Bolivia includes deep valleys, mountain ridges, and high mountain slopes. Yungas is an Aymara word that means “warm valleys.” This climate is more moderate than the Altiplano, which makes it more appropriate for agriculture. The valleys get enough irrigation from the slopes of the Andes Mountains. It is estimated that 25–30 percent of the country’s population lives in this area. The Lowlands is the section in the northern and eastern areas of Bolivia that extend all the way to the Brazilian and Paraguayan borders. It includes two linked but distinct regions: the Amazon Basin on the north and the Chaco area on the east. While most people associate the Amazon rainforest with Brazil, it actually extends onto Peru, Venezuela, and Bolivia. The Bolivian Amazon area is relatively unknown or visited by outsiders; it covers the always-humid and water-rich territory that leads to the Amazon jungle in Brazil. Throughout the northern region of Bolivia, there are three main rivers: Beni, Madre de Dios, and Mamore. All of them ﬂow right onto the Madeira River, which is the second-largest tributary connecting to the Amazon River in Brazil. The abundance of water and rain makes this area some of the most fertile land in the nation, but agriculture has not been fully developed here due to the lack of roads and infrastructure. As a result, very few people live here due to its isolated conditions. The northern and eastern

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regions, with their rain forest and grasslands, make up almost two-thirds of the national territory, and they are often referred to as the Oriente lowland region. Another part of the lowlands is the Chaco region. It is a desert-like territory in the southeast part of Bolivia near the border with Paraguay. These low lands have temperatures that are very dry, with an average range of almost 100 degrees F (36 degrees C). It is an area rich in petroleum, and many farms also cultivate canola for the commercial production of canola oil. However, it also includes small areas with lush humid vegetation that comes with the threat of mosquitoes and the diseases they spread, especially malaria. There is a section of the Chaco area that Bolivia lost to Paraguay during the Chaco War (1932–1935). At the time, it was speculated to have large reservoirs of petroleum, but none has been found in the lost territory. The Andes Mountains are the most salient geographic feature of South America, running from north to south throughout the entire continent. In Bolivia, the Andes are divided into two separate and parallel mountain ranges: the Cordillera Occidental and the Cordillera Real. The Cordillera Occidental is mostly a collection of quiet and dormant volcanoes on the western part of Bolivia that separates it from northern Chile and southern Peru. The northern part of the Occidental Mountain range gets some precipitation, but not much, and the southern part is a rocky area mostly inhabited. However, the Nevado Sajama is found here near the Chilean border; it is the highest peak in Bolivia at 21,453 feet (6,542 m). It has snow all year round, and expert climbers are attracted to the glaciers covering the highest slopes. According to scientists at the University of Massachusetts, the Sajama is considered to be the highest inactive volcano in the world. That is why they used it to set up the highest satellite-linked weather station in the world to study atmospheric conditions. On the other side of the Altiplano, the Cordillera Real runs along the eastern side of Bolivia, right next to the national administrative capital of La Paz. It also includes several peaks with glaciers favored by mountaineers: the Mururata, and Illimani, which is the highest mountain in the chain at 21,200 feet (6,462 m). The landscape of perennial snow covering Illimani has served as the inspiration for writers, painters, and poets for centuries. Environmental degradation has had disastrous effects on the high-altitude glaciers of Bolivia. The highest ski area in the world is found at the Bolivian peak of Chacaltaya. Located at 17,785 feet (5,421 m) above sea level, the mountain included a glacier that was popular with tourism. According to Simkin L. Siebert from the Smithsonian Institution and its study of volcanoes of the world, the Chacaltaya peak is extremely important to study the effects of global warming on high-altitude glaciers. However, in March 2009, the

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glacier of Chacaltaya disappeared.1 A group of hydrologists and scientists led by Dr. Edson Ramirez had been studying and documenting the receding glacier since the early 1990s. However, in 2009, it completely melted away; it no longer exists. The dire prediction is that more Bolivian high-altitude glaciers will also disappear within 30 years due to global warming conditions. The local danger is that many people living on the Altiplano region depend on rain and snow runoff for their water supply. All the water runoff from the mountains and rivers has to go somewhere. Bolivia has three drainage systems: (a) the Amazon network of rivers and tributaries in the northeast, (b) the Lake Titicaca in the Altiplano region, and (c) a series of slopes and valleys that carry water in the southwest area toward Argentina.2 In the northeastern part of Bolivia, the water running down from the Andes Mountains in the northeast ﬂows into multiple streams that link to the Beni and Mamore´ rivers, which carry most of the water north toward the Amazon River. Within the high-altitude valley of the Altiplano, the water rolls down the mountains in the form of hundreds of streams that eventually empty onto Lake Titicaca. This lake then ﬂows south mainly onto the Desaguadero River and Lake Poopo´, which then continues to trickle onto some of the salt ﬁelds in the southwest part of Bolivia. However, not all the national valuable assets are located at high altitudes; many of Bolivia’s natural resources are actually hidden below the earth. Bolivia has been historically both blessed and cursed by its wealth in minerals. Its natural materials include silver, petroleum, tin, zinc, iron, lead, and salt. During the Spanish colonial period (1535–1825), the largest-producing silver mine in the world was discovered near the modern city of Potosı´ in the southern part of Bolivia. Its exploitation made Spain incredibly rich, and left Bolivia extremely poor. Then, the production of tin replaced silver exports by the early 1900s, but eventually that market also collapsed in the 1980s. Another underground treasure is the vast supply of natural gas; Bolivia has the second-largest amount of natural gas reserves in the Western Hemisphere, after Venezuela. For now, it is used for domestic use and mostly exported to neighboring countries such as Argentina and Brazil. Given the fact that Bolivia has such a large supply of natural gas, there is an increasing demand by protesters to have the government nationalize the natural gas industry in order to fund social needs. At the very least, the public is demanding that foreign-owned corporations pay an increasing amount of royalties for extracting and beneﬁtting from the country’s resources. 3 In southwestern Bolivia, the Chaco area produces enough petroleum to make the nation self-sufﬁcient. In 2009, President Evo Morales was reelected to the executive ofﬁce for another ﬁve years. During his campaign, he highlighted speciﬁc actions that his administration had taken to address the national needs and concerns over

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Bolivia’s mineral wealth and resources. In 2009, the Instituto Nacional de Estadı´stica published a brochure titled “Evo Morales: 100 Accomplished Actions, 2006–2009,” listing the tangible improvements the president claims to have accomplished. For example, it states the federal government nationalized all the plants that processed natural gas in the country. The federal government also nationalized all the oil reservoirs that exist in the nation to create a national oil company that is expected to produce enough oil products to supply Bolivia’s needs. As a result, foreign corporations and private investors who owned this property were left out in the dark because the new Bolivian constitution allows for this type of action without any legal recourse for individual or corporate owners. The Salt Flats at the Salar de Uyuni

The salt ﬂats in Bolivia provide not only a valuable Bolivian export in the form of raw salt, but also in the unexpected ﬁndings of what lies underneath. Located near Potosı´, the Salar de Uyumi is the largest salt ﬂat in the world, covering more than 4,000 square miles (10,000 km2), which makes it larger than both Rhode Island and Delaware combined. The eerie landscape of this vast white blanketed ﬁeld of salt continues to generate income in this isolated area of the southwestern part of the country. However, the process of harvesting salt from the ﬂats is still being done in very primitive conditions. Workers are still using basic tools such as picks and shovels to remove salt by hand, loading it to very old trucks, and then moving it to processing plants. Here they add iodine to make it palatable for human consumption, bag it in small amounts, and then ship it to supermarkets and small stores and eventually reach the Bolivian dining tables. The white salt area makes it a blindingly bright and unusual experience, where it is possible to drive right on top of the salt ﬂats for hours and hours seeing nothing but a salt ﬁeld that never seems to end. However, just when visitors are getting used to the barren high-altitude landscape, the unexpected sight of pink ﬂamingoes at the Laguna Hedionda (Smelly Lagoon) takes them by surprise and reminds them of the natural beauty that is still mostly kept as a hidden secret. More recently, in the 21st century, the discovery of a huge lithium reservoir underneath the Salar de Uyumi has created optimism due to its potential wealth. This is the material needed to develop lithium batteries for phones, iPods, MP3 players, and soon electric cars. It turns out that almost one-half of the world’s lithium is found in Bolivia.4 It has the potential to quickly become a crucial commodity for the electronics world market. However, this time, the Bolivian government is being extremely careful to not fall into another pattern of foreign beneﬁts and local regrets. In the meantime, the area would also need considerable investment by the federal government.

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Workers harvesting salt at the Uyuni Salt Flats. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

As of 2011, it remains an isolated region accessible only by dirt roads that are about seven hours’ driving distance away from the nearest town or city. In addition, there is essentially no infrastructure of electricity, water, sewer systems, telephone, or cellular service in the area. If and when the Bolivian government decides to develop an industry to extract lithium from the Salar de Uyuni, it would need to spend considerable resources to develop an adequate infrastructure for this purpose. Lake Titicaca

Perhaps the most recognizable geographic feature in Bolivia is Lake Titicaca, which it shares with Peru. At an altitude of 12,500 feet (3,810 m), it is the highest commercially navigable body of water in the world. It covers an area of 3,500 square miles (9,064 km2), which makes it larger than the entire island of Puerto Rico. It is also an extremely deep lake, which measures about 900 feet (290 m) at its deepest point. Visitors are usually in awe of its size, and it looks more like an ocean than a lake. In more linear terms, Lake Titicaca is 110 miles long and almost 43 miles wide, and it includes over 40 islands.5 It is an area with spiritual history that has both inspired and inﬂuenced ancient civilizations.

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After its independence from Spain in 1825, Bolivia lost roughly one-third of its territory due to constant wars with its neighbors. However, the most regretted result was that Bolivia lost access to the ocean when it lost the War of the Paciﬁc against Chile in 1884. Today, Bolivia remains one of two landlocked nations in South America—the other nation is neighboring Paraguay. This is an extremely sore point for most Bolivians. It actually has been the cornerstone of Bolivia’s foreign policy to someday obtain access back to the ocean. For example, Bolivia is the only country in the world with an active military branch of the navy, but no access to an actual ocean. The national navy practices with their military boats in Lake Titicaca, just to be ready for the time when—they believe—they will eventually obtain access to the ocean again. PEOPLE According to the 2010 report published by the Instituto Nacional de Estadı´stica de Bolivia (INE), the country just reached a population of 10 million people. This demographic result makes Bolivia one of the least populated nations in the Western Hemisphere, with an average distribution of only ﬁve people per square mile. According to the 2000 census in the United States, Bolivia has fewer people than Florida, Pennsylvania, or even Ohio. However, the distribution of population reﬂects an unusual trend in South America: the percentage of people living in urban areas is only roughly 45 percent. Moreover, almost 70 percent of the population lives in the Altiplano region, despite the harsh weather and terrain conditions. The rest of the nation is sparsely inhabited (66 percent in urban regions and 34 percent in rural areas). The cultural richness of Bolivia is also based on its ethnic variety. There are four main groups: almost 55 percent indigenous (mostly Aymara and Quechua groups), 30 percent mestizos (mixed of European and indigenous), 14 percent of European descent, and roughly 1 percent Afro-Bolivians. In the last 20 years, recent migrations of people from Poland and Germany settled in La Paz, and Japanese from Okinawa established agricultural communities in Santa Cruz. This wonderful cultural mosaic is reﬂected in the main national languages of Spanish, Quechua, and Aymara. However, the new constitution of 2009 recognizes Spanish plus other 36 native languages as the new ofﬁcial languages of Bolivia.6 Quechua is perhaps the indigenous group with the most number of speakers. Roughly 2.5 million people in Bolivia speak the language (plus a large number of people in Peru). This large group needs public and educational services in their native tongue. As an example of their international inﬂuence, the software manufacturer Microsoft from the United States released in 2006 its Windows and Ofﬁce software in Quechua.7

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The indigenous population actually includes about 25 different groups. The Quechua-speaking Amerindians make up 30 percent of the national inhabitants, and the Aymara-speaking groups are another 25 percent. Other groups include the Guaranı´, Kallawaya, Chipaya, and Chiquitano. While the Aymara groups live near La Paz and Lake Titicaca, most of the Quechua groups live in areas near Cochabamba and Sucre. Many of the women in these groups maintain their indigenous dress styles, but the men in most instances have adopted more Western-style clothing. While most of the Amerindians still live in rural areas, a substantial number of them have moved to cities, especially to look for jobs. Even when the different indigenous groups come into contact with one another, intermarriage among them is seldom practiced. It would be extremely rare in Bolivia for different groups who speak different indigenous languages to mix in social functions, even if they both speak Spanish as a second language. They each protect and relish their own traditions and customs. Given the cultural diversity and richness, Bolivians are still trying to deﬁne themselves. A recent national poll published in 2009 by the prestigious newspaper La Prensa reveals an important shift in self-identiﬁcation in relationship to ethnicity. The report, titled “Bolivianos: Una mirada hacia nuestra identidad ” (Bolivians: A Closer Look towards Our Identity) was released exactly on August 6, on the 200th anniversary of Bolivia’s declaration of independence. The study, carried out by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF), reveals that there has been a huge shift in how Bolivians see themselves. More speciﬁcally, the INE study reported that 62 percent of people considered themselves part of an indigenous group of the nation. However, the UNDEF results revealed that 68 percent deﬁned themselves as mestizo, and only 20 percent deﬁned themselves an indigenous. These ﬁgures have sparked a ﬁerce national debate, especially from sociologists, anthropologists, and specialists on demographics. They argue that people may say they are mestizos to avoid discrimination based on their indigenous origin, but their language, facial features, and skin color would give them away. Besides, the critics argue, Bolivia continues to be a nation with an indigenous majority. It is worth noting, however, that most people who claimed to be mestizo did not necessarily negate their indigenous heritage. Much to the contrary, they clearly labeled it as Aymara, Quechua, Tacana, etc., and seemed to express pride in their mixed background. While people in academia, politicians, economists, and sociologists question the validity of the study, it does not necessarily change the way Bolivians chose to identify themselves. The criollos are people of Spanish descent who claim not to have mixed with the indigenous people of Bolivia. At a local level, people simply call

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them blancos, or white. Their families stayed in Bolivia after its independence, and they remained homogenous mostly by marrying within their own social group. They make up about 14 percent of the population, but they play a signiﬁcant role in the economy, politics, and higher-education institutions. Historically, they have owned both small and large businesses that have ﬂourished often thanks to exclusive government contracts. The mestizos have both Spanish and Indian blood. They make up 30 percent of the national population. They sometimes speak a native language such as Quechua, Guaranı´, or Aymara, but they are always ﬂuent in Spanish and have a high level of literacy. Since the National Revolution of 1952, they have attained access to education opportunities and used this option as a tool for upward mobility. Since they are mostly an urban population, they are much more integrated into Bolivian mainstream society and institutions than the purely indigenous people. The Spanish brought African slaves during the 1500s to work in the silver mines. Afro-Bolivians adapted better to the warmer living conditions in the Yungas area, and not too many of them live in the colder weather of the Altiplano region. They speak Spanish, but also include a few peppered words of African origin. While they have remained in the lower economic classes, mostly for lack of advanced education, they have made signiﬁcant contributions to the national culture in music and sports. Recent statistics of 2009 reveal a number of approximately 18,000 Afro-Bolivians in Bolivia. Deﬁning Bolivian Identity

In 2010, the issue of Bolivian identity developed a sense of urgency. The people and the government are literally trying to deﬁne themselves. The Asamblea Nacional Constituyente (one branch of the national congress) guided the national debate that called for a deep and serious analysis of diversity, multiple cultures, the relationship among cultures, and the thorny topic of racial identiﬁcation. Since the new constitution of 2009 makes speciﬁc provisions for indigenous cultures and languages, the political ramiﬁcations of cultural identity are increasingly important because it affects federal funding, educational spending, budget allocations, and even the controversial framework of ﬁscal and administrative autonomy granted to speciﬁc communities and departments. In order to foment a sense of national unity and tolerance, the Federal Assembly commissioned cultural studies carried out by two organizations: La Fundacio´n Boliviana para la Democracia Multipartidaria (FBDM), and the prestigious research ﬁrm Fundacio´n Friedrich Ebert. Their 2010 report highlighted a crucial and astonishing result: there is no sense of collective national identity among the population. Instead, people identify themselves

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as part of a culture or race (Aymara, Quechua, white, mestizo, etc.). The surprising result, then, is a multicultural nation without a comprehensive or collective identity. Consequently, the Asamblea Constituyente of 2010 has reframed the subsequent discussions around a key word: interculturalidad, or the relationship among different cultures. Their hope is to create a national debate and promote a sense of tolerance and acceptance of one another in a pluralistic society.8 It will not be an easy task in a country that is already deeply divided not only along racial lines, but also by the immense gap between afﬂuent groups on one hand, and those in extreme poverty who represent almost 60 percent of the population on the other. Poverty

Bolivia is considered to be the poorest country in South America. It is also often labeled as the third poorest in Latin America, after Haiti and sometimes Nicaragua. To understand the effects of moderate and extreme poverty, it is important to take into account that Bolivia is a nation very aware of the differences among its social classes. Factors that contribute to the social standing in a community include skin color, language, education, material wealth, ancestry, and occupation. Moreover, the difference of living standards between rural and urban areas is a remarkable feature in Bolivian society. The data provided by the Instituto Nacional de Estadı´stica (INE) in 2009 reveals a pattern of social despondency that deeply affects the rural population, especially the indigenous groups, and the results are even more extreme for poor indigenous women. The INE deﬁnes extreme poverty as the economic line below which people cannot even obtain the basic necessities of life (food and shelter) on a daily basis. More speciﬁcally, the population in 2010 reached 10,227,299 inhabitants. Of that number, 60.10 percent lived below the poverty line, and a staggering 37 percent of the national population lived in extreme poverty. However, a closer look reveals that only 37 percent of the urban population fall in that category, and a staggering 64 percent of people from the rural areas suffer from extreme poverty. Since almost two-thirds of the Bolivian population consists of sustenance farmers, the most extreme poverty is viewed on the countryside, where it affects mostly indigenous people. Indigenous women from the countryside suffer the most severe effects of endemic poverty. The INE’s data from 2008 shows that 87 percent of the people are literate in Bolivia, which is a low rating for South American standards. However, according to 2010 data from INE, recent educational policies for rural areas have already paid dividends, and the literacy level has risen to 90.74 percent. While education is free and compulsory in Bolivia, children in rural areas also share in the farm work. Consequently, many children of farming families do not even ﬁnish elementary school; hence, the

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rates of illiteracy are much higher in the rural areas. The 2010 report from the INE also reveals that the average Bolivian receives 8.6 years of education (10.28 years for those in urban areas, and 5.3 years for those in the countryside). Despite these apparent increases in educational rates, in the more isolated areas of Chuquisaca and Potosı´, the rate of illiteracy for the indigenous population tends to be higher, and it runs as high as 44 percent among indigenous women. That means that almost half of the indigenous women in Bolivia do not know how to read and write. Poverty and health are two social factors that go hand and hand in Bolivia. The INE also provides statistics for national health indicators. They report that the national life expectancy in Bolivia is 59 years for men and 64 years for women. In comparison, the United States has a life expectancy of 72 years for men and 79 years for women.9 During the last decade, President Morales has requested and funded speciﬁc programs to improve the health of women, pregnancy care, and birth survival rates. The medical needs of indigenous women are speciﬁcally reported by the INE with a general intention of improving the health conditions on the countryside. According to the 2006 data, only 40 percent of Amerindian women actually have their babies in a hospital or clinic; the remaining 60 percent deliver their babies at home. Moreover, for women having a delivery at home, the state reports that only 14 percent use a matrona, or midwife; 22 percent have a baby all by themselves, and 18 percent have a friend or relative help them with the delivery. These statistics also reveal high mortality rates among babies being born in poor indigenous communities. Comparatively speaking, 83 babies die in Bolivia for every 1,000 that are born; the rate in the United States is 10 for every 1,000 being born. However, during the last ﬁve years (2005–2010), the federal government of Evo Morales has built 545 health centers and hospitals in order to be able to reach more communities. The effects of increased medical access in rural areas and even at home have already produced tangible improvements. The INE’s 2010 data also reveals that 83.50 percent of women received medical checkups and pre- and postnatal care by health professionals. Moreover, almost 80 percent of births took place at a hospital, medical clinic, or at home with the medical assistance of a midwife or health professionals. While access to medical care is certainly improving, the ultimate goal is to have a universal health care system in Bolivia to attend to the needs of all citizens. While medical conditions are improving in Bolivia, the standard of living is not. Since the 1990s, the indigenous communities have organized numerous protests aimed at improving their living conditions. They claim that the national wealth based on mineral and natural sources such as gas and oil are national assets that should beneﬁt all Bolivians. Hence, they demand a more

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equitable distribution of the beneﬁts, which have traditionally been denied to the Amerindian groups. They have participated in street protests that have overturned socially unfair national laws (such as the privatization of water in Cochabamba), and even pushed presidents like Carlos Mesa to resign in 2004. The indigenous leaders have organized themselves into socially driven political parties, like the Movimiento al Socialismo or Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), and the Poder Democra´tico y Social or Democratic and Social Power (PODEMOS). These leaders are capable of mobilizing a critical mass of people for political action, street protests, hunger strikes, or vote rallies. They can call on people to participate during national elections and also to make their presence felt on regional special votes. Perhaps the most recognizable indigenous leader in Bolivia today is Evo Morales, locally known simply as Evo. His work and accomplishments against all odds will continue to be interwoven throughout different chapters in this book in order to place his work within a larger Bolivian context. HISTORY The history of Bolivia can be roughly divided into three major periods of signiﬁcant magnitude: (a) the pre-Columbus civilizations up until 1525, (b) the Spanish colonial rule from 1535 to 1825, and (c) an independent nation beginning in 1825. These three eras have important events within themselves, and they each include several historical anchors that have shaped the modern culture of this Andean nation. Pre-Columbian Civilizations

The Inca is the most recognized pre-Colombian empire in the Andes. However, the Altiplano area near Lake Titicaca experienced the presence of other advanced civilizations centuries before the arrival of the Incas. The Tiwunaku (also written as Tihuanaco) culture settled in the southern part of Lake Titicaca by 100 BCE. This indigenous culture also named their main city Tiwanaku. Here, they developed advanced agricultural techniques that allowed them to ﬂourish in the area for over a thousand years, before they vanished roughly around 1200 CE. Today, the only remaining trace of this culture is an archeological site that lies in ruins with little to show for the great accomplishments of this group, except a sturdy-looking temple with rectangular arches and a few free-stone statues. Archeologists and scientists continue to study this location in the hope of obtaining answers about the cultural practices of Tiwanaku. They are keenly aware that they are dealing with an ancient civilization; for example, 2010 is already year 5519 on the Aymara calendar. Even though there is no concrete explanation for the

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Tiwanaku ruins near Lake Titicaca. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

decline of the Tiwanaku culture, some Aymara legends passed on through generations speculate that this civilization disappeared due to a long and prolonged drought around Lake Titicaca. The disappearance of the Tiwanaku made it possible for the Inca Empire to take over the area easily around 1400 CE. The Incas originally settled in the Cuzco area, in the highlands of Peru. They took over the territory that is now Bolivia in an attempt to expand their empire to an area that includes territories in present-day Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador. The Inca ruler Viracocha led the incursion into modern-day Bolivia, but his son Pachacutec actually carried out the conquest of the region. The Incas brought with them advanced architecture and an engineering vision; they quickly built cities connected by paved roads, created bridges to link isolated locations, built terraces on the sides of the mountains to develop agriculture, and promoted a textile industry that still produces materials today. They provided food throughout the empire, but they also required a labor tax (called mita´) to be able to manage their crops and building projects. The Inca spoke Quechua, a language that was adopted in many parts of the empire, including Bolivia. Today, the Quechua indigenous groups still make almost 30 percent of the national population of Bolivia.

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Despite their great organizational, military, and building skills, the Inca had a few ﬂaws during their time. For example, they never really developed a good system of writing to chronicle their own history. They left a system of kipu´s (a string of material with nods on them) as a way of recording information, but it did not evolve into a writing system. In addition, Inca control did not last very long; they were quickly defeated by the Spanish conquistadores who arrived in 1531. Consequently, the Inca Empire lasted only about 150 years. The Spanish Colonial Period (1535–1825)

The arrival of the Spanish expeditions to South America is a crucial event of historic magnitude. The colonial rule of the area lasted almost 300 years from 1535 until 1825. The main Spanish conquistadores who arrived in Cuzco (the capital of the Inca Empire) were Francisco Pizarro, Hernando de Luque, and Diego de Almagro, together with 170 soldiers at their command. They were well armed and better trained for war and battle than the Incas. Upon their arrival, they found out that the Inca leader, Huyna Capac, had recently died. As a result, they found the Inca Empire in a brutal civil war between two brothers—Huascar and Atahualpa—disputing who should be the next Inca ruler. Atahualpa eventually defeated his brother. So, the Spanish met with the winning party of Atahualpa, and then put him in prison. The loyal people paid a gold ransom for his return, but the Spanish killed him anyway. Over the next 300 years, more Spanish adventurers arrived in South America with the aim of becoming wealthy from the natural and mineral resources of the area. Once military control was achieved over the Inca Empire, Diego de Almagro took over the territory that is now known as Bolivia, but called Upper Peru or Charcas during the Spanish colonial rule. This high-elevation area was controlled from Lima, Peru, which was the capital of the wealthy and inﬂuential Viceroyalty of Peru. However, Almagro was killed by another Spaniard shortly thereafter in 1538. Pizarro’s brother—Gonzalo Pizarro—took over the administration of Upper Peru, or the Bolivian Highlands. The Spanish Crown had Gonzalo Pisarro executed in 1854 because he had created a continuous series of rebellions against the Spanish administration. Once the Spanish kings assumed complete control, they set out to establish regional control. Local government was administered from the Audiencia of Charcas (which is modern-day Sucre and the constitutional capital city of the nation), which had a wide range of judicial power, especially in the immediate environment of Potosı´ as a mineral, administrative, and agricultural center. The area of Charcas remained as part of Peru until 1776, when it was transferred to be part of the new administrative unit of the Viceroyalty of Rio de La Plata, with the capital located in Buenos Aires. The Spaniards also founded the city of

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La Paz in 1854, which quickly became a commerce center among different Andes routes. During the Spanish colonial period, one of the main exports exploited by the Spaniards was silver. In 1544, Diego Huallapa, a llama herder, stumbled by accident onto a silver mine located on the foothills of Cerro Rico, which would eventually bring thousands of speculators and settlers to South America with an insatiable appetite for silver and valuable minerals. The Spanish Crown quickly realized that the silver mines of Potosı´ could produce a large amount of the mineral wealth bound for the Iberian Peninsula. Consequently, they founded the city of the Villa Imperial of Carlos V in 1545 to begin the immediate exploitation of the mines. The extraction of silver was done by using thousands of indigenous people (and eventually African) as forced slaves. To satisfy its labor needs, Spain also adopted the mita´ (labor tax) that the Inca Empire had already used in previous centuries. It is estimated that thousands of enslaved Indians died each year due to dangerous working conditions, disease, and common accidents. In addition, most of the European arrivals took land intended to be used for agriculture, and the indigenous population started to be pushed away from fertile acreage to the hillsides, where they could still cultivate some food for themselves. The colonial period in Upper Peru made the Spanish Crown extremely wealthy, but it left this Andean region with endemic poverty. The indigenous population began to organize aggressive rebellions against Spain in the late 1700s, which were quickly and brutally stopped by the Spanish military. Tupac Amaru II (born as Jose´ Gabriel Condorcanqui) protested the harsh treatment of the Indians in the Peruvian and Bolivian highlands. He managed to create an army of peasants of almost 60,000 people, but he was captured and executed by the Spanish military in 1781. His struggle continued mostly in the Upper Peru section of the Andes. The Spanish attempt to control all potential threats of rebellion even went so far as to expel the Jesuit priests from their colonies in the Americas in 1767. The Jesuits had become too successful, not only in their religious inﬂuence, but also in higher education and as experienced entrepreneurs. Their expulsion left many industries and academic institutions unattended. Potosı´’s mineral glory could not last forever, especially when silver prices fell worldwide. During the early 1800s, a steep decline of silver production in Potosı´ prompted the abandonment of almost 90 percent of the silver mines. This was an economic blow to the city, which resulted in a mass exodus of people; even today, Potosı´ has still not quite recovered from these historical and economic events. By the early 1800s, the creole population (Spaniards born in the Americas) became resentful due to the lack of access to high ecclesiastical and

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government posts, which were reserved only for peninsulares (Spaniards born in Spain). In 1809, a group of creoles in the cities of La Paz and Chuquisaca in the Upper Peru region declared independence from Spain. It was the ﬁrst call for freedom in South America; however, it would take 16 years to achieve that goal, until August 6, 1825. The decisive end of the struggle was the epic Battle of Ayacucho, where the Spanish ﬁnally surrendered. The main heroes of these battles were Simo´n Bolı´var, Jose´ de San Martı´n, and Antonio Jose´ de Sucre. In 1825, the new nation was ofﬁcially named Bolivia in honor of its military hero Simo´n Bolı´var. A year later in 1826, Bolı´var himself wrote the ﬁrst constitution, and the area of Chuquisaca was renamed Sucre in honor of Antonio Jose´ de Sucre, another military hero who also became the ﬁrst president of Bolivia. In an ironic turn, Bolivia was the last country in South America to obtain independence from the Spanish Crown, even though it was the ﬁrst territory to call for an independent future. One of the most historical buildings in Bolivia is the current Casa de la Libertad in Sucre (House of Freedom). It is a massive complex on the main square in the center of town that used to house the Jesuit church, the Jesuit University, and the living quarters for the priests. The university was founded in 1642 under the name of Universidad Mayor Real y Pontiﬁcia de San Francisco de Xavier de Chuquisaca. It was in the Jesuit chapel of this complex that the Bolivian declaration of independence was signed on August 6, 1825. This is the same hall where doctoral candidates used to defend their dissertations orally before obtaining their doctoral degrees from the Jesuit University. Moreover, the signiﬁcance of this building is historically valuable because this is the location where the ﬁrst Bolivian Congress met for the ﬁrst time. Nowadays, a replica of the original declaration of independence is prominently displayed here, mounted on a granite column for all to see. The original document is kept inside a vault, and it is taken out once a year on August 6 for the president to commemorate a special national event. An Independent Nation (after 1825)

Independence did not necessarily bring stability and prosperity to Bolivia. The period of nation building and developing social institutions (1825– 1951) was plagued by constant military coups, a frequent overthrow of constitutions, and the struggle to retain its national territory. South America had originally been organized by Spanish Viceroyalties of immense territories such as the viceroyalties of Peru, Rio de La Plata, and New Granada. After independence, each viceroyalty splintered onto multiple nations. The Viceroyalty of Peru became Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. The Viceroyalty of La Plata became Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. The Viceroyalty of New Granada became Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. Consequently, the new

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Casa de la Libertad in Sucre. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

individual borders were not clear. The Bolivian territory originally extended to the Paciﬁc Ocean on the west, the Amazon jungle on the north, and the Chaco territory on the east. Bolivia was located right on the center of the continent, and it was dragged into crippling wars that challenged the unity of its territory. Andre´s de Santa Cruz is considered a unifying ﬁgure in Bolivia and a crucial force to develop the nation in its infancy after independence. He was elected president in 1829. His focal point of reference was the national constitution of 1826. However, he instituted two more constitutions in 1831 and 1834 in order to incorporate additional aspects of Napoleonic law and to include the social changes in his administration. For example, he established the ﬁrst national bank in Bolivia (El Banco de Circulacio´n), supported the mining production of gold, declared several ports like Cobija as special tax locations to improve trade, pushed for the development of the textile industry, professionalized the military, and created institutions of higher learning such as the Universidad Mayor de San Andre´s de La Paz in 1831, and the Universidad Mayor de San Simo´n de Cochabamba. In 1835, he also orchestrated the creation of the Union of Peru and Bolivia, a confederacy based on their historical and cultural ties. However, this fragile political

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and economic alliance failed by 1839 when it was militarily challenged by both Argentina and Chile separately. During the ﬁrst 100 years as a new nation, Bolivia’s wars with its neighbors resulted in the loss of almost one-half of its territory and, most regrettably, access to the ocean (see map titled “Bolivia Territorial Loss”). At the end of the War of the Paciﬁc of 1879, Bolivia lost the Atacama coastal region to Chile. This territory was rich in nitrate minerals and guano (bird’s excrement used as fertilizer). Chile had originally won concessions to operate the mining of these valuable assets. The dispute focused on the taxes that Chile was supposed to pay for its operations. Even though Peru was also involved in the war with the aim of helping Bolivia, the Chilean military was superior and defeated both Bolivia and Peru. With the loss of this territory, the war left Bolivia as a landlocked nation. This is a political issue that still drives contemporary diplomatic relations between Bolivia and Chile. On one side, Bolivian leaders (including President Morales) are still hoping they will one day regain access to the ocean, but they realize it must be through a diplomatic agreement that facilitates this politically charged option. On the other side, Sebastia´n Pin˜era, elected as the new president of Chile in 2010, swore during his campaign never to concede any part of Chile’s coast back to Bolivia. The political and diplomatic tension over this issue is likely to continue for decades. After the War of the Paciﬁc, the credibility of military leaders suffered tremendously in the internal politics of Bolivia, and the elite mining entrepreneurs were able to capitalize on these events to obtain more political clout. Moreover, an increase of mineral production created extreme wealth among the mining magnates, such as Simon I. Patin˜o. In the meantime, however, the deplorable working conditions of the indigenous population of Bolivia (which made up almost 70 percent of the national population) did not improve, and their prospects for better living conditions seemed gloomy at best. Overall, they did not receive a statefunded education, they did not have access to economic opportunities in their rural communities, and they were certainly not included in the political decisions of the new nation. One way for the indigenous people to improve their condition was to join the military, which also served as a venue to a level of social awareness not previously experienced. The Chaco War with Paraguay (1932–1935) marked a crucial point in Bolivian history and politics. The two nations are linked by the Grand Chaco region that is essentially a dry desert. However, speculators expressed interest in oil exploration in the area, which led to a war to control the region. Bolivia was defeated in the war, and it lost over 100,000 people and a large part of its eastern territory. Even today, however, oil has never been found in the new

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Bolivia territorial loss. (Library of Congress, Country Studies series)

Paraguayan lands of the Chaco. This time, in the eyes of the general population, the loss of territory discredited the civilian rulers stemming from wealthy families and commerce barons. As more indigenous people served in the military, they began to question the purpose for which they were supposed to ﬁght. If it was for national pride and honor, they did not see the government extending those basic principles to the general population—not when most of the nation lived in endemic poverty. Slowly, the masses grew more resentful of the government. The history of Bolivia reveals a contentious relationship between the government and the indigenous groups. For most of the 1900s, the elite land and mining owners controlled the two major sectors of the economy: agriculture, and tin production. Almost 60 percent of the nation became peasants in a feudal-like system locally known as pongaje. During the 1940s, the general population participated in protests for national reforms and the creation of

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several leftist political parties; the most salient was the Movimiento Nacional Revolucionario (MNR). From its genesis, it had broad popular appeal because it aimed to improve the social and living conditions of the Aymara and Quechua indigenous people. Consequently, the MNR leaders knew that their main political opponents would be the mining elite, who controlled most of the political appointments and relied on cheap indigenous labor to make their businesses proﬁtable. In 1946, a few vigilantes actually went so far as to take justice into their hands; they dragged President Gualberto Villarroel from the presidential palace and hanged him from a lamppost on the plaza behind the palace. Agitation and social unrest was already common among the marginalized population. The MNR started a bloody rebellion in 1949, but its leaders were quickly defeated, and they went into exile in nearby Argentina. A few years later, the MNR modiﬁed its strategy, and they attempted a more peaceful and democratic approach in 1951 by postulating a candidate for the national presidency. Surprisingly, the MNR won even when the indigenous illiterate population did not have the right to vote. However, the parliament accused the MNR of electoral fraud and did not recognize their victory. The stage for a massive revolt was beginning to build. The Bolivian National Revolution (1952)

In April 1952, the MNR managed to convert a plan for a coup d’e´tat into a popular and massive revolt. This movement set into motion the large-scale Bolivian National Revolution. Average people protested in massive numbers in the main cities of Oruro and La Paz; a large number of national police ofﬁcers joined the cause, which was also supported by the extremely angry mining workers. The confrontations were carried out mostly in urban centers, and they took the form of street ﬁghts. This broad coalition of people actually managed to defeat the military, which was somewhat reluctant to ﬁght in the ﬁrst place. However, the result of the heroic insurrection was 490 opposition members dead and almost 1,000 injured. The incumbent government resigned, and the MNR political party took over the nation with Vı´ctor Paz Estenssoro as the new president. In 1952, the MNR enjoyed enormous support from the general population. Consequently, the party embarked on a series of colossal national reforms. First, on July 21, 1952, they approved universal suffrage, which provided the right to vote to populations that previously had been excluded from the political process, such as Indians, women, and illiterate persons. In addition, all mineral mines were nationalized and expropriated from their previous owners. In 1953, the new government passed a land reform law that provided land to almost two million peasants, who were then incorporated

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into the national economy. In 1955, the MNR created a new national education system aimed at providing basic education to the poor and rural populations. At the regional level, local governments established medical clinics to cover basic medical needs. As far as infrastructure was concerned, President Paz coordinated the construction of new roads, electrical plants, dams, and irrigation systems. All the apparent nationalistic and protectionist progress, however, came with a huge cost: hyperinﬂation forced the national currency to lose its value by almost 800 percent, and the increase in prices was never controlled. In addition, the country was not exporting as much as it used to, it did not receive much foreign investment, and it grew dependent on foreign aid and loans from the United States. After 12 years as a ruling party, the MNR grew increasingly divided over the management of revenue, political goals, and social programs. Accusations of corruption were common. As a result, a military coup removed President Paz Estenssoro from power in 1964; what followed was a period of fear and social oppression never before seen in Bolivia. Military Control (1964–1988)

When Paz Estenssoro was ousted in 1964, it ushered in a tumultuous period of 20 years of military rule in Bolivia. Initially, the fear of political and social chaos led the military and several political parties to install a series of puppet and weak governments that were not able to calm the people’s discontent. This was the social and political context under which General Rene´ Barrientos Ortun˜o took power in 1966. He was a Quechua-speaking military ofﬁcer who had worked with worker unions and had some level of trust from the general population. Nevertheless, the military regime constantly tried to put out ﬁres of insurrection throughout the country. The most salient event was in 1967 when the military attacked mining workers, killing 27 of them, arguably for supporting the communist guerrilla Che Guevara, who had arrived in Bolivia in 1966 to organize a rebellion. Barrientos is perhaps best remembered for participating in the capture and killing of Che Guevara on Bolivian soil. It is often claimed that it was Barrientos who ordered Guevara’s body buried under an airplane strip in southern Bolivia.10 The sudden death of Rene´ Barrientos in a plane crash in 1969 unleashed multiple rebellions that resulted in coups d’e´tat, puppet governments, counter coups, multiple constitutions, and presidential appointments without legal foundation. Given the public chaos, the military placed General Hugo Banzer Sua´rez as president in 1971. His most immediate goal was to stabilize the economy. He quickly ﬁlled many civilian political posts with military appointees who answered directly to him. Not only did he succeed in this difﬁcult task, but the economy actually improved dramatically during his ﬁrst three years in

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ofﬁce. However, the false sense of collective prosperity did not necessarily calm social agitations; strikes were common, and protesters continuously marched for better living conditions. In addition, the accusations of military abuses eventually led him to step down and call for presidential elections in 1978. The following 10 years did not yield political stability or economic progress. The decade of the 1980s was a revolving door of military governments and former presidents who were not capable of controlling the increasing social unrest or the enormous inﬂation that reached almost 20,000 percent a year. In 1982, the Bolivian National Congress approved Lidia Guellar as interim president; she was the ﬁrst woman ever to be president of Bolivia. During this period, drug cartels also inﬁltrated the political scene, and accusations of government corruption were common. As a result, the increase in cocaine trafﬁcking created political and diplomatic tensions with the Reagan administration in the United States. It was precisely in 1988 that Law 1088 was approved (ofﬁcially known as the Coca and Controlled Substance Law). Its main goals were to reduce cocaine production by implementing the eradication of coca plants and providing alternative crops for the indigenous population who have relied on the cultivation of coca leaves for centuries. It also created a separate legal and judicial structure to prosecute drug trafﬁcking offenders. This Bolivian law was developed and implemented in coordination with advisors from the United States. Return to Democracy and Indigenous Activism (1989–2005)

Democratic elections were ﬁnally held in 1989, but none of the candidates won a 51 percent majority of the popular vote. In these cases, according to the Bolivian legal code, Congress determines who the next president should be. This is where political parties create coalitions that determine the next president, but in exchange for certain political appointments or a certain number of seats in Congress. In the end, Jaime Paz Zamora, from the MNR political party, became the national leader and the ﬁrst in a series of democratically elected presidents for the next 20 years. He continued to privatize national companies, cut social spending, and to create liberal economic policies beneﬁcial to private investors. During this time, Bolivia and the United States entered a period of negotiations regarding the eradication of coca plants while allowing a limited amount of cultivation of the crop for legitimate use. The general goal was to reduce the amount of drugs destined for the United States. The democratic election of 1993 resulted with Gonzalo Sa´nchez de Lozada as another president from the MNR. He pursued a more aggressive policy to open up public companies to private investors, such as the national phone

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and oil corporations. However, it was also during the early 1990s that Bolivia became the third-largest producer of cocaine in the world, after Colombia and Peru. Under international pressure (especially from the United States), Sanchez de Lozada implemented a strict policy aimed at ﬁghting the illegal cultivation of coca, especially in the Chapare region of the country. Lozada’s policies of privatization and coca eradication sparked national protests and galvanized the indigenous population into a period of profound social activism. They created social coalitions to protest government policies during the last decade. Two tangible examples were the popularly named Cochabamba Water Protests of 2000 and the Bolivian Gas War of 2003. The ﬁrst one addressed the privatization of the government agency that provided water to the Cochamamba region; it was a condition by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to renew a loan to Bolivia. The second protested the sale and management of oil and natural gas resources to foreign companies that were not planning to do much to beneﬁt the local population. One of the emerging indigenous leaders at the beginning of the century was Evo Morales, a coca grower who aimed to use politics to obtain beneﬁts and recognition for the indigenous populations of Bolivia. He served in Congress ﬁrst, but was eventually elected president in 2005 and reelected in 2009 for another ﬁve-year term. His story of activism and social struggle must be placed in the context of the general population of Bolivia. His new administration has faced tremendous opposition in 2010. Even the indigenous communities in distant areas like Oruro and Potosı´ have organized massive protests because he has not been able to deliver on the promises he made to them regarding better living conditions and a redistribution of wealth. In 2010, the Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS) political party to which Morales belongs has complete control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. As a result, they have rammed through a series of new laws that will affect the country for decades to come. A political concern is that Morales is using such a mechanism to consolidate more power in the executive ofﬁce, and he seems increasingly less tolerant of the opposition parties who always highlight his shortcomings. Of greater concern, however, is the judicial and legal framework that he has been using to get rid of elected ofﬁcials who oppose him. For example, the constitution now has a clause that no public ofﬁcial can hold a public ofﬁce when they are being part of a legal case against them. So, it has become common practice for Morales to order the regional ﬁscal (similar to an attorney general) to ﬁle petty legal charges against his political opponents, who include mayors, governors, and city council members. This practice was ﬁrst explained under the idea of getting rid of political corruption, which is a popular rhetoric in Bolivia. However, the public has now realized that this is a political strategy, and the charges ﬁled

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frequently are proven not to be true, but those politicians are no longer allowed to return to their posts. People now whisper in Bolivia that Morales seems to be heavily inﬂuenced by Venezuelan president Hugo Cha´vez, who changes the constitution to his own beneﬁt as often as he deems necessary. Moreover, Morales recently created a national controversy in September 2010 when he declared his intention to seek a second reelection in 2014. His announcement sent both supporters and opposition leaders into high campaign gear since his actions might require yet another amendment to the existing constitution that was recently adopted in 2009. NOTES 1. John Enders, “Bolivia’s Chacaltaya Glacier Is Gone,” Miami Herald, May 4, 2009. 2. Peter Pateman, Cultures of the World: Bolivia (New York: Times Editions, 1995), 12. 3. Franz Cha´vez, “Divided Over Natural Gas,” Inter Press Service (IPS), May 25, 2005. 4. Dan McDougall, “In Search of Lithium: The Battle for the Third Element,” Daily Mail (London), April 5, 2009; Simon Romero, “Bolivia: The Saudi Arabia of Lithium?” New York Times, February 3, 2009. 5. Sarah Miller Lhana. “Bolivians Build Floating Wicker Baskets: Preserving Tradition, Artisans Create Crescent-Shapes Crafts.” ABC News, March 7, 2009. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all& address=405x12429 (accessed January 22, 2011). 6. The Bolivian Constitution of 2009, Article 5-I, states: “The ofﬁcial languages of the State are Spanish and all the other languages of the indigenous nations and indigenous farmer groups, which are: aymara, araona, baure, be´siro, canichana, cavinen˜o, cayubaba, cha´cobo, chima´n, ese ejja, guaranı´, guarasu’we, guarayu, itonama, leco, machajuyai-kallawaya, machineri, maropa, mojen˜o-trinitario, mojen˜o-ignaciano, more´, mosete´n, movima, pacawara, puquina, quechua, siriono´, tacana, tapiete, toromona, uruchipaya, weenhayek, yaminawa, yuki, yuracare´ y zamuco.” Ofﬁcial Web Site for the Presidential Ofﬁce of Bolivia, http://www.presidencia.gob.bo/download/ constitucion.pdf (accessed December 3, 2010). 7. Kate Armstrong, Vesna Maric, and Andy Symington, Bolivia (Victoria, Australia: Lonely Planet, 2007), 35. 8. Kathrein Hoelscher and Guido Riveros Franck, “Alcanzar la convivencia construyendo interculturalidad.” Dia´logos en democracia, An˜o 1, no. 9, July 18, 2010. 9. Pateman, Cultures of the World: Bolivia, 63. 10. Vivien Lougheed, Adventure Guide to Bolivia (Edison, NJ: Hunter Publishing, 2004), 14.

2 Religion

FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, people have attempted to connect with a higher power. Religions often offer their members a relationship with their God and spiritual comfort to their followers. Similar to most nations in South America, Bolivia is mostly a Catholic country. Actually, most sources available cite that 95 percent of Bolivians are Roman Catholic. The Instituto Nacional de Estadı´stica de Bolivia (INE) in a study of 2001 declared the following results based on self religious identiﬁcation: 77 percent Catholic, 19 percent Protestant, 2.5 percent nonreligious, and 0.11 percent other options. New data was expected to be released in 2011 as part of the national 2010 census report. The majority of the people clearly are Catholic, but the reality is that they are not necessarily active participants in their faith. Moreover, a closer look at social and cultural practices of this Andean nation reveals a cooperative dynamic that blends Catholicism with indigenous beliefs, witchcraft, and general superstition. The modern religious practices of Bolivia include the European inﬂuence imposed during the colonization period, the Inca polytheistic belief system, and a special blend of community relations reﬂected in daily social practices. A common expression in this nation is that Bolivians have one leg decisively standing on the teachings of Catholicism, and the other leg just as ﬁrmly validating their Aymara and Quechua social traditions. To obtain a more complete picture of the role of religion on Bolivian culture today, it is crucial to analyze the position of different religions on special social issues like abortion, birth control, marriage, and the death penalty.

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PRE-COLUMBIAN RELIGIONS The Aymara and Quechua religions were holistic in nature; they believed in a combination of gods to fulﬁll their spiritual needs. This system stands in opposition to the monotheistic Judeo and Christian religions introduced by the Europeans in the 1500s. The indigenous religions did not believe in a single omnipotent God who could do absolutely everything; each one of their divinities had its special powers and expertise. Essentially, they had three distinct levels of viewing the world: (1) Alajpacha was considered to be the world above in the sky, (2) Akapacha was the earth level where people live somewhere between sky and the world below, and (3) Mankapacha was the underworld, which was linked to death and nebulous actions.1 In addition, indigenous gods and spirits are not supposed to live in heaven, but instead inhabit the surrounding lakes, rivers, mountains, and other sacred locations. Moreover, their gods were just as likely to be male or female. An additional feature of indigenous religions was that gods were not always benevolent. They could be extremely generous, but they could also impose tremendous punishments on their pious believers. The Inca pantheon included Inti as the most powerful being—the god of the sun. The earth, and everything on it, was created by Viracocha, who also came out of Lake Titicaca to create all humans. Coha is the mother of the sea, and Illampu is the god of thunder and rain. A crucial aspect of the Inca Empire was that they usually allowed newly conquered territories to maintain their own religions, the lone exception being that Inti had to rule over all the local gods.2 When the Incas invaded the highlands of present-day Bolivia, they added the Sun God to the existing pantheon. Perhaps the one god that still receives much attention and devotion today is Pachamama, the goddess of the earth and fertility. She is still the center of multiple social and community celebrations throughout the country, and she is the inspiration for multiple poets, painters, and sculptors. Just like their Catholic counterparts, the Aymara religious leaders are intended to be mediators or intermediaries between the natural earth world and the supernatural habitat of the gods. However, Aymara spiritual leaders function quite differently from Roman Catholic priests or bishops. Indigenous leaders often function as magicians, such as laiqa and paqu, who practice either black or white magic to obtain the desired outcome related to harvest time, weather requests, and childbirth. Another form of leader is a yatiri (witch doctor or diviner), who helps with requests related to personal relationships, curing sick people, and planting rituals in agricultural communities. These spiritual leaders are also crucial ﬁgures in social celebrations based on the communal concept of reciprocity, which is an essential element in Aymara traditions.

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The arrival of the Europeans in the 1500s did not necessarily erase an existing theology, but rather created a parallel system that continues to be used today. Many of the social and religious celebrations under the former Inca Empire were scheduled to coincide with agricultural and farming seasons. These events often included offerings of food for the gods. In Bolivia, the indigenous gods and spirits have remained as an essential part of the culture. ROMAN CATHOLICISM The Spanish expeditions introduced Roman Catholicism to the Western Hemisphere. The Spanish conquistadores arrived to the Inca Empire in 1536, during a period of upheaval and social convulsion. While the soldiers orchestrated the takeover of the capital city of Cuzco, the catholic priests followed closely behind them. Their combined work—military and ecclesiastical— would change South America forever. They ushered in a period in which Catholicism became the predominant feature in daily life; its imprint is still reﬂected today in social traditions, numerous celebrations, and joyous festivals. The rate of forced conversions and expansion were quickly accelerated. Within 20 years, Pope Julius III ordered the establishment of the bishopric of La Plata in 1552. By the 1600s, another two bishoprics were created in the cities of Santa Cruz and La Paz. The Catholic orders that followed were mostly Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits. At the time, almost exclusively, all the priests were European. From the beginning, the extremely close relationship between church and state was cemented, and it gave the Catholic orders economic advantages, educational monopolies, and moral inﬂuence on the political leaders. The Catholic Church also amassed large quantities of land, and it became a powerful ﬁnancial institution based on money-lending practices. In the meantime, the indigenous population integrated the new religion imposed upon them with their own beliefs. They developed a religiouspagan syncretism that has lasted for over 500 years and is still part of modern-day Bolivian culture. The general result was that most of the Aymara population now declares itself Roman Catholic, even though they have adopted and molded their own view of Christianity. They now easily blend a religion that honors Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and Pachamama; they are all equally important. Even the European priests quickly realized that it was easier to incorporate the indigenous religious practices into the Catholic theology than to try to impose a rigid view of Christianity. Initially, the church engaged in an active war to eradicate pagan practices and idolatry in Bolivia. During the 1700s, “The Extirpaton of Idolatry” aimed to push indigenous practices underground rather than eradicate them.3 However, the Aymaras and Quechua groups

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Neoclassical-style Cathedral of Potosı´ built in the 1500s. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

proved extremely resilient at retaining their religious practices, and so a different approach was needed. Consequently, the Catholic Church slowly started to change the vocabulary and rhetoric that deﬁned local traditions. For example, the term “heresy” simply became known as “superstition.” The lexicon “pagan” was changed for “local traditions.” Perhaps most signiﬁcantly, the term “Indian religion,” evolved into the less relevant phrase “Indian customs.” By instituting and implementing the deﬁnitions of these terms, the Catholic Church actually dominated the religious discourse, which allowed for the practice of sacred Christian theology but also provided room for Andean rituals.4 The Catholic Church also linked local festivals to approximate events in the Bible to develop a parallel set of beliefs that would eventually converge with the acceptance of Catholic principles. It was basically an application of the axiom, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” As a result, most towns, cities, and villages in Bolivia adopted Catholic patron saints, which are then celebrated with an annual festival or carnival. For example, the patron saint of Bolivia is the Virgin of the Carmen, and her special day is July 16. The city of Sucre honors the Virgin of Guadalupe on September 8. Nowadays, the only saint’s day that is an ofﬁcial national holiday is the Dı´a de Todos los Santos, or All Saints Day. It is celebrated on the second of November. This event is often known

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throughout Latin America by other names such as Dı´a de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. In Bolivia, November 1 is a special holiday because the dead are honored, and their spirit is expected to return home for one day. November 1 also marks the spring season in South America, and consequently, the holiday has taken on a speciﬁc agricultural meaning. The celebrations on November 1 and 2 are often held at cemeteries and people’s homes, where food, dance and music are commonplace. The Day of All Saints is a typical Bolivian tradition that survives mostly in areas with strong indigenous populations. It reﬂects the syncretism between Catholicism and traditional beliefs. After converting much of the indigenous population, the Catholic clerics in Bolivia concentrated their main administrative efforts on the main cities. The Spanish and mestizo urban population became strictly Catholic in both principle and practice. It became a social requirement for potential upward mobility in the new colonial structure. As a result, the church developed a sporadic presence in the countryside. Under these conditions, the rural population developed their own version of “folk-Catholicism,” with a mix of local rituals, Catholic rhetoric, regional curers, and worshipping their own gods. Actually, the blend of European Catholic theology with Indigenous religious traditions has been called syncretism because the names of Catholic saints have often replaced the names of previous Aymara gods, and these two images ended up being related to or associated with one another. For example, Pachamama (Mother Earth) became associated with the Virgin Mary. During colorful celebrations, the Virgin Mary is the ofﬁcial image of the event, but the offerings (such as a llama fetus) presented to her are the ones that were traditionally offered to Pachamama. The elaborate celebrations are often the emphasis of social life with special ties to art, folk medicine, dances, and lots of drinking. During the Spanish colonial period (1536–1826), the Jesuits grew into a powerful and inﬂuential group, especially along the lowlands—an area not well supervised by the colonial administration in the highlands. Their efforts on the cultivation of fruits and vegetables, raising cattle, and training horses was considered an example of successful entrepreneurs, together with a small army of soldiers to protect their people and their investments. The problem was that they became too successful for their own good. Consequently, they became a threat to the Spanish Crown, and the king expelled them all from the Americas (not only from the Bolivian territory) in 1767. CHURCH AND STATE AFTER INDEPENDENCE The independence of Upper Peru (now Bolivia) from Spain in 1826 created signiﬁcant changes to the relationship between church and state. While it

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retained its status as the ofﬁcial national religion, the government quickly took speciﬁc steps to diminish the power and inﬂuence of the Catholic Church in all aspects of life. For example, the ﬁrst president, Antonio Jose´ de Sucre Alcala´, took unused lands away from the church, prohibited the collection of tithes (he made them payable to the state), and even closed several churches and monasteries. There was a new nation to be built, and these moves were aimed at reducing the ﬁnancial and political inﬂuence of clerical leaders. PROTESTANT RELIGIONS Protestant religions have been trying to make inroads in Bolivia since the early 1800s after independence. However, 1906 became a crucial year for church afﬁliations in this country. That year, for the very ﬁrst time, the Bolivian government allowed non-Catholic churches to be established. However, the Catholic Church still enjoyed a monopoly of services that made routine civil administrative manners rather complicated without their assistance. For example, people could not register a birth or death without a Catholic certiﬁcate. People even needed a letter of good conduct to travel.5 The ﬁrst signiﬁcant increase in Protestant membership in Bolivia actually came during the 1950s. The historical and political context of the period provided an impetus of social unrest that favored the Protestant churches. The Bolivian Revolution of 1952 ousted the landed elite and approved a radical agrarian reform that provided land to poor peasants and indigenous people. The Protestant churches, such as the Seventh-day Adventists, concentrated their efforts in the countryside, where the social convulsion was occurring. They provided aid and guidance to the Aymara population that was experiencing rapid change. An additional form of support came when a new constitution adopted in 1967 retained Roman Catholicism as the ofﬁcial church of Bolivia, but also offered freedom of religion to all faiths. Nowadays, several Protestant groups are very active in Bolivia. While Evangelical Methodists came during the 1960s, it was during the 1980s that multiple denominations arrived with an active agenda, including Jehovah’s Witnesses, Episcopalians, Pentecostal, Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons, and even Mennonites. The only group that the Bolivian government tried to expel was the Hare Krishna, but the Supreme Court in Sucre declared the move unconstitutional. The Hare Krishna is now settled as an educational organization rather than a religion, and they concentrate their efforts in the cities of La Paz and Cochabamba. Since the 1980s, most of the Protestant groups have targeted rural populations for potential new members. For example, while the Seventh-day Adventists devoted all their energy to the Aymara Indians, the Quakers

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developed an explicit policy not to mix indigenous and mestizo populations in their congregations.6 However, the decades following the Bolivian Revolution of 1952 eventually created a massive migration from the countryside to urban areas such as La Paz, Sucre, and Cochabamba. When individuals moved to big cities, they often left behind the comfort of their close-knit communities, but they were now also in need of a new set of social relationships and cultural connections. At precisely this time, the Protestant churches also sought to convert the poor people in urban areas such as El Alto, near La Paz. However, the focus of the Protestant religions on individual salvation goes against the practice of community relationships and reciprocity that are the pillars of Aymara and Quechua cultures. Hence, these religions did not have huge rates of success at ﬁrst. However, their work on soup kitchens, social aid, hospitals, education, and general counseling have allowed their numbers to increase towards the end of the 20th century. ISLAM AND JUDAISM A relatively small population in Bolivia follows either Judaism or Islam. It is estimated to be less than 1 percent of the general population. The Jewish groups are concentrated in the large cities such as La Paz and Sucre, and they usually live in peace and social harmony. Lately, however, the Islamic population of Bolivia has received extensive coverage on television news and the front page of newspapers, most of which is not very positive. It is estimated that there are roughly 1,000 Muslims in Bolivia among a population of almost 10 million people. A growing number of religious and civil organizations are dedicated to supporting the Muslim population, but they often deﬁne themselves in terms of opposition of U.S. foreign policy. The Centro Isla´mico Boliviano (CIB), located in Santa Cruz, was founded by Mahmud Amer Abusharar in 1974; he also founded Bolivia’s ﬁrst mosque in 1994. Abusharar has made public statements regarding his displeasure of U.S. politics and government.7 Other Islamic leaders have been accused (but not proven) to be associated with antiAmerican groups: Fayez Rajab Khedeer Kannan is the leader of the Asociacio´n Cultural Boliviana Musulmana (ACBM), and Roberto “Yusuf ” Chambi Calle is the leader of the Fundacio´n Cultural Isla´mica Boliviana (FCIB). These organizations have legitimate cultural and religious missions in Bolivia. Nevertheless, the level of international confrontation has increased because Bolivia is now the recipient of signiﬁcant investments from Iran, a declared enemy of the United States. Under President Evo Morales, the foreign capital ﬂowing from Teheran to La Paz has increased dramatically. Iran continues to invest in milk processing plants, the extraction of natural gas, and agricultural

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ventures in Bolivia. These two nations signed a treaty for the development of electricity plants based on nuclear energy in 2011. Moreover, economic policies sometimes are also espoused with social and political ideology. As an example of anti-U.S. foreign policy, in March 2009, Morales also broke diplomatic relations with Israel, a close ally of the United States, to protest their treatment of Palestinians.8 SOCIAL ISSUES: POVERTY, ALCOHOLISM, ABORTION, AND THE DEATH PENALTY Toward the end of the 20th century, different religions in Bolivia had an opportunity to shape cultural and social traditions based on the position they took on social issues such as poverty, diminished church attendance, alcoholism, abortion, and the death penalty. Religious leaders have provided either supportive or discouraging words based on their own theology and guidelines of morality. Furthermore, these modern themes have complicated the already antagonistic relationship between church and state. The Catholic Church felt its inﬂuence slip during the 1960s, especially among the poorest population. To reestablish themselves, the national bishops condemned in public the poverty and living conditions of the peasants. More speciﬁcally, the organization called Church and Society in LatinoBolivia proposed in 1968 that the Marxist ideology was truly the only way to achieve social justice. During the last decade, various indigenous groups have participated in mass numbers to protest their social and economic conditions. The Catholic Church offered speeches that offered support for these organized events. However, when the protests turned too controversial, the Church became conspicuously silent. On the other side, the Protestant churches have gained momentum in the conversion process, and have experienced signiﬁcant increases in their member rosters. However, a few social issues are still being worked out, mainly the consumption of alcohol and chewing coca leaves. Alcohol is a crucial component of community celebrations among the indigenous people. The excessive drinking that takes place in these events is not supported by any of the Protestant churches, but it is a cultural aspect that cannot easily be eradicated. In addition, most Protestant churches also oppose the use of coca leaves, since they consider it to be an addictive narcotic substance. However, chewing coca leaves is a tradition that has been part of Andean indigenous cultures for centuries. They have been used for religious purposes, to ﬁght off hunger, and to cure the high-altitude sickness known as soroche. So, most Protestant churches, while not approving these two social issues, have relaxed their opposition in order to retain their new converted members.

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The issues of the death penalty and legal abortions in Bolivia have sparked heated discussions during the last three decades. They include predictable positions from the social liberal camps and the conservative sectors of society and politics. All religions, of course, present a united front regarding these two topics: they defend the right to life. So, they are ﬁrmly rooted on a position that is anti–death penalty and also antiabortion, even when special circumstances question the validity of those points of view. The death penalty does not legally exist in Bolivia. Article 17 of the Bolivian constitution states: “There is no civil penalty of infamy or death. In the case of murder and national treason, a sentence of 30 years will be applied, without the right to early release.” Currently in the Western Hemisphere, only Cuba, Guyana, the United States, and Guatemala apply the death penalty as part of their penal code authorized in their national constitutions. However, during the last 20 years, the death penalty has been inﬂicted upon criminals in multiple cases—not by the police, jails, or correctional facilities, but upon capture by average people in small rural towns. These cases occur usually in isolated communities that do not have much police presence in the ﬁrst place, so the local population decided to apply their own justice. In 2010, several local newspapers increasingly reported these regional justice-seeking practices in rural areas. Depending on the crime, local people decide to punish the offenders by public lashings, exile from their town, making them ask for forgiveness to every member of the community (on their knees), physical labor, lynching, hanging, burying people alive, and even burning their bodies.9 While the authorities do not condone these extreme measures, they appear in the newspapers more often. Either they are increasing in frequency, or the media is actually covering these events more. For example, in Potosı´, they buried a woman alive in December 2006 for cheating on her husband. In a small community near Illampu, local people killed six young men for the robbery of their cattle. In Bunsillos, Potosı´, thieves are routinely punished to public lashings until they confess and apologize. In the poor agricultural community of Humanata, a man who stole farming equipment in 2007 was dragged on the ﬂoor for almost 1,500 feet and then hanged from a bridge. Sometimes, the criminal’s entire family is also expelled from the community. Local and national authorities often try to prosecute the people who participate in these extreme punishments, but the investigations often linger for years and do not get resolved because the entire community is sworn to secrecy. Another issue that has generated controversy in Bolivia is also linked to matters of life and death. Abortions are legal in this Andean nation, but under extremely difﬁcult circumstances. Actually, in overwhelmingly Catholic Latin America, abortions are legal only in Cuba, the United States

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and Mexico City. 10 In Bolivia, according to the national Penal Code, abortions are permitted only if a pregnancy puts a woman’s life in danger. In addition, Article 266 allows for the practice of abortions in speciﬁc cases of incest and rape. In both situations, however, women need to apply for and obtain a judicial authorization that would then grant a doctor permission to end a pregnancy. Even though Article 266 has been in the constitution since 1973, only six legal abortions have been performed in Bolivia. The main reason for these low numbers lies in extremely bureaucratic judicial barriers as well as doctors who oppose abortion and refuse to perform one even when they are permitted to do so.11 Since legal abortions are extremely difﬁcult to obtain, many women opt for a clandestine abortion, often under unsafe and unsanitary conditions. Actually, Bolivia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in South America. Every year, 230 women die for every 100,000 births, which is a statistic higher than the regional continental average of 190 deaths for the same number of childbirths. According to the Bolivian Human Rights Commission, roughly one-third of maternal deaths are related to the 30,000 to 40,000 unsafe abortions performed yearly. Oddly enough, the federal government does not support abortions, but they provide postabortion medical coverage included in the national Universal Health Insurance. The latest attempt to legalize abortion was in 2005, when the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) political party presented a motion to Congress, but it was immediately rejected, especially by several pious members of Congress. Most of the spiritual leaders in the country expressed outrage even at the suggestion that abortion should be considered part of a national conversation. Their conservative position on the right to life managed to retain the status quo, but nobody knows for how long. RELIGION IN CONTEMPORARY CINEMA Films can often be used as powerful weapons of protest that include an accusatory tone. In the last 15 years, several cinematographers have created ﬁlms like “Cuestio´n de fe” (A Matter of Faith), “El Corazo´n de Jesu´s” (Jesus’ Heart), and “Los Andes no creen en Dios” (The Andes Do Not Believe in God). These outstanding Bolivian ﬁlms have touched on religious themes from a contemporary and often controversial point of view. They include characters who question the validity of faith, ponder the social limitations of religions, and, in some cases, reassure people that spirituality is an essential part of life. One thing is for certain: they have generated a national conversation about religion that is reﬂective in nature and forces people to express an opinion that enriches the wonderful mixture of Bolivian cultures.

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RELIGION OR SUPERSTITION? The mix of spiritual values and practices has created a series of common traditions based on folk-Catholicism, witchcraft, spiritual guides, conventional wisdom, and pure superstition. The people of Bolivia (especially the indigenous population) see no inconsistency with integrating all these components into a single, intertwined system of faith and convictions. It is very clear that, in Bolivia, deﬁning oneself as Catholic does not preclude the acceptance of non-Catholic practices. Three tangible examples that reﬂect these traditions are: (1) the way Pachamama is worshipped, (2) a different perception of the Devil, and (3) the role that yatiris play as spiritual guides and fortune tellers. Pachamama (Mother Earth) is the protector of all living things, including plants, animals, and humans. It is usually a benevolent goddess that provides much comfort in the agricultural regions of the country. However, she is also a ﬁgure to fear. When she is angry, her cruelty and revenge can be blamed for causing severe droughts, pests that destroy crops, and devastating ﬂoods.12 To keep her happy and serene, people pour alcohol on the dirt before planting a new ﬁeld, bury a llama fetus at the foundation of a new building, and place a few chewed coca leaves on the road before beginning a new journey. In general, a large number of people in Bolivia (not only indigenous groups) believe that Pachamama has the right to all material possessions and to be part of daily mundane activities. For example, when people begin to drink alcohol or beer, they often pour a little bit of the ﬁrst drink on the ground just to acknowledge her. In a country where almost 70 percent of the population of 10 million is of indigenous origin, Pachamama is an extremely popular deity that permeates many aspects of daily life in both Indian and mainstream Bolivian cultures. Quechuas and Aymaras see the Devil from a different perspective from that of the European Christian point of view. The Catholic concept of the Devil as a ﬁgure to be feared after death was introduced after the Spanish conquest of Bolivia. There was no equivalent of such elements in the existing local religions. Instead, gods themselves could be punitive and revengeful if not obeyed properly. During the Spanish colonial period, the extraction of silver from Bolivian mines caused the death of thousands of people who worked under slavery-like conditions. Even after centuries of mining experience in Bolivia, the process of extracting minerals has not improved the miners’ working conditions. The methods still remain very primitive, and miners know that it is essentially a death sentence for them. Since the miners work in the underworld (the territory of the Devil), they have developed a different relationship with him. First of all, he is addressed with the name Tı´o (Uncle, or the Old Fellow), and he is to be not feared, but

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respected. After all, these miners are going to spend most of their lives living in his underground world. The miners usually place a ﬁgure representing Tı´o, a horse-looking face with small horns and decorated with bright colors, deep inside the mine. Almost on a daily basis, they offer him a bit of alcohol, cigarettes, and coca leaves to keep him happy and on their side. Miners like to say that El Tı´o has always preferred tobacco the most. The very same miners, when they are above ground, also adhere to the Catholic view of the Devil. So, just to be safe, they follow all the Ten Commandments of Christianity to avoid ending up in hell after death, but they also respect the Aymara version of Tı´o to be protected during their lifetime. Two spiritual and social guides are extremely valued in Bolivia due to their ancient knowledge: a yatiri is a local witch doctor, and an amautu is a wise man. They can help with general problems, such as business issues, relationships, or even warding off evil spirits that cause incredibly bad luck. Amautus were extremely revered in Incan culture because they had to retain large amounts of information. Since the Inca Empire did not have a writing system, the amautus represented a tangible connection to the past. A yatiri functions like a local priest, except that people hire him to intervene spiritually on their behalf. His services might include special chants, burning incense, reading coca leaves, and making a special offer to Pachamama. Many of the yatiri spiritual guides are found outside Catholic churches, especially on Sundays. So, people attend the general Catholic mass and then ask their yatiri to also perform a ceremony for them, just to be safe. The unique blend of Catholic religion and reliance on witch doctors is specially revealed around the Church of San Francisco in La Paz. Public plazas in Latin America are used as meeting places and also trading locations for small vendors. Sundays are colorful days when the plaza in front of the San Francisco church is ﬁlled with aromatic food stands, simple wooden toys, colorfully dressed peasant ladies, and public musicians. However, the real action is tucked away a few steps behind the church, along the streets and narrow alleys. This is where one can ﬁnd the Mercado de Hechicerı´a, or Witchcraft Market. This is not the witchcraft portrayed in Hollywood ﬁlms, in which a spooky character tries to scare people. This market offers some rather mundane items such as herbal products, home remedies, talismans for good luck, and a mix of ingredients to make offerings to the Aymara and Quechua gods. Rows and rows of stands offer native items for tourists, like woven blankets, hats, backpacks, etc. The trick is to discover what the local people buy: special herbs carefully labeled for each purpose, llama fetuses to bring good fortune in the construction of a new building, amulets to protect people from malevolent gods, ﬁgures of Ekeko to ﬁnd a husband or wife, plants specially wrapped to be used in the spiritual cleansing of a home, and inexpensive bunches of coca leaves. The local

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Spiritual leader (yatiri) providing guidance in La Paz. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

population obviously does not see an inconsistency of religion by attending Sunday’s Catholic mass, purchasing good luck charms and herbs near the church, and then hiring a wise man to perform a pagan ritual on their behalf, often right on the steps of the same Catholic church. It is clear that church orthodoxy is adapted to the needs of daily lives and to the centuries-old traditions that date back to the periods before the arrival of both the Inca and Spanish empires. NEW CONSTITUTION OF 2009 Until 2009, Catholicism was the ofﬁcial religion of Bolivia. That all changed when the nation approved the new constitution on February of that year; it completely eliminated speciﬁc language related to the Roman Catholic Church. Instead, it generally recognizes a Christian God, but it now speciﬁcally mentions Pachamama, the Andean goddess of the earth. Article 4 of the Bolivian Carta Magna simply guarantees freedom of religion for all faiths. It ofﬁcially states: Article 4: The State respects and guarantees freedom of religion and spiritual beliefs, according to their own visions. The State is independent of religion.

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These institutional and legal changes reﬂect a recent trend in Bolivia in which the religious and political concerns of the indigenous population are now being ﬁnally recognized and valued. In addition, it certainly helps that the current president, Evo Morales, is an Aymara Indian who deﬁnes himself as Catholic but is also extremely proud of his Aymara celebrations, rituals, and culture. For example, he requested a traditional ceremony to be sworn in as a president in 2006 by an Aymara religious amauta, or wise man, (Valentı´n Mejillones) on the site of the ancient Tiwanaku ruins. However, he also needed to have a swearing-in ceremony that would be constitutionally legal, which took place at an ofﬁcial government building. This was the ﬁrst time a presidential ceremony had taken place with indigenous traditions, but with an Aymara president who clearly and openly deﬁnes himself as Catholic. THE DIABLADA: BOLIVIA’S MOST FAMOUS CELEBRATION Perhaps the annual national celebration of the Diablada de Oruro best illustrates the deep connections that remain in Bolivia regarding history, communal festivities, dancing, music, and religious traditions. The celebrations of the Diablada begin eight days before Ash Wednesday in the southern town of Oruro. Even though the main event takes place on Ash Wednesday—clearly a Catholic holiday—the Diablada is actually a pagan indigenous ritual with the purpose of thanking Pachamama for all the annual blessings. The meticulously choreographed event is essentially a representation of good versus evil. Even though the main character in the festivities is the Christian version of the Devil, the Catholic Church was never really able to fully convert the Indians to the point of persuading them to abandon their own gods. So, the symbolism represented throughout the event is actually an amalgamation of Christian theology and indigenous religions, all created during the colonial period when the indigenous frustration with the Spanish conquerors was increasingly growing. The Carnaval of Oruro, or Diablada, is essentially a parade of music and dance that stretches over 3 miles (5 km) and includes over 50 groups of dancers. They all celebrate the Virgen de la Candelaria—also known as the Virgen de Socavo´ n—the patron saint of the miners. The event is full with street vendors, stands of chicha beer, mask decorations, and an overall ambiance of festivities and jubilation. The dancers themselves are dressed like Spanish conquistadores, Inca rulers, Satan, African slaves, and different versions of demons. The main leader of the event is a person dressed like Satan who leads hundreds upon hundreds of dancers and musical bands jumping, hopping, and dancing with joy. The parade ends in the local soccer stadium, where thousands of people are already awaiting a series of dances displaying two speciﬁc story lines. The

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Masks used for La Diablada celebration in Oruro. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

ﬁrst choreography depicts the Spanish conquest of the local Indians. The second dance portrays a very Catholic-centered theme of how Archangel Michael manages to defeat the evil forces. At the end, there is an intense Quechua prayer to thank the Virgin of Socavo´n—the patron saint of miners—in a local chapel. The day then continues with everyone in town falling victim to children and teenagers who throw water balloons to unsuspecting victims. NOTES 1. Kate Armstrong, Vesna Maric, and Andy Symington, Bolivia (Victoria, Australia: Lonely Planet, 2007), 37. 2. Peter Pateman, Cultures of the World: Bolivia (New York: Times Editions, 1995), 74. 3. Juan Van Kessel, La iglesia cato´lica entre los Aymaras (Santiago, Chile: Rehue Publishers, 1989), 206. 4. Andrew Canessa, “Evangelical Protestantism in the Northern Highlands of Bolivia,” Studies in World Christianity 4, no. 1 (1998): 21–41 (speciﬁcally page 24). 5. Ibid., 24. 6. Quentin Nordyke, Animistic Aymaras and Church Growth (Newberg, OR: Barclay Press, 1972), 141.

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7. Nora Zimmett, “Bolivia Becoming a Hotbed of Islamic Extremism, Report Concludes,” Fox 29 News Lake Charles, June 16, 2009, 1, http://www.foxnews.com/ story/0,2933,526753,00.html (accessed December 3, 2010). 8. Ibid. 9. “En Bolivia se practica la pena de muerte sin ley ni proceso.” La Razo´ n, March 19, 2007, 1. http://www.la-razon.com (accessed November 11, 2009). 10. Bernarda Claure, “Bolivia: Safe Abortion Nearly Impossible Even in Cases of Rape,” IPS Inter Press Service, August 26, 2009. 11. Angela Castellanos, “Legal Abortion in Bolivia Often Denied,” Reproductive Health Reality Check, http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2008/11/14/legalabortion-care-bolivia-often-denied (accessed November 19, 2010). 12. Vivien Lougheed, Adventure Guide to Bolivia (Edison, NJ: Hunter Publishing, 2004), 23.

3 Social Customs and Lifestyle

BOLIVIANS DEFINITELY know how to have fun. They have an incredible range of options at their disposal based on sports, geography, and culture. Most festivities and carnivals have formed during four speciﬁc historical periods in Bolivian history: (1) the early civilizations like the Tiwanaku up until the 1440s, (2) the Inca Empire rule up until the 1530s, (3) the Spanish colonial era until 1809, and (4) the independent nation that laid the foundation for modern-day institutions in Bolivia. Nowadays, international sporting competitions seem to rally an entire nation behind a common goal, and special regional holidays offer communities a sense of pride and tradition. Bolivia is also a natural paradise for outdoor sports: hiking, ice climbing, and mountain biking are some of the extreme activities practiced in the nation’s varied geography. Even though Bolivia’s cuisine is not yet very common abroad, its gastronomy offers mouthwatering dishes that are rooted in ancient recipes. Whether people engage in large celebrations or intimate gatherings, conversations eventually touch on a few predictable passionate topics: indigenous cultures, musical traditions, poverty linked to development, the debate of coca leaves versus cocaine, and, of course, fu´tbol. SPORTS Fu´tbol (soccer) is the national sport of Bolivia. It is played by a professional league of 12 teams, but it is also informally practiced in most schools, parks, and even on the street by both children and adults. Basketball is the

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second-most popular sport for both men and women; there is also a national league for competition. Volleyball is often played in park plazas in small towns. Tennis and racquetball are increasingly popular, and the latter has produced many internationally recognized players in the last decade. In addition, Bolivia is a natural setting for extreme sports such as mountain biking, hiking, and skiing. For popular entertainment, however, it is hard to beat lucha libre (wrestling matches), where the local luchadores wear bright-colored outﬁts that would make Spiderman proud. Bolivia is also active in international sports competitions. It has participated in the Olympic Games since 1936, but it has not yet won a single medal. The country has also sent delegations to the International Winter Games since 1956, but has not won any medals there, either, and so they stopped sending a skiing team after the 1992 Winter Olympics. However, Bolivia has had better luck with the South American Games, which are extremely popular in the southern continent. The 2010 South American games were held in March in Medellı´n, Colombia. At this level, Bolivia won two gold medals in different branches of shooting sports. Riﬂe shooters Ce´sar Menacho and Juan Carlos Pe´rez Gacha won the gold medal in the team category of Men’s Trap Automatic. In addition, Ce´sar D. Flores also won an individual gold medal in the same branch of the shooting sports. They are considered national heroes in Bolivia. ´tbol (Soccer) Fu

The most popular sport in Latin America is called fu´tbol (not soccer). It is practiced by people of all ages, played in both elegant stadiums and street corners, and enjoyed by both afﬂuent and poor spectators. While it is mostly played by men, female teams have become more common in urban areas and schools. Sundays are the popular days for either playing fu´tbol or watching it on television at home. It is fairly common for many people to support their favorite team by wearing replicas of the ofﬁcial shirts used by famous players. The professional fu´tbol league consists of 12 teams, representing most of the states and regions of Bolivia. The national Liga de Fu´tbol Profesional Boliviano (LFPB) was established in 1957. The teams for the 2011 season, their hometowns, and the name of their stadiums are listed by alphabetical order in Table 3.1. One of the most popular games is the cla´sico, which is played once a year in La Paz at stadium Hernando Siles with a capacity of 42,000 people. The two teams who participate in this game are The Strongest and Bolı´var. This is a day for Pacen˜os (people from La Paz) to celebrate. On that day, fans of The Strongest wear their bright yellow-and-black striped shirts (hence the nickname tigres), and the supporters of Bolı´var wear their sky-blue jerseys (celestes).

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SOCIAL CUSTOMS AND LIFESTYLE Table 3.1 Soccer Teams in the 2011 Bolivian Professional League City

Team

Stadium

Cochabamba Cochabamba La Paz La Paz La Paz Oruro Potosı´ Potosı´ Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra Sucre Trinidad

Aurora Jorge Wilstermann Bolı´var La Paz F.C. The Strongest Club San Jose´ Nacional Potosı´ Real Potosı´ Blooming Oriente Petrolero Universitario de Sucre Real Mamore´

Fe´lix Capriles Fe´lix Capriles Simo´n Bolı´var Hernando Siles Hernando Siles Jesu´s Bermu´dez Vı´ctor Agustı´n Ugarte Vı´ctor Agustı´n Ugarte Tahuichi Aguilera Tahuichi Aguilera Olı´mpico Patria Gran Mamore´

Even though statistics are carefully kept to show which team has won the most cla´sico matches, the day of the game, fans always highlight the quality and advantages of their own team. Another “cla´sico” is beginning to develop a tradition in the city of Potosı´. In 2009, for the ﬁrst time, two Potosı´ teams played in the professional league: Nacional Potosı´ and Real Potosı´. Much to the delight of their fans, the ﬁrst Potosino cla´sico was played on January 18, 2009. Soon after, the fans already wanted to buy the tickets for next year’s Potosı´ cla´sico that far in advance, which is not very common in Bolivia. The Seleccio´n de Fu´tbol de Bolivia is the national team that represents the country in all ofﬁcial international competitions. The administration and organization of the national team is under the jurisdiction of the Federacio´n Boliviana de Fu´tbol, which is a member of the South American Football Confederation, or CONMEBOL. The national team began competing internationally in 1926 in Chile. Its beginnings were somewhat unsuccessful. The team was invited to participate in the World Cup in both 1930 and 1950, but it ﬁnally won the elimination rounds to qualify by itself in 1994. In addition, Bolivia has qualiﬁed 23 times to play in the Copa America, a fu´tbol tournament played among all the teams from North, Central, and South America. Bolivians have learned to savor their victories; they are few and far between. Their greatest accomplishment at an international level was winning the championship of the Copa Ame´rica in 1963, which was held in Bolivia in March of that year. All the games were held in two stadiums: the Hernando Siles in La Paz and Fe´lix Capriles in Cochabamba. The stadium in La Paz is located at a considerably higher altitude than the other one used for the international games. In the end, Bolivia won ﬁrst place, with Paraguay

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managing to win second place. During fu´tbol conversations, it is almost impossible for proud Bolivians not to bring up the topic of the 1963 heroic victory; it always manages to ﬁnd its way into the conversation. Several Web sites still offer a tribute to the national team for such success, and they present a detailed analysis of all the scores, photographs, intricate tables of elimination results, and interviews with the players and coaches. The most talented Bolivian players are recruited to be part of the national team to participate in international competitions. Some of the most popular fu´tbol Bolivian players are Marco Antonio Etcheverry, Julio Ce´sar Baldivieso, Jose´ Milton Melgar, and Joaquı´n Botero. While they are certainly famous in Bolivia, it is remarkable how accessible they are to the average public. For the most part, the main reason is that they are not usually covered on the tabloids or appear in scandalous stories. Consequently, they usually sit in the stadium with everyone else, walk the same public parks as the average population, and are happy to sign autographs for their fans. It is important to note that many of these national icons in sports have been carefully nurtured by a special children’s program in the city of Santa Cruz. The Tahuichi Soccer Academy was created in Santa Cruz by Rolando Aguilera, the son of a famous fu´tbol player (Ramo´n Aguilera Costas); he returned to Bolivia in 1978 after living in exile for a few years. He hired a coach to train his two children to play fu´tbol. Eventually, many local kids wanted to join, and they developed a minor team called “Orientito.” Seeing the increasing interest on the sport, Aguilera decided to establish the fu´tbol academy for local youth. He called it Tahuichi because it was his father’s nickname during his professional fu´tbol years; it means “Big Bird” in the local Chiriguano indigenous language. On May 1, 1978, he founded the Tahuichi Soccer Academy as a nonproﬁt organization. The foundation created a team that has already competed in several international tournaments for the “under-17” category. By the time Bolivia qualiﬁed for the World Cup in 1994, the national team included nine graduates from the Tahuichi Academy, including famous names such as Marco Etcheverry, Rube´n Tuﬁn˜o, and Jaime Moreno. However, the general goal of the academy is not to produce topnotch professional fu´tbol players; its main purpose is to look after the general welfare of the children it trains. It provides them with education, appropriate nutrition, and a positive social environment that uses sports as a foundation for developing discipline and self-esteem. The high altitude of some of Bolivia’s fu´tbol stadiums became a recent controversy in 2007. On May of that year, the International Federation of Football Association (FIFA), the world’s governing body for all matters related to fu´tbol (soccer), declared that no international competitions could be played at altitudes higher than 8,200 feet. FIFA’s main reason for the altitude ban was its

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Soccer stadium Tahuichi Aguilera in Santa Cruz. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

concern for the health of international players and the unfair advantage that local teams would have in such high-altitude games. Most people who arrive to cities such as La Paz cannot breathe very well at this high altitude; it becomes even more difﬁcult to exercise or play professional sports at elevations over 9,000 feet high (3,000 m). It can cause serious respiratory complications, even on professional athletes. Consequently, the new FIFA requirement would have almost effectively destroyed all Bolivian opportunities for international competitions. Consequently, President Evo Morales—an avid fu´tbol player himself—made a formal appeal to the FIFA directors, FIFA backed down from the high-altitude ban, 1 allowing Bolivia to compete once again in all international games without restrictions. The national team had looked forward to the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa, but they did not make it beyond the preliminary elimination stage. Mountain Sports (Climbing, Trekking, and Biking)

It is precisely the high-altitude element that provides Bolivia with incredible and unique opportunities for sports such as mountain biking, climbing, and trekking. Many experienced tour companies specialize in organizing outdoor adventures that include daring bicycle rides, ice walking, mountain trekking,

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and advanced climbing expeditions. A common denominator for all these sports is that participants need to acclimatize to the high-altitude conditions before even attempting one of these activities. People with cardiac and respiratory conditions are warned not to participate in such activities. As far as climbing is concerned, Bolivia is a natural setting for the sport of high-altitude mountain hiking. The Cordillera Real offers experienced hikers opportunities to climb peaks and summits with extreme altitudes. The guide companies usually offer the technical equipment required for climbing these peaks, and it is often necessary to travel with small tanks of oxygen at this altitude. Perhaps Mount Illimani is the most revered peak in Bolivia; it towers over the city of La Paz and displays a perennial amount of snow. With an altitude of 21,200 feet (6,462 m), it certainly commands respect. The twin peaks of Chachacomani (19,928 ft. or 6,074 m) and Chearoco (20,103 ft. or 6,127 m) are recommended only for experienced ice climbers who are accustomed to unpredictable weather changes and can react appropriately. While Bolivia offers multiple peaks to climb, Mount Illiampu is considered to be the most demanding of the Cordillera Real; it requires extreme physical conditioning, and only people with lots of ice climbing experience under their belt should attempt it. Perhaps the most nationally known climber in the nation is Bernard Guarachi, who is extremely famous in Bolivia and has often participated in search-and-rescue operations for stranded hikers and skiers. In April 29, 1994, he became the ﬁrst Bolivian to climb Mount Everest in Nepal. Trekking has become increasingly popular in Bolivia. It combines the pleasure of hiking outdoors with longer-distance hikes in medium-level altitude locations. It usually involves hiking to isolated areas of the Andes Mountains. Oftentimes, the most popular treks follow ancient trails created since the period of the Inca Empire. This activity offers the opportunity to hike on beautiful landscapes and also to visit remote communities that have retained their traditions and way of life relatively unchanged for centuries. One of the most popular treks near La Paz takes hikers to the Laguna Glacial in about four to ﬁve days of trekking. The ultimate goal is to arrive to a mountain lagoon that is fed by a perennial glacier. Visiting this breathtaking landscape is an unforgettable experience. Since the trekking routes are usually not done at extremely high peaks, it is easier for less-experienced climbers to enjoy the beauty of Bolivian nature. Bolivia has the natural terrain for mountain biking. From every major city, there is easy access to several mountain ranges that go from beginning to daredevil levels. In addition, the extensive network of hiking and biking paths offer a built-in opportunity to enjoy nature on a bike. There is also a plethora of touring routes designed to build endurance rather than an accelerating

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downhill experience. Most rides include a combination of both features. For example, the Jacha Avalancha Bike Race takes place every year in the area of Sorata. Among international mountain biking enthusiasts, it has already been labeled as the longest downhill bike race in the world. It measures 6,600 feet (2,000 m) of steep downhill terrain. As a result, the town of Sorata is quickly becoming the main biking attraction in Bolivia, and its annual race has both a local and international following. Individuals who need an adrenaline rush often try mountain biking in Bolivia; actually, it is more like biking downhill at high speed and incredible inclinations. The most popular route runs 40 miles (64 k) from La Cumbre (near La Paz) to Coroico (in the Yungas area). A number of established biking companies offer tours and equipment for this adventure. Their names (like Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking) usually provide a clue as to the type of experience that awaits bikers. Most companies, of course, ask that bicyclists sign a release of liability due to the extreme risks involved, including potential injury and even death. The reputable companies provide equipment including specialized bikes with full suspension, trail brakes, high-impact helmets, and downhill-intense tires—all incredibly important for a safe journey. The danger comes from the high number of deaths and accidents on a yearly basis on this extremely narrow road (only 11 to 12 feet wide, or 3.2 m). This gravel road hugs the side of mountains with dangerous precipices on the sides that drop down to almost 1,800 feet (600 m) in some areas. In fact, the InterAmerican Development Bank has labeled this road “the Most Dangerous Road in the World.” The name ﬁts very well, since the sides of the road are littered with crosses to indicate where someone has died in an accident. In Bolivia, mountain bikers call this road El Camino de la Muerte (the Road of Death). Bikers reach speeds of almost 60 miles per hour (100 km/h) on the way down, despite the fact that the road is crowded with cars, heavy trucks, and lots of dust. It is imperative to have good brakes! Despite the obvious dangers built into heading downhill on a mountain with a steep grade of inclination, the popularity of this sport is booming, and more companies continue to offer this experience to the public. Racquet Sports (Tennis, Racquetball, and Paleta)

The Federacio´n Bolivina de Tenis (FBT) was founded in 1937, and it is still extremely active. Its headquarters are now located in Santa Cruz. The country has produced high-caliber players such as Marı´a Fernanda A´lvarez from the city of Santa Cruz, who was listed as number 15 in the world by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in the junior rankings of 2007. She has also won multiple international competitions. Mario Martı´nez is a former tennis player from La Paz who achieved number 35 in international

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rankings in 1983. At the time, he was the only internationally known tennis player in Bolivia. Perhaps Bolivians placed their highest hopes on Diego Camacho when he represented his nation at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Even though he did not win a medal, he continues to be extremely popular, and he is now coaching younger players in the United States. The Federacio´n Boliviana de Tenis offers a comprehensive set of national competitions that result in an annual national ranking system. In 2009, the number 1 ranking for male singles players was Alejandro Arias, and Bele´n Rivera was the top-ranking female singles player in the nation. As popular as tennis is in Bolivia, it is just not a reality for most of the national population. Tennis academies are certainly popular with the middleclass and afﬂuent people of Bolivia. However, it is hard to ﬁnd tennis courts in public parks or even public schools. Most people who practice this sport belong to a private club or attend one of the wealthier schools and academies, such as those located in neighborhoods such as Cotacota and San Miguel in the southern part of La Paz. Other cities like Santa Cruz and Sucre have also seen talented tennis players emerge from their local training facilities. Racquetball has become more fashionable in the last two decades. It is now more common to see sports clubs and gyms advertising racquetball/squash courts as an integral part of their facilities. As a result, Bolivia has actually produced several racquetball players of international reputation such as Ricardo Monroy, who was ranked number 17 in the world in 2009 by the International Racquetball Federation (IRF) in the men’s open singles category. Monroy is still considered to be the number one player in Bolivia, and he is often portrayed as epitomizing a healthy lifestyle in commercials and documentaries aimed to Bolivian children. The sport is also popular for women in Bolivia. In 2009, the IRF ranked Carola Loma as number 14 in the world in the category of women’s open singles; it also ranked Carola Loma and Jenny Daza as number 5 and 14 in the world respectively for the women’s open doubles category. Racquetball is also mainly an urban sport; most small towns do not offer public racquetball facilities. Hence, most of the talented and advanced players come mostly from La Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz. Professional training for racquetball requires considerable expenses, and it is beyond the economic reach of most Bolivians. This reality became painfully apparent in August 2010, when the Bolivian national team was headed to the World Racquetball Competition in Seoul, Korea. The leading female player on the national team, Yazmine Sabja, who is from Cochabamba, was unable to secure sponsors to pay her travel, professional fees, and lodging expenses. Moreover, the Federacio´n Boliviana de Racquetball did not have the ﬁnancing available to pay all the required expenses for its own players;

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and the regional government and sports agencies were unable to cooperate. Consequently, Marı´a Jose´ Vargas became the alternate player who took her place. The new player was immediately funded by the city and state of Santa Cruz to secure her place on the national team. It is no secret that La Paz and Santa Cruz are often at odds over political, economic, cultural, and even sporting issues. La Paz is considered to be the political capital of the nation, while Santa Cruz is the economic engine that generates the most revenue in the entire country. These racquetball players had become entangled in a political rivalry that, in this particular case, both shattered the professional aspirations of one athlete and opened opportunities for another professional player. Paleta is a sport that has gone through a practical evolution in the last 10 years. This is deﬁnitely a sport practiced by a large number of people. It used to be played on a “fronton” court, which has three tall walls, and it was played with wooden paddles. This is a court very similar to the one used for jai alai in several countries. However, this court is now used to play paleta, which has replaced the wooden paddles with racquetball racquets. With these minor changes, it has attracted a larger amount of recreational players. Nevertheless, this sport is also mostly practiced in urban areas and not in small towns. Wrestling, Bolivian Style

Lucha libre, or wrestling matches, have arrived in Bolivia and have been adapted to the local audience in an extremely unique manner. It is more a choreographed event than a sport, but this form of entertainment is increasingly popular, especially in poor neighborhoods. Most events take place in the city of El Alto, Bolivia, at a multipurpose stadium called Polifuncional de la Ceja. The wrestling matches do not have the showmanship of the World Wrestling Entertainment events in the United States, or the polished entertainment value of Mexican-style lucha libre, which produced internationally known wrestlers such as Blue Demon, El Santo, and Mil Ma´scaras. There are many Bolivian luchadores who wear colorful customs, such as Daniel Torrico, a wrestler who becomes Mister Atlas once he enters the ring. There are, however, rather unique wrestling matches that have made this form of diversion extremely popular. For example, they have the not-sopolitically-correct wrestling matches between little people, a local favorite for entertainment value. However, the real twist is on the unique free-style lucha libre where women have entered the picture. Not just any women, but cholitas (Aymara indigenous women who moved to the city but still wear their traditional dress). Famous cholita luchadoras are: Maria Remedios Condori, who becomes the feared Julia La Pacen˜a once inside the ring;

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Elizabeth Robacorazones, whose stage name means the “thief of hearts”; and Carmen Rosa, who has won over 100 wrestling matches, sometimes defeating women much larger than she is. These women wear puffy long skirts, a colorful shawl, a bowler hat, and low-hill pumps. They look as if they are ready for a Sunday stroll along the boulevards of La Paz, but they are showing up to work as luchadoras. As they stand up on the ropes and ﬂy through the air to land on top of their opponent, the crowds go wild and they are entertained, at least for a while. These luchadores (both men and women) are keenly aware that they are doing it for recreation, not the money. Wrestlers in Bolivia only earn about US$30 per match. Moreover, the people who come to the events pay only an average of US$1 for a ticket. The luchadores are not waiting for scouts to discover them and launch them into fame. Lucha libre is not even televised in Bolivia, and they are not likely to receive any commercial endorsements, either. They are simply content to be part of a show that brings happiness to the people who attend, especially in the poor neighborhoods of El Alto, the migrant city that developed as a sprawling refuge for Aymara and Quechua Indians who come to the capital city in search of better living conditions. GAMBLING The federal agency Loterı´a Nacional de Beneﬁciencia y Salubridad (National Lottery for Health and Social Assistance) is in charge of the organization, administration, and supervision of all legal gambling activities in the country. Locally, it is simply known as LONABOL, and all its related programs are administered from La Paz. Loterı´a Nacional

The National Lottery of Bolivia was established on April 23, 1928, and its headquarters are located in a contemporary building in La Paz. Its creation was rooted on the premise that the proﬁts would be used to subsidize various national health agencies and social programs. Despite a few minor scandals, such promise has been kept for the most part. Every week, Bolivianos purchase tickets for the national lottery rafﬂe that provides its results at the end of the week via radio programming, television news, newspaper stands, and the Internet. The overall intention has always focused on the social beneﬁts of the game rather than on making new millionaires out of people. The amount of the winning ticket is usually the equivalent of US$10,000 to US$15,000. For example, in July 2009, LONABOL had a special celebration to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Bolivia’s declaration of independence. This unique lottery event had the

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top winning prize of 100,000 bolivianos (roughly US$14,300), but the tickets could be purchased for only 20 bolivianos (about US$3). The national agencies print a limited number of tickets for each rally. For this special commemoration of 200 years of freedom, LONABOL authorized only the sale of 50,000 tickets, which made the odds of winning relatively good. The only winner of this event, Fabril Rosales, was a retired worker who became an ephemeral national sensation in all the forms of Bolivian media. In addition to the top prize, most tickets also qualify to compete for second and third prizes that offer less money. The purpose of the third prize is to spread a small amount of winning funds among a large number of people. This is done to have them continue to participate in the lottery, and consequently donating towards the national funds destined towards health equipment and social programs such as food banks and homes for the elderly. LONABOL makes a conscientious effort to publicize the donations that they make to needy causes. Their Web site is always up to date, and it chronicles the sequence of social beneﬁts that have been processed throughout the country, especially in economically disadvantaged communities. For example, news reports in August 2009 conﬁrm that LONABOL delivered 60 sets of dialysis equipment that were distributed to medical centers throughout the country. The Minister of Health and Sports, Nila Heredia, declared that improving medical facilities for the needy is one of the key roles that the National Lottery has continued to follow since its inception in 1928. However, the directors of LONABOL were entangled in several corruption accusations in 2008. The National Congress and even the federal judicial system requested that high-level directors be replaced from their duties and face potential criminal charges. The controversy emerged from the fact that LONABOL also controls other forms of legalized gambling in Bolivia. It is in charge of providing a business license to new gambling venues. The recent controversies have risen in relationship to how quickly gambling casinos are spreading throughout the nation. Casinos

Bolivians love to play bingo. The gambling environment changed in 2002 when the federal government allowed foreign investors to begin construction of brand new casinos and offer new gambling options, but based primarily on bingo. The game is offered on either traditional paper or electronic formats. The ﬁrst company to obtain a gambling license for such establishments was Lotex, S. A., which opened its ﬁrst casino in the city of Santa Cruz, the city with the largest population in the country. The name of the company is translated as “fortune” in Egyptian Arabic. The company came to Bolivia with deep pockets and seemed to offer precisely what the government

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was expecting: the generation of at least 400 jobs and an overall investment of at least US$15–20 million. In addition, foreign companies like Lotex are required to pay a tax of 15 percent on royalties that go directly into the coffers of LONABOL. These casinos, however, offer many more options for entertainment that have proven extremely popular with Bolivians. They include slot machines, bingo events, fashion shows featuring local designers, indoor and outdoor restaurants, bars with neon signs, live music bands, and a general-purpose auditorium. While the options for entertainment increased, the federal government began to notice a huge increase in gambling in poor communities, especially among indigenous groups. When the national congress attempted to place limitations in 2008, they learned of multiple irregularities that were based on legal loopholes and sometimes blatant corruption. For example, Lenix had a license to operate until 2012, but it was somehow extended for another 20 years without any oversight or legislative review. In addition, Lenix has continued to open new casinos in other cities, but apparently a legal loophole prompted the differences of legal interpretation regarding gambling licenses. The government thought that one single business license authorized a company to open one casino. According to Lenix’s attorneys, the license does not clearly stipulate such restrictions; it only offers the permit to legally operate in Bolivia, in one or many casinos. Faced with such irregularities, President Evo Morales asked the director of LONABOL to step down in 2008. Russian casinos have recently proliferated in Bolivia, both legal and illegal. They are called Bingo Bahiti, and the concept was imported by gambling businesses from Russia. They also set up casinos in the prosperous city of Santa Cruz that became instantly popular for their lavish entertainment, neon signs, loud music, blackjack tables, and of course, bingo. They quickly opened another casino in El Alto, the poor suburb of migrant workers near La Paz. So far, operations like Bingo Bahiti seem to be working legally, proving foreign investment to Bolivia, generating jobs, and even making donations to social programs. However, local legislators are beginning to notice the spread of illegal Russian casinos throughout Bolivia. Casino owners have found even more legal loopholes to operate casinos without abiding to the strict regulation of foreign investing and banking operations. In 2009, the district attorney of Santa Cruz asked the federal legislators to consider the consequences of not controlling the gambling industry correctly. He reminded them that banking secrecy laws facilitates money laundering, and that gambling parlors generate other social problems nearby, such as prostitution, arms trafﬁcking, tax fraud, human trafﬁcking, and even international organized maﬁas.2 The national director of LONABOL expressed his clear frustration because his ofﬁce has

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not authorized a single gambling license since Evo Morales took over as president in 2005. Yet, the number of casinos continues to grow. In the meantime, while the politicians ﬁgure out what to do, the general population enjoys the bingo games in a cheerful and elegant environment. Moreover, they know that by playing bingo, they are ultimately donating money to the national agency that subsidizes health clinics and social programs for the needy. That feeling seems to be a source of pride among Bolivians. NIGHTLIFE When the sun goes down, the entertainment venues begin to attract Bolivians for a night of fun. There is a marked difference between urban options and rural communities that offer limited opportunities for entertainment. In many ways, income levels determine the venue that people visit for entertainment. Major cities such as La Paz, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, and Sucre offer a plethora of options: theater performances, movie multiplexes, dance clubs, concerts, bars, discos, and cafes. The city of La Paz also offers choices to experience local ballet performances, theater, and classical music. For example, the Teatro Municipal Alberto Saavedra Pe´rez in La Paz offers a comprehensive annual program of concerts, theatrical representations, and folklore shows. The elegant, whitewashed city of Sucre also offers institutions that aim to enrich and represent regional cultural traditions. The Teatro Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho in Sucre is an opulent opera house that offers cultural events and performances. In addition, the Centro Cultural los Masis, in downtown Sucre, offers a wealth of information and activities related to music and the traditional instruments used to develop Andean folk music. Moreover, these major cities are also university towns, with a vibrant environment surrounding their college campuses. These areas often offer local musical bands that test their new material in the adjacent cafes and bookstores. There is a marked difference between upscale urban venues and rural hangouts. For example, La Paz and Sucre offer elegant bars that attract mostly middle-class Bolivians looking for an attractive ambience and not necessarily just a drinking location. The Zona Sur in La Paz is a typical example of such upscale places, also frequented by foreign tourists. Many rural towns only offer a public plaza for family activities and a chicha (local beer) brewery for drinking with friends. ˜ as—Traditional Andean Music Nightclubs Pen

Bolivia is deeply connected to its indigenous heritage. So, it is not surprising that folk music is still alive and well here. Most big cities offer pen˜as

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(venues for traditional Andean music) that are extremely busy on the weekends. Instead of one single band playing all night long, there are usually several bands that represent Andean music from different regions in Bolivia. This variety of sound reinforces the notion that Andean music actually sounds different from one place to another. Bands from Cochabamba sound different from their counterparts from Oruro or Potosı´. Among pen˜as, there is variation of music quality, the type of food they serve, and the ambience of the location itself. The musical groups in pen˜as use basic and austere instruments for their performances. The traditional instruments include small drums, rattles, quenas (single-reed ﬂutes), zampon˜as (deep and long wooden pipes), and a few string instruments such as the charango (a small guitar similar to the Hawaiian ukelele). The sound produced by these instruments reﬂects the loneliness of the Bolivian highlands. For the most part, Andean folk music does not have vocals. However, in the last 20 years or so, the use of lyrics has made some of these ballads (called waynos) more popular with the average population in Bolivia. In the last decade, cities such as Santa Cruz and La Paz offer pen˜as oriented toward foreign tourists, where a single ticket includes a heavy meal, drinks, and entertainment. However, some of the less expensive locations offer a more traditional experience; the food is not great, but the music is usually much better. The acceptance of indigenous cultures in Bolivia is increasing. This social pattern offers Andean music with potential opportunities to gain acceptance on radio stations and some pop-music venues. Friday Nights

Middle-class Bolivian men in urban settings have a tradition that goes back for decades. They go out to an entertainment venue (as long as liquor is served) right after work on Friday. The common name for this tradition is Viernes de soltero, or “Friday-night for Single-guys.” This applies even to married men. There is a lot of peer pressure for men to join these social networking events on a regular basis. The result is that they usually drink way too much, waste a large part of their paycheck, and then wander on home until the late hours of the night. While this social activity has never been popular in the countryside and rural communities, men who migrate to the city seem to incorporate the Viernes de soltero practice rather quickly. Since it is a tradition deeply ingrained in urban Bolivia, most women just accept it. Recently, however, women have also begun to organize their own gatherings on Fridays while their husbands are out with their male friends. While women do not go out for excessive drinking, they gather in cafes and restaurants to socialize with their girlfriends.

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WOMEN Since early civilizations, women have actively contributed to the local economy via farming and weaving. In poor rural areas, women were often the only economic foundation of the family. Unfortunately, many modern books and cultural magazines in the 21st century still propagate the traditional image of the Bolivian woman as an illiterate indigenous peasant (cholita) selling knickknacks on the street. This image is certainly a reality in cities throughout the country. However, Bolivian women nowadays also participate in many more levels of society, including management, ofﬁce work, factories, homemaking, politics, academic circles, and professional spheres. Like most of South America, social and economic factors determine the educational and employment opportunities available to women. Notable women include Lydia Gueliler Tejada, who was appointed as interim president in 1979; Domitila Barrios de Chungara, a relentless social leader who ﬁghts for the education of disenfranchised women; and Mara Lucy Garcı´a, a talented writer who recently compiled the most comprehensive anthology of Bolivian female writers. More recently, since the national election of 2006, more women (several from indigenous groups) have been elected as members of the national legislature and the constitutional assembly. Despite the increasing number of women joining the workforce in the last 20 years, Bolivia is still a culture dominated by men in almost all aspects of daily life. Machismo is still a prevalent part of modern Bolivian culture. In a country where poverty is a constant concern, and the split between rural versus urban environments is enormous, gender differences have disproportionate effects on Bolivian women. For example, according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadı´stica de Bolivia (INE), the levels of illiteracy for indigenous Bolivian women are more than double in comparison to their male counterparts. The fertility rate is much higher in rural and poor communities. Indigenous peasant women often have an average of four or ﬁve children. Meanwhile, educated women from the middle class in urban centers tend to have only one or two children. This social pattern has not really changed for over 50 years. This difference obviously has consequences for the social, economic, and educational opportunities of future generations. From a legal perspective, the 2006 Constitution of Bolivia offers equal rights to all people. For example, both men and women have the same inheritance rights and an equal legal right to own land. In fact, the 1996 Land Reform Act speciﬁcally states that land should be allocated, administered, owned, and used according to principles of equality. In social settings, women do not face any restrictions of movement about the country, or social boundaries related to how they dress and congregate in public. Bolivian law

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also entitles women to three months of maternity leave, although most women return to work earlier because they fear that they may be replaced if they take too much time off. While the social condition of women has certainly improved in the last two decades, the reality is that women often seem to have a lower status in society. For example, women often earn less than men for equal or comparable work. In the political arena, women obtained the right to vote in 1952, but most electoral sections reveal a disproportionately high level of female abstinence in the voting process. Law 1674 is supposed to protect women from incidents of domestic violence, but it has done little to actually stop or signiﬁcantly reduce the levels of domestic abuse, which is still common. The main problem is that it goes unreported, especially in rural settings. In an attempt to reduce family violence, the federal government is now showing television dramas with the aim of educating the general public about unacceptable domestic violence. At the end of these shows, they offer a speciﬁc local address and phone number where women can report their abuse and seek help. Maternal mortality in Bolivia is one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere, and almost 48 percent of women have complications during pregnancy or childbirth. In addition, abortion is legal in Bolivia in cases of incest or rape, but the legal process of requesting permission for this medical procedure is extremely bureaucratic, and most women who choose this option have unsafe abortions in backstreet clinics, which often result in medical complications or even death. According to Mujeres Creando, a women’s rights organization located in La Paz, over 40,000 illegal abortions take place in Bolivia every year, and 27–35 percent of women die as a result of these unsafe medical procedures. FAMILY, MARRIAGE, CLOTHING, AND RITES OF PASSAGE Family and Children

The family is the foundation of Bolivian society regardless of the location or environment in which people live. Children are often the center of the nuclear home, but family planning has not traditionally been an urgent priority for the government, the Catholic Church, or even the families themselves. In the last two decades, the government has promoted family planning as part of its programs to reduce poverty around the nation. While middle-class women in the city usually have their babies at hospitals, the Instituto Nacional de Estadı´stica de Bolivia (INE) reports that 56 percent of women have their children at home, usually with the help of matronas (midwives) or nurses. Even more striking is that of the 56 percent mentioned, 22 percent of those women report that they had their babies all by themselves, without any help at all. Poverty and social

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classes are obviously a crucial factor in accessibility to medical care. However, statistics provided by the Instituto Nacional de Estadı´stica in 2009 reveal that the government plan of opening small clinics in rural and poor areas already showed tangible improvements. The 2009 report shows that 81.53 percent of women gave birth at a health clinic or hospital, and that another 6 percent of women gave birth at home but with the help of a doctor, a nurse, or a qualiﬁed midwife. That means that the number of women who gave birth unattended was already reduced from 22 percent to 13 percent, which is very signiﬁcant in Bolivia, especially in a period of only 5–10 years. Raising children is often a collective effort. As a result, respect for family members is one of the pillars of Bolivian culture. Families have strong bonds that include extended family members such as uncles, aunts, godparents, and grandparents. Children are often raised within a strong support network in which nuclear and extended-family members reinforce a strong pride in cultural traditions. For example, one crucial cultural trait is the value placed on their home language, either Spanish or one of the other 36 recognized indigenous languages in Bolivia. The extended family plays an important role in exposing children to the richness and beauty of their native tongue. Most indigenous-language speakers in Bolivia believe that they are entrusted with this language to use it only during their lifetime. The goal is to transfer the language to the next generation so they can use it during their own lifetime. It is precisely this practice that has kept many languages alive for centuries even against formidable opponents such as Inca invasions, Spanish colonization, social isolation, and even Bolivian military repression. Marriage and Evolving Practices

From a legal perspective, the minimum age for marriage is 14 years for women and 16 years for men. In Bolivia, there are marked differences between the marriage patterns and traditions followed in urban areas versus rural communities. In the cities, most weddings follow traditions similar to those of the United States, which are mostly big celebrations including the family members of the bride and groom. The religious ceremony is usually followed by a large party or banquet. In the rural areas of Bolivia, however, it is common for couples to live together before marriage. After the man “steals” the girl, they usually live with the man’s family for a while. The formal celebration of a wedding could come after years of cohabitating together and even having children. Once the wedding takes place, the couple is likely to celebrate their love in a church ceremony, but the law also mandates that they participate in a civil marriage. Recent sociological studies and statistical data suggest that Bolivians are undergoing a rapid and considerable transition regarding their attitude toward

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marriage. First of all, the number of marriages has dropped dramatically. Records of the Corte Nacional Electoral, which keeps track of all marriages in Bolivia, indicate that 45,617 weddings were held in 1998, but only 11,048 took place in 2009. These ﬁgures reﬂect a 75 percent reduction in the number of marriages held. Moreover, the lower numbers cannot be attributed to population loss because demographics—especially of young people—have actually increased during the 1998–2009 period. However, these results do not necessarily indicate that people are no longer interested in long-lasting relationships and serious commitment. Several sociological studies have attempted to ﬁnd the answer to this demographic riddle. In 2009, the inﬂuential newspaper La Prensa published a special-edition report that is the culmination of a national rigorous study regarding the Bolivian identity. Their report found that people are simply opting to live together (rather than marry) in much larger numbers than before. They note that this type of relationship used to be a common practice in the countryside where indigenous people lived together for years before deciding to participate in a civil and religious ceremony. For centuries, this has been the traditional practice (or sirwin˜aku) of the Quechuas, Aymaras, and other indigenous groups. The social shift is that this practice has now become popular in urban and cosmopolitan centers, especially among middle-class people. Interviews with some of the couples who opted for cohabitation rather than marriage often reveal another statistic; divorce is also on the rise in Bolivia. The other factor that has also changed is that the number of children being born has been reduced in the last 40 years. The Reforma newspaper also reported that it used to be common for Bolivian women to have 7 children in the 1950s. However, the average number of children for families is now 3.8, which is certainly a drop in childbirth rates. Currently, family size is often linked to the parents’ level of education, income projections, and rural versus urban environments. While middle-class families with professional parents tend to have only two or three children, it is more common for lowincome families in rural areas to have ﬁve or six. Another factor determining smaller families is the large number of women currently working full time, especially in the cities. Rites of Passage

Most children growing up in Bolivia go through several rites of passage related to religion, especially the ones celebrated by the Catholic Church. Most babies are baptized during their ﬁrst year of life. Their ﬁrst communion is often held when they are 7 or 8 years of age. During their adult lives, marriage is a major event celebrated by the church as well. Eventually, the rites associated with a funeral are also followed. However, two speciﬁc rites of passage are truly special and celebrated by many families in Bolivia:

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a special haircut ceremony at 2 years of age; and quincean˜eras, when girls are introduced to society at 15 years of age. Hair-Cutting Ceremony

The hair-cutting ceremony is often performed when children turn two years old. The child’s hair is usually arranged in a multitude of rather small pigtails. Then, each little tail is decorated with a ribbon. A long list of people participate in cutting the hair of the poor child, one pigtail at a time. In exchange for that honor, the child receives gifts in the form of money, which is usually pinned to the child’s clothes. For some reason, children never really get stung or poked by the multiple pins near their bodies. The ﬁrst honor usually goes to the child’s padrinos, or godparents, and then other people who are important in the child’s life.3 ˜eras Quincean

When girls reach 15 years of age in Bolivia, they often dream of having a quincean˜era celebration performed in their honor. The tradition began centuries ago but became prevalent after the arrival of the Europeans and their Catholic religion. Originally, this event was a festive but simple gathering. By the late 1500s, the Spanish had transformed the celebration into something more formal. By the 1800s, the quincian˜era festivities looked like a ballroom event. Once most of the population converted to the Catholic faith, a special mass was included as part of the religious traditions. Nowadays, most young women wear either white of light-pastel-color formal dresses to celebrate their coming of age. Music is also a crucial component of the quincean˜era festivities. The ﬁrst dance is a waltz reserved for the girl’s father. He then proceeds to present his daughter as a young woman to the invited guests. Then, the quincean˜era’s court of 14 boys and girls join her in the dance ﬂoor before ushering in the rest of the guests. They usually dance to a more modern and upbeat song. It is worth noting, though, that this celebration is hardly ever practiced in rural communities, even when the family is devoutly Catholic. The economic realities of such areas do not lend themselves to the lavish affairs that are more common in urban centers such as La Paz, Santa Cruz, and Cochabamba. Traditional Clothing

While most of the mixed population of Bolivia now wears mostly Westernstyle clothing, the indigenous communities have retained traditional clothing for centuries, especially the women. Perhaps the most noticeable Aymara women in La Paz are the pacen˜a cholitas, who migrated to the cities but retained their traditional clothing. They wear outﬁts that were established during the colonial period, including a long skirt with many underskirts,

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Aymara woman wearing a bombı´n hat in La Paz. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

which makes their outer skirt look very puffy. They usually wear a blouse with a cardigan sweater to protect them from the perpetual cold weather in high elevations. The most noticeable feature, however, is their inescapable bombı´n hat, or bowler hat. While there are many theories, no one is completely sure why women picked up the tradition of wearing the bowler hats and the indigenous men never did. In fact, most indigenous men from the Aymara, Quechua, or any other original groups now wear Westernized clothes, even when they live in the rural areas. Most of these men have even adopted baseball caps now to replace the traditional hats that were typical of many regional groups. The chullas are the only hats the Bolivian men really still use. These are knitted wool caps with ear ﬂaps to the side that help to keep people warm. Not only are they practical, but they remain extremely popular in higher elevations. FOOD AND DRINK Bolivian food does not receive the international recognition it deserves. The geographical isolation of the country perhaps has impeded the exportation of its culinary secrets. Bolivia is one of the few countries in the world that manages to produce most of the food it consumes. Like many other features in Bolivia,

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Wool-made chullas are practical in high elevations. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

the ingredients used in recipes are usually determined by the altitude. There are three major geographical food regions: (1) the highlands cities, like La Paz, have a diet based mostly on meat and carbohydrates suitable for the cold climate, (2) the tropical low regions, like El Chaco, rely less on meats but include more fresh vegetables and fruits, and (3) the valleys in between these two sections, like Santa Cruz, have a blend of both worlds with a tendency to have less spicy food. For Bolivians, the heaviest meal of the day takes place during lunchtime; breakfast and dinner tend to offer smaller portions of food. In the morning, a light breakfast might consist of a glass of milk, yogurt, or a cup of tea together with one or two empanadas, which are turnovers usually ﬁlled with cheese or meat. Since lunch is not consumed until two or three in the afternoon, people often snack in between meals. Salten˜as are typical midmorning snacks that can be found at both restaurants and street vendors. They are slightly bigger turnovers but usually ﬁlled with pieces of chicken or meat, vegetables, and spices. This dish originated in Salta, Argentina, but it is now considered a tasty Bolivian delicacy and an inexpensive snack. El almuerzo (lunch) is a bigger affair and the heaviest meal of the day. Whether it is eaten at home or at restaurants, it usually has three courses. The ﬁrst dish

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is typically a soup or stew that includes meat and vegetables. The main course includes meat, rice, potatoes, and mixed vegetables. Near Lake Titicaca, fresh lake trout is often the main dish. In higher elevations, llama steaks are fairly common and prepared in a variety of regional tastes. A small-size dessert often closes the meal. Sometimes, dessert is simply fresh fruit, while special occasions call for a treat like Manjar blanco, a creamy paste that is made with powder rice, milk, sugar, and cinnamon. The most well-known variety of this gastronomic delicacy is prepared in the city of Santa Cruz. In other parts of South America, this dessert is known as Dulce de leche (milk dessert). Staple and Specialty Foods

While an endless supply of ingredients is available, Bolivian food has a few basic staples, including potatoes and meat. By far, beef is the most popular meat in Bolivia, but people also consume large amounts of chicken and llama meat. Most parts of the cow are used in one form or another in specialty dishes. Popular beef dishes include silpancho, which includes thin slices of grilled beef served on top of rice or potatoes with a fried egg on top of it all. A favorite beef snack-size meal is called anticucho, consisting of pieces of beef heart in a skewer grilled to a savory perfection and served with potatoes and sauce. While people in urban areas consider llama meat to be inferior to beef, llama is quite common in the countryside, especially in a jerky form. Charque de llama is somewhat similar to the way jerky meat is dried in the United States, but in Bolivia, it is available in restaurants where they fry it and then serve it with corn (choclo) and sometimes pieces of cheese. In the countryside, people often use lamb instead of beef, and meat stews are more common than in the cities. For example, thimpu is a spicy lamb stew with a rich and thick broth and lots of vegetables. Potatoes have been cultivated in the Andes since the Inca Empire. There are over 200 varieties of potatoes in Bolivia alone. They are often used as a side dish for meat meals, or as a crucial part of soups and stews. There is also a special way to prepare potatoes so they can last a long time. They are called freeze-dried potatoes, or chun˜o. The process involves spreading the potatoes on the ﬂoor at night, and then letting them thaw a little in the early morning sunlight. Then, the potatoes are stepped on with bare feet to squeeze the moisture out of them. The result is a lightweight husk that can be left in storage for several months. When needed, they are added to stews and soups, and they cook surprisingly fast.4 Fast Food and International Restaurants

Traditional Bolivian cuisine is slowly being relegated to the private diningroom tables at home and a few public areas like open markets. In urban areas

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such as La Paz, Santa Cruz, and Cochabamba, international cuisine restaurants are becoming increasingly popular. It is common to see restaurant rows with establishments serving Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Argentinean, and Mexican food. These locations are often frequented by middle-class Bolivians, and they are viewed as a status symbol, even when people go there only to be seen enjoying a simple cup of coffee. While Bolivia has not yet been overtaken by American fast-food chains, they are beginning to appear, but mostly limited to the big cities. Small towns do not as of yet see hamburger chains competing with their fried-chicken counterparts. McDonalds tried to venture into Bolivia, and even accommodated its menu to include some local items; however, it was not able to turn it into a proﬁtable venture. In fact, McDonalds closed all of its restaurants in Bolivia in a well-publicized departure in December 2002. They could not compete with the low-price, fast-food items such as salten˜as and empanadas that are available in Bolivian street corners. Alcoholic and Nonalcoholic Beverages

Alcoholic drinks are extremely popular in Bolivia. Foreign brands of beer, lager, wine, and liquors are abundantly available, but the local varieties are gaining more and more acceptance. Some of the regional breweries, like Pacen˜a beer, make alcoholic drinks with ancient recipes dating back from the Inca time, and others experiment with newer versions of varying quality. Chicha is a fermented-corn beer that has been produced for hundreds of years by the indigenous people of the Andes. The process of making chicha involves women chewing corn balls and then laying them out to dry. These balls (called muko) are then boiled with sugar, grains, and even a little bit of meat. Each brewery has its own unique ﬂavor, but the variety made in Cochabamba seems to be the most famous in the nation. When chicha is available, people drink it from small bowls rather than glasses, and just reﬁll as necessary. In addition to chicha, other regional lagers are produced, bottled, and distributed throughout the nation. During the last 20 years, Bolivian entrepreneurs also began venturing into the viticulture world by producing their own wines. Perhaps the brand that has developed a national following based on the rigorous consistency of its products is Casas de Altura, produced by Bodega La Concepcio´n. Their products are created using some of the highest-altitude vineyards in the world. While the alcoholic drinks gather most of the attention, Bolivia also has a few nonalcoholic beverages that are rather popular. Common drinks such as sodas, juices, teas, bottled water, and coffee are widely available, but the regional drinks are a special treat. For example, mate de coca is usually served in the morning; it is a warm tea prepared with hot water and coca leaves. It is also supposed to help with soroche, or high-altitude sickness. Overall, it soothes the stomach so people can acclimatize to the heights of Bolivia. Black

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tea is also quite common throughout Bolivia. Mocochinche is a sweet drink made with sugar cane juice, cinnamon ﬂavor, and a dried peach on top. Education

The Bolivian Revolution of 1952 had a profound effect in Bolivia. At that time, over 60 percent of the adult population was illiterate. Among other social factors, the revolution highlighted the deplorable conditions of the national public education system, and it also revealed a troublesome divide between rural and urban schools resulting from centuries of neglect. During the Spanish colonial period, education was usually religious in nature and offered only to the social elite. After independence in 1825, the urban areas received attention and funding for public schools, which relegated the rural communities to a perpetual status of illiteracy. Moreover, if rural families allowed their sons to move to the city with a relative so they could receive an education, they would never give their girls permission to do the same; this created a further gender divide between male and female students. Bolivia designed a comprehensive education system in the 1950s, but it was until the late 1980s that it was actually implemented into full force throughout the nation. It consisted of six years of elementary (primary) education, followed by four years of an intermediate school, and ﬁnally two years of secondary school (high school). The culmination would be the baccalaureate degree, which is similar to a high school diploma. The public education system also included the University of Bolivia, a consortium that loosely binds together eight public universities and the private institution of the Bolivian Catholic University. Despite the generous funding the government provided for its education programs, the 1980s revealed signiﬁcant problems. Statistics collected in 1990 by the Instituto Nacional de Estadı´stica de Bolivia (INE) show that only 87 percent of school-age eligible children enrolled in elementary school. More signiﬁcantly, only 35 percent of eligible groups actually attended secondary school. In addition, the results highlighted signiﬁcant disparities in education levels between male and female students. High school–age girls faced the economic reality of poor students: their families needed them as babysitters for younger siblings and to do chores around the house while the parents worked. Another valuable observation was that Spanish was the only language of instruction throughout the entire school system. However, the indigenous population of Bolivia makes up almost 67 percent of the entire nation. So, children from rural areas who were already at a disadvantage also felt frustrated by being taught in a language they did not completely understand. Finally, throughout all these observations, it became obvious that educational funding had been overwhelmingly favorable to urban schools, much to the detriment of schools in agricultural communities.

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To address the deﬁciencies of public education, the federal government approved a comprehensive education reform in 1994. It received generous funding from the World Bank and several international donations from both governments and corporations to implement four basic but meaningful changes. First, the Bolivian Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports decentralized educational funding and provided more autonomy to local schools. Second, it requested international help to offer professional development opportunities and additional pedagogical training to teachers. Third, it opened more schools in rural areas so children would not have to travel to the man cities to continue studying. Fourth, and most importantly, it implemented bilingual education to address the needs of Quechua, Aymara, and Guaranı´ indigenous children. The World Bank assessed the efﬁciency of the 1994 education reform in a 2003 report. The positive report highlights some of the progressive actions taken by the Bolivian Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports. While many critics expected the reform steps to fail, they actually strengthen public education. 5 For example, as part of the decentralization process, all the 12,000 schools in the nation instituted parent-school councils that resulted in increased parent participation and consequently a reduction in dropout rates, especially at the elementary school level. Since not everyone was heading to university, the secondary-level schools created a parallel system of technical education that provided people with job training that also increased attendance and retention rates. For the ﬁrst time in Bolivia, children were taught in their native languages of Quechua, Aymara, and Guaranı´. The Ministry of Education produced teaching materials in all these languages. The schools and universities retained advisors to train future teachers and to revamp their pedagogical curriculum. Equally important, teacher salaries increased, and the government introduced teacher incentives linked to tangible improvements in children’s education. International funds were used to purchase school supplies and create student libraries across the nation. All these steps fortiﬁed the general education system. The current national curriculum developed by the Ministry of Education makes school attendance compulsory for all Bolivian children between 7 and 11 years of age. Then, there are three years of intermediate school and four years of secondary education (high school) to complete a diploma. After that, students can attend either the public University of Bolivia or many of the private institutions of higher learning. Cities such as La Paz, Sucre, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz have become important university towns that attract students from all over the nation. For example, the city of Sucre is often highlighted as a university town in which roughly 65 percent of the population is under 25 years old. The main draw is the Universidad Mayor

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Real Pontiﬁcia de San Francisco de Xavier de Chuquisaca, or locally known as simply Universidad de San Francisco. It offers programs from bachelor’s degrees all the way to doctoral-level advanced studies. This college-age demographic makes the city vibrate with an energetic and artistic vibe that is unparalleled in the country. As Bolivia enters a new decade in 2010, there are a few encouraging signs of educational improvement: (1) government spending on education has risen from 5.3 percent to 6.8 percent of the national Gross Domestic Product, (2) completion rates for primary school have increased from 56 percent to 72 percent, and (3) the projection rates are expected to reach 85 percent in 2010. Overall, the primary rate of enrollment is 97 percent of all eligible children.6 That is a tremendous improvement in enrollment and retention; even the rates for Quechua-speaking children in rural areas are well above 90 percent. As a general form of comparison, the literacy rate was measured at 30 percent during the Bolivian Revolution of 1952, but in 2009, the rate has reached 82 percent, which is comparable to other South American nations such as Peru and Brazil. While the government and the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports have achieved tremendous accomplishments in providing a universal educational system, Bolivia still faces considerable challenges. Once the average statistics are peeled apart, the numbers reveal that the efﬁciency of the institutional changes has been better implemented in urban areas. When it comes to children after 14 years of age (high school), there is still a huge educational gap between urban versus rural groups, male versus female students, and poor versus middle-class pupils. Overall, kids from an urban middle-class family have a much better chance of receiving a good-quality public education than poor children from an indigenous group in a rural community. HEALTH Taking into account international indicators of health, Bolivia ranks as the second-worst health system in the Americas; only Haiti has a worse health program in the Western Hemisphere. Other dismal statistics have emerged from national studies. However, since the 1990s, the Bolivian government has taken speciﬁc steps to improve the quality and amount of health coverage that it offers its population. They have sought international assistance and guidance to eradicate consistent health risks and diseases, as well as to reduce the malnutrition and mortality rates of children. Data produced by the Instituto Nacional de Estadı´stica de Bolivia (INE) and the World Health Organization (WHO) reveal that 23 percent of the entire population suffers from either mild or severe malnutrition. Like many other factors in Bolivia, the population in rural communities is also at a higher risk

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of diseases such as cholera and malaria. Infant mortality rates in the 1990s used to be as high as 89 out of every 1,000 babies. As a comparison, the United States had an infant mortality rate of 10 out of every 1,000 children during similar periods. Further studies revealed that most of the infant fatalities in Bolivia were caused by two main factors: diarrheal diseases, and acute respiratory problems. Many of the health problems are also linked to the use of non-potable drinking water. While bottled water is widely available in most cities, it is estimated that only 20 percent of the people living in agricultural areas have access to safe drinking water and appropriate sanitation practices. Poverty is a major concern in Bolivia. It is linked to inaccessibility to drinking water, lack of sewage systems, inexistent facilities for treating excrement, and an overall lack of access to medical facilities that provide even basic services and vaccinations. Moreover, many people in these areas practice folk traditional medicine as the only source of health care. Since the rates of illiteracy are also higher in rural communities, many people do not stay informed about health information or new treatments available for diseases such as AIDS, malaria, and yellow fever. Table 3.2 offers crucial statistical information related to heath issues in Bolivia as of 2009.

Table 3.2 Summary of Health-Related Information for Bolivia, 2009 Total population (2009) % of population under age 15 (2009) % of population that is rural (2009) Life expectancy at birth (2005) Mortality in children under 1 year per 1,000 live births (2009) Maternal mortality per 100,000 live births (2004) Total health expenditure as % of gross domestic product (2009) National Expenditure as % of total health expenditure (2009) Ranking among 177 countries on the Human Development Index (2003) Gross national income (GNI) per capita US$ (2003) Percentage of the population below the national poverty line (2002–2009) whose income cannot provide for basic food and living necessities. Adult literacy rate (15+) (2005) % of the population with sustainable access to an improved water source (2002) % of the population with sustainable access to improved sanitation (2002)

10,227,299 36.26 34.2 66.9 43 230 7.5 14.8 113 2,490 60.10

88.3 85 45

Source: Table adapted from the World Health Organization report (Country Cooperation Strategy: Bolivia at a Glance, 2009) and the Social Demographic Indicators 2009 Report (Instituto Nacional de Estadı´stica de Bolivia, 2010).

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To address the nation’s health deﬁciencies, the Bolivian health system is going through profound reforms. The Ministry of Health is a revitalized agency that has been purged of most of the administrative problems and redesigned to have a more active role in making the new Strategic Health Plan more accessible to the masses. The Ministerio de Salud y Previsio´n Social, or Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MHSW), embarked in 1994–1996 on speciﬁc comprehensive health reform programs aided by several international institutions, including the WHO, the Panamerican Health Organization (PAHO), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Japan International Cooperation Agency ( JICA). As part of the reform, the Bolivian health ministries and international agencies agreed to prioritize the most pressing health issues and endemic diseases. The plan of action was implemented in three speciﬁc categories. 1. The government established the Seguro Ba´sico de Salud, or Basic Health Insurance. It was funded by the government and offered completely free to pregnant women and to children up to ﬁve years of age. 2. A massive vaccination program was enacted to address the main diseases that continue to punish the Bolivian population, including malaria, hepatitis A and B, tuberculosis, and yellow fever. It also included a widespread information campaign to educate people on the potential dangers of other diseases spread via mosquitoes, insects, or contaminated water, including typhoid fever, Chaga’s disease, and cholera. This policy also included an aggressive program and effort to provide more sources of clean drinking water to isolated rural communities. 3. The federal Ministry of Health decentralized its funding mechanisms to offer more ﬂexibility to local agencies.

By 2005, the WHO certiﬁed that the implementation of these policies had already yielded positive results. The ﬁrst step for women and children allowed women to seek medical help and to visit an obstetrician at regular intervals. It also increased dramatically (as much as 41 percent) the number of child deliveries at medical facilities rather than at home with a midwife. This step alone has reduced the levels of infant mortality signiﬁcantly because newborn babies could receive immediate medical attention, especially when linked to respiratory problems—an issue that is further compounded due to the high altitude of many cities and towns in the Andes. The second step of vaccinations helped tremendously because it targeted the rural communities and disadvantaged groups by sending health care workers directly to them in the mountains, hillsides, and poor urban communities to immunize them. Finally, the government decentralization process allowed for less rigid

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administration of funds, which permitted the local agencies to use funds to respond to speciﬁc regional needs rather than standardized national mandates. However, the Ministry of Health also created stricter accounting procedures to reduce corruption and waste in public spending. While Bolivia has improved in many key aspects of health care, it still faces tremendous challenges. The ﬁrst term of President Evo Morales was marked by a clear and concentrated effort to improve the health conditions of the most vulnerable citizens in Bolivia. A federal government report released in 2009, titled 100 Logros de Evo Morales: 2006–2009 (“100 Tangible Achievements by Evo Morales: 2006–2009”), includes a series of tangible goals met during his tenure. In this period, clear advances have already been made, including the construction of 154 new hospitals and 391 health centers, many of which offered service to rural communities for the ﬁrst time. Other health investments were done on the ﬁght against dengue in the warm regions, the purchase of 719 new ambulances, and a ﬁrm commitment to reduce infant mortality rates. The timing of this report, of course, was carefully orchestrated to coincide with his bid for reelection in 2009, which he won with a large majority of votes. The federal government provides almost 4 percent of its annual budget to health care, but in a poor country, it does not amount to enough ﬁnancial resources. The challenge is that Bolivia still relies on external funding from abroad to sustain many of its national health programs. Finally, the issue of drug addiction has not been adequately addressed. Bolivia used to be an exporter of illegal drugs such as cocaine, but since the 1990s, it has also become a nation of drug users that continues to increase in number. As of now, drug rehabilitation facilities are almost nonexistent. HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS Festivals, holidays, and carnivals are important celebrations that strengthen community relations. Some are patriotic national events, while others are simpler regional affairs. Festivals are the main cultural features that attract visitors to this Andean nation. Bolivian exiles return on an annual basis during special holidays, tourists from nearby countries in South America visit the country to coincide with speciﬁc celebrations, and local people simply enjoy regional traditions. The typical religious holidays are commemorated nationwide, such as Easter, Christmas, and All Saints Day. In addition, small towns also celebrate their speciﬁc patron saints with an annual ﬁesta that includes music, dance, colorful customs, and lots of drinking options. Other festivals are secular and usually have a regional feel to them. However, due to Bolivia’s demographic and ethnic richness, many celebrations are a hybrid

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mix that includes religious, indigenous, and secular features. Bolivians also celebrate several political holidays that commemorate speciﬁc national heroes, heroic battles, or important historical dates. Independence Day

On the political spectrum, two main holidays attract national attention: ´ Dıa de la Independencia, and El Dı´a del Mar (the Day of the Ocean). The country rallies together on August 6 to commemorate Independence Day. On that date in 1809, Bolivia’s Declaration of Independence from Spain was ﬁrst announced in Sucre, the current constitutional capital of the nation. The country has been free from Spain since 1825, a fact that is annually celebrated in Bolivia. There usually are parades throughout the nation, and the bigger events take place in Sucre, La Paz, Cochabamba, Potosı´, and Santa Cruz. All local political leaders (mayors, city councils, governors, and legislators) usually participate as important representatives of the people in these events, which are full of patriotism, national ﬂags, and civic pride. In 2009–2010, Bolivia celebrated 200 years of freedom since the call for independence, and the special occasion sparked a series of national festivities throughout the country. El Dı´a del Mar (Day of the Sea)

Bolivians still believe with strong conviction that one day they will obtain access back to the Paciﬁc Ocean. El Dı´a del Mar is celebrated on March 23. It serves as a day to honor a hero from the War of the Paciﬁc—Eduardo Avaroa—and his famous speech, “Surrender Your Grandmothers.” Avaroa delivered his speech on March 23, 1838, when Bolivia lost access to the ocean and became a landlocked nation; it also happens to be the date when Avaroa died. The loss of the Paciﬁc coastline to Chile is a sore subject to most Bolivians from all social classes and walks of life. During the commemoration of this holiday, there are regional parades led by local ofﬁcials and political leaders who always make a speech about the subject. Bolivians are so convinced that they will get back the ocean access that it is the only country in the world with an active navy branch of the military but no ocean for its ships. In the meantime, as the politicians work on reacquiring access to the ocean, the navy continues to train its ofﬁcers and practice with their boats in the highaltitude Lake Titicaca. On El Dı´a del Mar, the president always makes a strong speech on television expressing his or her continued commitment to reclaim the land Bolivia lost in the War of the Paciﬁc. However, in almost 200 years of diplomatic efforts, little agreement has been reached between the politicians in La Paz and Santiago.

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La Diablada, or Devil’s Dance

The Oruro Carnaval is perhaps the most famous celebration in Bolivia. The festivities last for eight days and culminate on Ash Wednesday, so it falls in either late February or early March. There are other Carnivals in Santa Cruz, Tarija, and La Paz, but none of them are done to the scale of the jubilee expressed in Oruro. For hundreds of years, the central theme of the entire celebration has been the Diablada, or Dance of the Devils. The genesis of this ritualistic dance was created during the colonial period around the 1600s, and it has survived for centuries virtually unchanged. The music is played by lots of drummers, pipers, and well-orchestrated brass bands. The entire street scene is a feast for the senses. Literally hundreds of people of all ages are dressed like devils in costumes with exaggerated monstrous features: monkeys, pumas, insects, etc. These little demonic ﬁgures are seen everywhere doing acrobatic moves. The main devil ﬁgures wear intricately embroidered body suits and shawls. There are devils dressed like Incas to represent that historical period. Then, there are people dressed like devils with features of African slaves to remember their peril in the silver mines. Large family clans also participate in this parade-like dance festival, and every member of the family dresses in different colors according to their status (grandparents, parents, children, etc.). Figures of Satan and Lucifer lead all these groups, taking part in the parade toward the local soccer stadium where the actual celebration takes place. At the stadium, two separate yet related plays are enacted for the public. The ﬁrst play always presents a rendition of the Spanish conquest of the indigenous people. This ﬁrst play is rather secular and deals mostly with the brutal treatment of the Indian population. The second play is much more religious in content and visual representation; it is intended to address the battle between good and evil forces. It represents the victory of Archangel Michael over all the devils and the seven deadly sins by using judiciously his ﬂaming sword. The results of the staged battle are announced by the local patron saint Virgen del Socavo´n (Virgin of the Grotto). The entire celebration ends when the dancers sing a solemn Quechua hymn thanking the earth-mother Pachamama. Overall, this is a hybrid celebration that incorporated features of Catholicism with pagan rituals for the Quechua Gods and deities. Since 2009, the new constitution deﬁned Bolivia as a pluralistic society with at least 36 clearly distinct ethnic, linguistic, and/or racial groups. The individual differences are now celebrated rather than oppressed. However, the commemoration of national holidays (like El Dı´a del Mar or Independence Day) can galvanize an entire nation toward a common goal and

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collective identity. Besides, they always provide a good excuse for singing and dancing. NOTES 1. “Soccer; Play Ball in La Paz,” New York Times. July 7, 2007, 6. 2. Annie Murphy, “Russian Casinos Take Root in Bolivia,” BBC News, January 14, 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7807319.stm (accessed December 4, 2010). 3. Peter Pateman, Cultures of the World: Bolivia (New York: Times Editions, 1995), 65. 4. Ibid., 75. 5. Manual E. Contreras and Maria Luisa Talavera Simoni, The Bolivian Education Reform, 1992–2002: Case Studies in Large-Scale Education Reform, vol. 2, no. 2 (Washington, DC: The World Bank, November 2003): 1. 6. World Health Organization, Country Cooperation Strategy: Bolivia at a Glance, April 2007, http://www.who.int/countryfocus/cooperation_strategy/ccsbrief_bol _en.pdf (accessed November 22, 2010).

4 Literature

BOLIVIA has a rich literary tradition that spans for centuries. The ethnic and linguistic diversity of its population have contributed to the development of literary expression that often has aimed to galvanize the entire population. For centuries, talented writers have embarked on a constant attempt to deﬁne what it means to be Bolivian in a pluralistic society. This Andean nation has produced notable poets, chronicle writers, playwrights, journalists, and a large number of novelists. From a chronological point of view, the literary production of Bolivia can be divided into four speciﬁc periods: (1) the indigenous civilizations before the arrival of the Europeans, (2) the Spanish colonial period from the 1530s to 1820s, (3) the postindependence era of 1825–1900, and (4) the modern history period during the 20th and 21st centuries. The Inca Empire developed tremendous social and technological accomplishments, but they never developed a writing system. However, it would be wrong to assume that Bolivian literature had its genesis when the Europeans arrived. Indigenous civilizations like the Tiwanaku and the Incas had a diverse literary tradition. Once the Spanish arrived, the colonial period also had a tremendous inﬂuence on the foundations of modern literary movements. In addition, there is no doubt that Bolivian literature has also been affected by the history of constant political and social convulsion in the shape of multiple civil wars, coups d’e´tat, revolutions, massive protests, and wars with neighboring countries.

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THE PRE-COLOMBIAN PERIOD (BEFORE THE 1530S) Because the Inca Empire never established a written language, the indigenous literature of the Quechua and Aymara speaking populations was based on oral legends and songs. Poetry and music went hand in hand, which essentially created a sung poetry, or arawi. The main topics of these poems were based on love, sadness, and hurt feelings. Since the Incas were a highly religious society, they also had sacred hymns (or jailli) to be sung to their gods; the main themes were related to rain, agriculture, drought, health, prosperity, and overall happiness. The Inca literature in the Quechua language also had a more advanced level of expression called the wayn˜u. This lyrical tradition included three artistic forms: poetry, music, and dance. Love and pain were the salient feelings expressed in these arrangements performed by both male and female participants. In addition to poetry, drama was also utilized during the Inca period to both entertain and educate the average population. The plays performed during this time took place mostly in public plazas and other locations for community gatherings. The main topics covered by playwrights were the death of former Inca rulers and overall religious values. The most well-known theatrical production of the period is titled Ollantay by an anonymous author. It deals with the love of an Inca princess with a commoner named Ollantay, a military ofﬁcer by profession. The play addresses the conﬂict between different social classes; it also reveals the constant internal struggle to obtain more power and recognition within the Inca system. There were several successful efforts in the 1800s to publish in printed format the most salient oral stories of Quechua and Aymara literature. Then, they were also translated to Spanish in order to distribute them among the rest of the Bolivian population. Jesu´s Lara (1898–1980), a writer and literary critic born in the Cochabamba province, bound together the main stories of Quechua literature and placed them into the appropriate literary context. Two of his seminal works are: Mitos, leyendas y cuentos de los Quechuas (2003) and Quechua Peoples Poetry (1981). His works included traditional Quechua legends and poetry from the colonial era and the Pre-Columbian period; they continue to be published today in contemporary subsequent editions. On the ﬁeld of Aymara literature, Artemis Caceres published Poesı´a Quechua del Tawantinsuyu (2000) and Siwsawinaka: Investigacio´n y compilacio´n de cuentos en la lengua Aymara (2005), a collection of 56 short stories in the Aymara language. His general goal was to preserve a crucial cultural component that was being lost due to the reliance on oral traditions and the lack of stories in a printed format. The indigenous communities of Bolivia have long protested and demanded recognition of their cultural values and their incorporation into a national

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cultural dialogue. Since 2005, the federal government, together with the Ministry of Education, has encouraged the inclusion of Quechua and Aymara literature in the school curriculum to help students in the rural communities develop a higher educational level and a sense of historical pride of their own cultures. It also helps that the current president, Evo Morales, comes from an Aymara indigenous background. THE SPANISH COLONIAL PERIOD (1530S–1820S) During the colonial era, the Bolivian territory was known as Upper Peru. This area was part of the larger Viceroyalty of Peru, which was governed from the seaside city of Lima. While the capital city was located far away, one of the richest areas during this period was the city of Potosı´, located in the highlands of modern-day Bolivia. At the time, this city produced more silver than any other mine in the world. Despite the material riches in the area, the control of the Spanish Crown did not produce in Upper Peru a large amount of literary innovations as it did in other parts of the empire, like Mexico City, Lima, and La Havana. The writing genres of the period followed three basic trends: historical chronicles, more in-depth studies of indigenous languages, and religious essays. Quechua and Aymara Studies

During the 1500 and 1600s, Spain invested a large amount of resources to study, write, and publish comprehensive studies of Quechua and Aymara languages. Once they were better known, they were often used as an indoctrination tool useful to spread the Catholic faith. Consequently, these books also had a religious pedagogical purpose. The most salient writer of the period who dealt with the Aymara language was Ludovico Bertonio (1552–1625), a Jesuit missionary working in Peru and Bolivia. He wrote and published books with rich cultural and linguistic content, including but not limited to: Vocabulario de la lengua Aymara, and El arte grammatical muy copioso de la lengua Aymara (The Detailed Grammatical Art of the Aymara Language). Subsequently, he wrote a religious book in both Spanish and Aymara titled Libro de vida y muerte de nuestro Sen˜or Jesucristo (The Book on the Life and Death of Jesus Christ). His body of work included detailed and exhaustive recompilations of the Aymara language that would be used for several generations. On the study of Quechua materials, Father Domingo de Santo Toma´s (1499–1570) wrote the oldest-known book dealing with the language of the Incas. His two seminal works from the 1560s are titled: Grama´tica o arte de la lengua general de los indios de los reinos de Peru´ and Lecciones y vocabulario de la lengua general del Peru´, llamado Kechua. The general goal of these books

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was to “rescue” these two indigenous languages from possible disappearance, especially since Spanish had become the ofﬁcial language of the colonies in the Americas. Due to the lack of a written format, the knowledge of these languages was usually only transmitted orally. By printing books related to these languages, they could be tangible materials preserved for future generations. Historical Chronicles

Some of the ﬁrst attempts to write original literature in South America came in the form of historical chronicles written by Spaniards living in the Viceroyalty of Peru. The most well-known writer of the colonial period in Bolivia was “El Inca” Garcilazo de la Vega (1498–1536), who published in Barcelona two separate—but related—seminal studies titled Los Comentarios reales in 1609 and 1616. It narrates the experiences of the indigenous people while highlighting key elements like pride and love in these native cultures. Other general works were published toward the end of the colonial period. Some of the main preoccupations appeared in themes of religious fervor and the legendary city of Potosı´. The famous chronicles titled Historia de la Villa Imperial de Potosı´ were written initially in 1705. The author, Nicola´s de Martı´nez Arzans y Vela, ﬁnished roughly 1,500 pages of the chronicles narrating the social, political, and economic features of this unique colonial city in Upper Peru. He was unable to publish the books before his death, and his son took over the project. They were not actually published until 1965 by Brown University in the United States. Another important narrative related to the famous city of Potosı´ was published in 1872; Los Anales de Potosı´ offered a journalistic point of view of the wealthy city. The annals ﬁrst appeared published in Paris by a Bolivian historian named Vicente Ballivian y Rojas. However, according to the Librerı´a Boliviana, after several disputes regarding the actual authors of these two outstanding narratives of the colonial period, it was established in 1939 that the authentic author of both chronicles was actually Nicola´s de Martı´nez Arzans y Vela. POSTINDEPENDENCE LITERATURE (1825–1900) Independence from Spain did not bring political stability or economic prosperity. Even though Bolivia obtained its independence in 1825, it was actually 60 years later that patriotic literature reached a critical mass. In the early 1800s, writers like Vicente Pasos Kanki focused on political and philosophical issues of the struggle for independence. He was an educated Aymara Indian who was an active participant in several indigenous movements in the Andes area. However, it was Ricardo Jose´ Bustamante (1821–1886) who speciﬁcally made independence rebellions the foundation of his writing, such as his theatrical

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play Ma´s pudo el suelo que la sangre (The Land Is Stronger than Blood) in 1869. He also wrote a collection of poetry titled Hispanoame´rica liberada (Liberated Hispano-America) in 1883. It was during the same period that Gabriel Rene´ Moreno (1835–1908) published books of poetry such as Introduccio´n al studio de los poetas bolivianos. However, his eminent and authoritative history book published in 1896, Los u´ltimos dı´as coloniales en el Alto Peru´: Documentos ine´ditos de 1808 (The Last Days of the Spanish Colonial Period in Alto Peru: Unpublished Documents from 1808), established Moreno’s place among the most celebrated writers of national consciousness. This social scientist wrote accurate historical prose as well as some of the most outstanding descriptions of Bolivia’s landscapes and life in small towns. The period of the 1800s was dominated by male writers and intellectuals. However, Adela Zamudio (1860–1928) emerged at the end of the 19th century as one of Latin America’s greatest poets. Her work reﬂects social injustices of the period as well as the intellectual struggle that women faced in a society intended to beneﬁt men the most. She usually published her work under the pen name “Soledad.” Her salient books include Ra´ fagas and Peregrinando, and her work also includes a collection of short stories titled Cuentos breves. Overall, Zamudio has been compared to the famous Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral, who literary critics often deﬁne as the most highly regarded female poet in the Western Hemisphere. It took quite a long time for Bolivian writers to produce original literature in Spanish (not producing historical chronicles or capturing the oral legends of the indigenous cultures). Nataniel Aguirre (1843–1888) was among a group of nationalist writers who ventured into the genre of the historical novel to reﬂect Bolivia’s national struggles. His famous novel Juan de la Rosa, published in 1885, is considered one of the best historical novels of Latin America. The story takes place during the independence wars in Upper Peru. These were times of turbulence and social convulsion. However, the protagonist, Juan de la Rosa, is not a soldier, a politician, a wealthy merchant, or even a peasant; he is a child who witnesses the ravaging events of war. This unique narrative placed this writer from Cochabamba as one of the most salient Bolivian literary ﬁgures of the 19th century. Modernism

Towards the end of the 1800s, many Bolivian writers, especially poets, were inﬂuenced by the new literary movement started by the Nicaraguan poet and diplomat Rube´n Darı´o. This new school of thought was called modernism. Darı´o’s book Azul, published in 1888, is considered the genesis of this new literary movement. This new model of writing was radically different from the ones offered by Spain, which had traditionally been copied and emulated

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by writers from the Americas. This was the ﬁrst time that a former Spanish colony did not follow the European guidelines for literary standards. For example, modernist writers were no longer restricted to using imagery based only on Roman and Greek mythology; they now also evoked the beauty of Aztec, Taı´no, and Inca ancestors. Also, their allegoric descriptions did not have to follow European metaphors of comparison. In addition, the new style now expressed indifference or even distaste for the upper-class values that were inherent in most European novels of the time. Moreover, novels could now be placed in native settings such as Brazilian jungles, Nicaraguan lakes, Mexican volcanoes, or the Andes Mountains range. During this period, it was common to ﬁnd vivid descriptions of Bolivian landscapes and natural beauty.1 Writers such as Franz Tamayo and Ricardo Jaimes Frayre are shining examples of the new modernist literary movement. Tamayo (1878–1956) was a proliﬁc writer in multiple genres that included poetry, law, journalism, prose, and politics. He founded and managed newspapers such as El Hombre Libre and El Fı´garo; he was the leader of the Radical Party in Bolivia; and he also served as Bolivia’s minister of foreign relations. However, despite all his accomplishments in the political and diplomatic world, he was ﬁrst and foremost an original poet. Some of his main works include Scherzos, Nuevos Rubayat, and Las Ocea´nicas. Even though he was of mestizo background—he had both Spanish and Aymara blood—his poetry and essays sometimes portrayed Indians as excelling in physical labor but incapable of intellectual life. Tamayo and Frayre were contemporaries: they were both inﬂuenced by the modernist movement in their poetry; they both worked in journalism; and they both held diplomatic posts. Frayre (1866–1933) was an editor for the newspaper El Paı´s, and he was a diplomat in Chile, Mexico, Brazil, and the United States. As a writer, he wrote both poetry and theater. He was the son of two famous writers (Lucas Jaimes and Carolina Frayre). His poems excelled in the management of metric patterns and unique rhythm. Frayre collaborated with Ruben Darı´o to establish a linguistic and literary review titled Revista de Ame´rica in 1899. It attempted to promote the richness of the Spanish language throughout the world. While the magazine did not have a long life, Freyre was deeply inﬂuenced by Darı´o. As a result, Freyre was keenly aware that the appropriate rhythm could sometimes be more relevant than the content of the poem itself. Two of his most famous poetry books, Castalia Ba´rbara and Los suen˜os son vida (Dreams Are Life) were published in 1897 and 1917, respectively. His poetic style certainly earned him literary praise. Later, he dedicated his time to publish educational pieces such as La lectura correcta y expresiva (Reading Correctly and Expressively). It seems that he was preparing himself for a transition into an academic life to teach and further promulgate the literary style of modernism. Toward the end of

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the 19th century and during the early 1900s, the great modernist poets moved toward a poetry that clamored for social justice, made miners and peasants the protagonists of his verses, and emphasized the virtues of the working class. MODERN LITERARY TRENDS (AFTER 1900) At the beginning of the 20th century, Bolivian writers took an introspective look, and their literary production began to reﬂect the national reality and its mounting problems. It had been over 75 years since the independence from Spain, and the country began to take stock of their accomplishments and failures. In addition, by the middle of the 20th century, Bolivia had already lost over half of its territory. The wars with its neighbors had a devastating effect on Bolivian society. The War of the Paciﬁc (1879), the War of El Acre (1900), and the War of El Chaco (1932–1935) all resulted in territorial losses and, in the ﬁrst example above, loss of access to the ocean. The population reacted differently to each of these events, but the Guerra del Chaco, or War of El Chaco, deeply shook the collective Bolivian consciousness. As a result of these experiences, the main literary themes explored in the 20th century include indigenismo (value of traditional indigenous cultures), military ventures, the plight of the poor and working classes, historical awareness, and nationalism. The novel was the last literary genre to develop in Bolivia. In a strict timeline, the ﬁrst novel written in Bolivia, Soledad, was penned by Bartolome´ Mitre (1821–1906) in 1847, but he was from Argentina. Then, in 1861, Sebastian Dalence wrote Los misterios de Sucre, the ﬁrst novel actually written by a Bolivian. However, it was common for writers of the period to still emulate European patterns of literature and thus to ignore national themes that were crucial for the local population. The ﬁrst novel to actually address the independence movement of Alto Peru, now Bolivia, was the historical novel titled Juan de La Rosa, written by Nataniel Aguirre in 1885. All of these precursors to the novel genre created the foundation for new literary attempts at the beginning of the 1900s in Bolivia. Alcides Arguedes (1879–1946) is considered to be the original creator of the true Bolivian novel. Moreover, he is credited with developing an entirely new literary trend at the beginning of the 20th century. His novel La raza de bronce, (The Bronze Race) published in 1919, marks the genesis of indigenismo literature in Latin America. It would become an inspiration for countless writers throughout the Western Hemisphere. Arguedes wrote other novels, including Piragua, Wata Wara, and Los Caudillos Letrados, or Educated Rebel Leaders.

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The War of El Chaco (1932–1935)

The Guerra del Chaco represented a deep blow to Bolivian national pride and consciousness. This military conﬂict developed between Bolivia and Paraguay over the Chaco region in the eastern part of the nation over the speculation that large quantities of oil could lay underground. Bolivia lost the war and roughly 100,000 square miles of its eastern territory. Within Bolivia, the ruling class was discredited for mismanaging the war. This resulted in massive internal protests that were eventually resolved by providing better working conditions for Bolivian laborers. Several Bolivian writers actually fought in the military struggle, and many more covered the events from a journalistic perspective. In the intellectual and artistic world, this war served as a tremendous impetus and inspiration for literary production in Bolivia. Three outstanding writers emerged as notable novelists during and after the War of El Chaco: Gustavo Adolfo Otera, Augusto Guzma´n Martı´nez, and Augusto Ce´spedes. Otera (1886–1958) published in 1933 his novel Horizontes Incendiados (Horizons on Fire), and also the nationalistic study La sociologı´a del nacionalismo en Hispano Ame´rica (The Sociology of Nationalism in Hispanic America). These were anchor pieces of his literary repertoire that earned him the Bolivian National Prize of Literature in 1956. One of the famous writers from the Cochabamba region, Guzma´n Martı´nez (1904–) published Prisionero de Guerra de mestizos (Prisoner of War Among Mestizos) in 1938, just a few years after the war was over. He also explored the genre of short stories in his book Cuentos de pueblo chico (Small Town Stories), where he portrayed the daily life of average people in small towns in Bolivia. His work was also rewarded with the Bolivian National Prize of Literature in 1961. Ce´spedes (1903–1997), another Cochabamba writer, released Sangre de Mestizos (Blood of Mestizos) in 1936, only one year after the end of the war. It offers a satirical analysis of the social problems that affect Bolivian population of indigenous and mixed heritage. All these novels revealed a new trend for Bolivian writers: to offer rather blunt and honest portrayals of the social problems in the nation, especially how they affected the disenfranchised population of poor peasants and indigenous groups. Social Consciousness after the 1950s

By the 1950s, there was a resurgence of nationalism and patriotic pride in Bolivia. The costumbrista style (regional customs) emerged as a way to draw on Quechua and Aymara traditions that enrich the Bolivian culture. Jesu´s Lara (1898–1980) published during this period three separate costumbrista novels, Surumi, Yanacuna, and Yahaurwinchij, which highlight the colorful

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and rich tapestry of Quechua traditions. Carlos Medinaceli also wrote one of the most recognized novels of the period in the costumbrista style, La Chaskan˜awi (Ojos de Lucero in Spanish, or Bright Eyes in English). One of the most recognized writers to address themes of Bolivian pride and nationalism was Rau´l Botelho (1917–2004). An accomplished diplomat and politician born in La Paz, he served as Minister of Foreign Relations for the Bolivian Diplomatic Service. He was even presented with the highest recognition ever awarded (and rarely given) by the Bolivian government: La Gran Orden Nacional del Co´ndor de los Andes, or the Great National Order of the Condor from the Andes. As a writer, he excelled as a playwright, novelist, and legal analyst. His novel Borrachera Verde (The Green Drinking Adventure) from 1938 earned him the very ﬁrst Bolivian National Prize of Literature in 1937; he was only 19 years old at the time. On the patriotic trend, he wrote some of the most poignant and historically accurate novels to explore the social and political contradictions in Bolivia in the last half of the 20th century. His novel Coca, published in 1941, is essentially a social and geographical portrait of the agricultural communities that depend on the cultivation of coca leaves for their survival. His novel Vale un Potosı´ (It’s Worth a Potosı´) released in 1949 is a social analysis of life in the rich and tragic history of the city of Potosı´. During the 1950s and 1960s, Bolivia became more active in seeking diplomatic solutions to challenge the legality of the agreement that ended the Paciﬁc War with Chile, on which Bolivia lost access to the Paciﬁc Ocean. Bolivia would ﬁnd its strongest supporter for this venture in Raul Botelho; he had diplomatic training, great oratory skills, and a creative mind for writing formidable literature. His book Breve historia del Litorial Boliviano, published in 1978, is based on historical documents, legal analysis, geographical data, international agreements, and common moral arguments to justify that Bolivia should regain access to the Paciﬁc Ocean. This concern would be the main nationalistic topic to drive the foreign policy negotiations of Bolivia well into the 21st century. CONTEMPORARY TOPICS The literary scene in Bolivia seems to function on two parallel tracks. On one side, there is a vibrant interest and renewed energy among contemporary literati, who are now more inclusive of female writers as well. On the other hand, there is the economic reality of Bolivia; poverty still affects literacy and access to books. For example, modern-day Quechua and Aymara Indians have very few books at their disposal in their native language. The government does little to provide reading materials to the rest of the indigenous population who speak 34 other languages; many of them do not speak Spanish.

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According to contemporary writers such as Juan Claudio Lechı´n—who won the National Fiction Award for his novel La gula del picaﬂor (The Gluttony of the Hummingbird) in 2003—the Department of Education is the only agency that has published books in a couple of indigenous languages. Otherwise, most publishing houses print only material in Spanish.2 This is a serious social issue in a country where the indigenous population makes up over 60 percent of the general population of 10 million people. Then, the cost of books seems prohibitive to many families, especially in rural communities. They usually rely on borrowed books from neighbors or photocopies that ﬂoat around. The use of copied material, of course, affects royalties, and not too many publishers are willing to invest in books printed in native languages if they might not produce a proﬁt. Eventually, the government might subsidize the cost of producing literary material that is not about indigenous communities but instead written by indigenous writers themselves. In the meantime, several literary genres are simultaneously being developed in Bolivia. THEATER Historically, drama has not been a very popular genre in Bolivia. From a chronological perspective, the Incas used theater productions to educate the population long before the Europeans arrived in the highlands of Bolivia. During the colonial period, the Catholic Church used plays as visual aids to educate the local population on the virtues of the new religion being imposed on it. The Church also used plays to teach social values that were expected to be followed by the conquered peoples. It was at the end of the 1800s that colonial playwrights began to write truly original pieces. There are three salient examples of drama writers in Bolivia: Jaimes Frayre Ricardo, Antonio Dı´az Villamil, and Gasto´n Sua´rez. At different periods of Bolivian history, they have produced valuable contributions to the theater arts. Frayre Ricardo (1866–1933) was a proliﬁc writer who excelled mostly in poetry and the novel genres, but also wrote a play titled La hija de Jefe (The Boss’ Daughter). However, it was Dı´az Villamil (1897–1948) in the early 1900s who really exploited the advantages of a stage to write theater pieces that reﬂected the needs and concerns of the general Bolivian population. He was not a writer who did a little theater on the side; he was ﬁrst and foremost a playwright. His extensive collection of plays include: La candidatura de Rojas (Rojas is Running for Ofﬁce), a political satire; El traje del sen˜or diputado (Mr. Deputy’s Suit), an ironic social commentary; La Hoguera, a small-townbased story: Cuando vuelva mi hijo (When My Son Returns), a highly acclaimed play; and El hoyo (The Hole), a deep revolutionary discussion that

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Teatro 3 de febrero in Sucre. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

questions who actually owns what is under the national soil—a theme that would persist in Bolivian politics until the end of the 20th century. Sua´rez (1929–1984), born in the southern part of Potosı´, was a self-taught writer who excelled as a novelist and playwright. The play that brought him public recognition was Ve´rtigo, published in 1967. It is about a man who served 20 years in prison. After completing his jail term, he tries to gather all his sons, who have spread out throughout the country. This award-winning play also dealt with human stories, emotions, family, and the general landscape of Bolivia. It is worth noting that the physical spaces that theaters occupy in Bolivia are not restricted to presenting theater plays. They function almost like community centers that have a long list of events happening almost every weekend. For example, the formidable and elegant building of the Teatro Municipal Alberto Saavedra Pe´rez in La Paz usually has a packed schedule. In 2009 and 2010, it featured rock concerts, folk dances, modern dance competitions, classical music performances, military bands shows, specialized arts workshops, theater festivals, student musical groups performances, jazz compositions, special movie premiers, and, of course, a few individual theatrical productions.

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Teatro Municipal Alberto Saavedra Pe´rez in La Paz. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE Oscar Alfaro (1921–1963) is considered to be the grandfather of Bolivian children’s literature. His work consisted mostly of poetry, based on direct, deep, simple, and transparent language. He did not infuse his poems with academic rhetoric or complicated theories. He projected an image of genuine emotion from the perspective of children. He did not write about children; he wrote to them. Many professional writers praised his work on the poem Viaje al pasado (Trip to the Past), which is often deﬁned as one of the best poems in the entire Spanish language. However, his book Alfabeto de estrellas (Star Alphabet) received the most praise by the general public, literary critics, and, most of all, from children themselves. Other highly acclaimed children’s books include: El abuelo eterno (The Eternal Grandfather), a collection of poems and short stories; El sapo que querı´a ser estrella (The Toad Who Wanted to Be a Star), which includes short stories; and El alfabeto (The Alphabet), a series of illustrated poems for children. Alfaro inﬂuenced a countless number of writers, such as Maricarmen Ohara and Gaby Vallejo, who eventually became interested in publishing their own version of children’s literature in the 21st century.

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Maricarmen Ohara was born to a Japanese father and a Bolivian mother. She has written over 25 bilingual books in Spanish and English that highlight the richness of the Bolivian culture, as well as a clear methodology to introduce children to other cultural traditions. Her books include Cuentos de muchos mundos (Stories of Many Worlds) in 1993, and Tesoro de lenguaje popular: adivinanzas, travalenguas, canciones y fa´bulas (Spanish Riddles, Tongue Twisters, Songs, and Fables) in 1997. She lives in California, and she is widely recognized in Bolivia for her work in children’s literature. Gaby Vallejo (1941–) has excelled in writing novels for both adults and children. In 1998, she published Encuentra tu a´ngel y tu demonio (Find Your Angel and Your Demon), which was a tremendous economic success. Her novel El hijo de Opa (The Son of Opa) from 1977 received several national and international literary awards; the novel was turned into a ﬁlm in 1985 titled Los hermanos Cartagena (The Cartagena Brothers). Her children books Palabras y palabritas (Words and Little Words) and La llave misteriosa (The Mysterious Key) were published in 1996 and 2002, respectively. In 2001, Vallejo received the very ﬁrst Premio al Pensamiento y a la Cultura “Antonio Jose´ de Sucre” for her relentless work in the ﬁelds of culture, education, and literature. Bolivia is certainly committed to the improvement of literacy and reading levels among children. To promulgate such goals, the International Book Fair of 2005 was held in Santa Cruz under the central theme of children’s literature. It invited publishing houses such as Alfaguara and Hoguera to showcase their new projects and recently discovered literary gems. It attracted national and international writers of high caliber that delivered special readings and presentations to the general audience, educators, government ofﬁcials, and people involved in the ministries of cultural affairs and social welfare. Their general goal was to enhance and contribute toward the development of children’s literature in all its genres, including poetry, novel, short stories and theater. Another important project aimed at increasing literacy and reading skills was developed by the Simo´n Patin˜o Center and Foundation located in Santa Cruz. It focuses on urban young children, and it attempts to develop in children a love for reading by engaging them in story-time activities, art expositions, and poetry reading even before they reach kindergarten. The goal is to nurture a generation of readers from the early stages of life. FEMALE WRITERS The literary and academic worlds have historically been dominated by male writers. However, there have always been talented female writers represented throughout the centuries in most of the literary genres in Bolivia. This is

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Centro Cultural Simo´n I. Patin˜o in Santa Cruz. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

precisely the thesis of a recent book by Mary Lucy Garcı´a, who in 2008 edited a contemporary literary anthology in which all the writers are Bolivian women. The title was simple: Escritoras bolivianas de hoy (Today’s Bolivian Female Writers). Garcı´a included contemporary writers to provide a space in which to establish themselves in the literary world, but she also took a historical approach by paying homage to the women who struggled to get their work accepted during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Her aim was to provide female writers with a collective power that cannot be denied any longer. However, her general goal (agreed by all the writers interviewed) is to produce a high-level, high-quality literary production that can serve as useful reference material. Literary critics received Garcı´a’s book very favorably. They acknowledge that the current literary ﬁeld is quite promising for contemporary female writers (like Virginia Ayllo´n) since they are now based just on the quality of their work and not based on their gender. However, an interesting trend has developed: Garcı´a’s anthology of female writers has now created an interest in writers from previous generations, such as Hilda Mundy y Marı´a Virginia Estensoro; it has also sparked new interpretations of their novels and short stories. The future certainly seems promising for female writers in Bolivia.

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LITERARY COMPETITIONS AND AWARDS Bolivia has developed several national and regional literature competitions to inspire local writers to submit their work in hopes of getting it published and obtaining a monetary award. Most of the relevant competitions are organized by a handful of organizations that include some kind of a cultural/arts ofﬁcial, a publishing house, private donors, and, of course, educational venues like universities and research centers. One of the oldest literary contests in Bolivia is the Franz Tamayo Short Story Competition. It is ofﬁcially promoted by the municipal government of La Paz and the editorial house Gente Comu´n Publishers. It was established in 1973, and so far has held 37 annual competitions. The writers who win get an award of roughly US$3,000, plus a contract with Gente Comu´n to publish and market their winning short story at local and international levels. Moreover, the publisher also selects a few of the submitted stories to publish an anthology every year. In 2009, the selected winner was Alraro Pe´rez, with his work El Germa´n Beltra´n. The story keeps the readers engaged trying to ﬁgure out why the protagonist keeps something mysterious in his bedroom. The Premio Nacional de Novela de Bolivia was established in 1999, and every year, a panel of judges selects the winning piece, which traditionally has been a ﬁction novel. This competition is organized by the Bolivian Vice-ministry of Culture, an international bank that provides regional funds (BBVA), the newspaper La Razo´n, and the international publishing house Santillana. This award includes US$8,000, a contract with the regional Alfaguara Publishers to print the winning novel, a medal, and a diploma of recognition. The winners are announced in a national event usually held in a government building in a festive celebration that provides recognition among the literati and academic world. In 2009, Sebastia´n Antezana Quiroga won with his novel La toma del manuscrito (The Manuscript Was Taken). At only 25 years of age, he is the youngest writer to ever win this prestigious award. He was born in Mexico when his parents lived there in exile after ﬂeeing Bolivia during a military dictatorship. In 2010, Ma´ximo Andre´ s Pacheco Balanza (1961–) received the same award for his novel La noche como una ala (The Night Like a Wing). Pacheco, a writer and historian from Santa Cruz, wrote the award-winning novel following a rural perspective with an intriguing plot that is based on the 1500s. It successfully integrates the mixture of indigenous and European cultures and religions during the colonial period. In 2010, Bolivia also promoted the ﬁrst national competition for literary awards for works produced in any of the indigenous languages. Federico To´rrez Ma´rquez, an Aymara author from El Alto, became the ﬁrst winner

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of the Premio de Narrativa en Lengua Originaria (Literary Award in an Indigenous Language) with his novel titled Jach’a tuntachawita-pachakutiwi in Aymara (De la Gran Asamblea al Retorno in Spanish, or From the Great Assembly to the Great Return in English). The general goal is to promulgate the value of indigenous languages in Bolivia. The publishing house Santillana announced that the novel will also be distributed in an audio format. At the regional level, several provinces in Bolivia work relentlessly to place a large emphasis on literacy campaigns, encouraging reading for pleasure, and organizing a literary competition for young writers. The Encuentro de Escritores (Meeting Conference of Writers) in Sucre, held in 2007, showcased the young writer Rodrigo Hasbu´ n as a promising literary star at an international level. At the young age of 26, Hasbu´n won the Premio Unio´n Latina para Narrativa Breve Hispanoamericana (Hispanic-American Brief Narrative Prize for United Latin America) in 2008 for his work Familia. He had already previously won the Bolivian National Prize for Short Stories Franz Tamayo in 2006 with his stories titled Cinco. In 2002, he also obtained the National Prize for Bolivian Literature offered by the municipality of Santa Cruz. In addition, he was selected as the only Bolivian writer to represent his nation at the Bogota´ 39 festival, which is considered to be the capital city for books in Latin America. Rodrigo Hasbu´n is deﬁnitely one of those rare examples of a Bolivian writer who is beginning to be recognized for his talent outside of this Andean nation. Books are still the main source of education. So, it seems appropriate that the Bolivian government and private enterprises together are pursuing literary patterns that will continue to enhance the richness of the Andean cultures. The simple pleasure of reading might actually galvanize the national population towards developing a joint identity and getting closer to deﬁning what it means to be Bolivian in the 21st century. NOTES 1. Javier A. Galva´n, “Literature,” in Culture and Customs of Puerto Rico (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2009), 97–114 (speciﬁcally 103–4). 2. “Bolivia’s Time of Rebellion,” Foreign Policy 143 (July–August 2004): 76.

5 Broadcasting and Print Media

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS and freedom of expression are two crucial principles for democratic societies. Bolivia has a long tradition of distributing information in all media formats, including printed materials, radio broadcasting, television programming, and, more recently, digital distribution via the Internet and social networks. The new 2009 national constitution protects freedom of the press for all forms of media. Currently, all the communications venues are under the jurisdiction of the Bolivian Ministry of Information. In addition, all cable systems, broadcast stations, and Internet services are regulated by the Bolivian Superintendencia de Comunicaciones (SITTEL), which controls licenses in a similar manner as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States. It is important to note that throughout Bolivian history, both printed media and television stations that were privately owned usually reﬂected the position of speciﬁc political parties. This chapter includes a brief historical review of the development of journalism and the communications ﬁeld in Bolivia, but the main emphasis is placed on the contemporary state of affairs for the national print and broadcasting media. GENERAL BACKGROUND The CIA World Factbook offers statistics that are useful as a point of departure to analyze communication networks in Bolivia. In 2000, the country had 321 radio stations (171 AM, 73 FM, and 77 shortwave). The 2000 information also shows 48 television broadcast units plus multiple repeater stations in

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several national networks; the estimate is that there are almost one million television sets in the entire country. Many of these television owners, however, supposedly get their signals mostly via antenna, since the number of cable subscribers is ofﬁcially low—only around 80,000 nationwide. While visiting Bolivia, however, it is clear that most people watch a large number of television channels, even in the remote rural areas of the country. So, there is an obvious disconnect between the number of television owners and the ofﬁcial number of cable subscribers. The reason is that piracy is a huge problem in Bolivia. According to the journal Press Reference, the national piracy rate for cable programming is almost at 95 percent. The data from the CIA World Factbook also reveals important data related to telecommunications. The information from 2008 highlights a tremendous increase in cellular telephones (690,000 land phone lines versus 4.38 million mobile phones). In addition, both government and private investments have sparked a rapid explosion of Internet communication networks. In 2009, there were 105,031 Internet Service Providers (ISP) in Bolivia, with almost 1 million users. It is axiomatic that recent technological advances are improving all communications media, but they also offer new challenges and opportunities. For example, several newspapers and magazines now offer online enhanced versions of their printed products. Television stations also release expanded video and information service via their Web sites. This option provides news updates with an incredible speed not widely available until the last decade. Furthermore, there are now statistical data sources as well as academic and literary journals that exist exclusively in electronic format. Despite all these technical innovations, it is important to keep in mind the social and economic reality of Bolivia. According to reports of the Press Reference International, Bolivian social statistics reﬂect how information is disseminated throughout the nation. For example, Bolivia has almost 10 million inhabitants, but there are four signiﬁcant factors regarding its population: (1) 40 percent of people still live in rural areas, (2) almost two-thirds of the population lives in poverty, (3) roughly 55–60 percent of Bolivians are of indigenous heritage, and (4) only about half the national population speaks Spanish as their ﬁrst language. Since most of the printed media and communications channels are centered in the urban areas of La Paz, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Potosı´, and El Alto, most of the marketing and advertising efforts (which sustain media outlets ﬁnancially) are aimed only at the urban centers of the nation. Consequently, the needs of the rest of the population are somewhat neglected when it comes to receiving information either in print or in a broadcasting medium. In addition, most information is disseminated in Spanish, leaving the indigenous population at a disadvantage; a situation that is only worsened by the

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levels of illiteracy that exist in the countryside. Taking all these factors into account, it is not surprising that radio broadcasting is currently the medium of communication with the largest penetration of the national market. This is precisely the medium selected in 2006 by the federal government to create a new national system of radio stations to link and communicate with the indigenous groups of the nation by providing cultural, educational, and practical information, sometimes in Spanish and quite often in Quechua, Aymara, and other original languages widely spoken in many rural areas of the country. In Bolivian history, the media has been used as a powerful tool linked to political elections and events. Given the turbulent periods of multiple governments and authoritative regimes, this practice has had both advantages and perils for the average population. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Bolivian government has certainly ﬁgured out the power of mass communication for political purposes, and it now owns a government-run newspaper (Cambio), a radio network (Red Patria Nueva), and a television channel (Televisio´n Boliviana) to deliver its own ofﬁcial message. As of 2010, several important organizations in Bolivia are intended to offer professional guidelines and to protect journalists and other professionals working on the press. Some of the most salient organizations are: • • • • • • • • • • •

Asociacio´n Nacional de la Prensa (ANP) Asociacio´n Nacional de Periodistas de Bolivia (ANPB) Asociacio´n Boliviana de Radiodifusores (Asbora) Asociacio´n de Corresponsales de la Prensa Internacional (ACPI) Asociacio´n de Periodistas de La Paz (APLP) Confederacio´n Sindical de Trabajadores de la Prensa de Bolivia (CFTPB) Confederacio´n de Trabajadores Radio y Televisio´n de Bolivia (CFTRTB) Federacio´n de Trabajadores de la Prensa de La Paz (FTPLP) Periodistas Asociados de Televisio´n (PAT) Reporteros Sin Fronteras/Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Sociedad Interamericana de la Prensa (SIP)

LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS From a legal perspective, the newest Constitution of Bolivia adopted in 2009 explicitly protects the freedom of expression and freedom of the press. More speciﬁcally, Article 16, Section II, clearly indicates that the state guarantees freedom of expression in all formats without censorship. Section III of the same article also guarantees that workers of the press have freedom of expression as well as the right to obtain and disseminate information. This section of the constitution certainly seems to follow on the footsteps of the

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international community regarding freedom of the press as a crucial pillar of a democratic society. The same 2009 constitution, however, also includes controversial aspects related to communications media. For example, Article 108 has generated tremendous opposition from multiple press organizations. More speciﬁcally, Section II of Article 108 states that “los medios de comunicacio´n social deben respetar los principios de veracidad y responsabilidad” (members of the press must respect the principles of truth and responsibility). The leaders of press organizations argue that these are two ethical and moral concepts, but that the government is trying to change them into legal categories punishable under the law. Therefore, six professional organizations related to the press (ANP, ANPB, APLP, ACPI, CFTPB, and FTPLP) have recently asked Congress to remove this clause from the new constitution.1 In their view, Article 108 violates the basic human right of freedom of expression. The fear is that a political ﬁgure would disagree with a journalistic story and accuse the reporter of lying, which then has legal consequences, and that this practice would eventually lead to censorship. PRINT MEDIA A historical review of the media in Bolivia reveals that the communications ﬁeld is closely linked to political events. During the 300 years of the Spanish colonial period (1520s–1820s), the production of printed media was almost nonexistent in the territory of Upper Peru. The ﬁrst commercial press arrived in Bolivia precisely in 1825, the year the territory achieved its independence from Spain. The development of a printed press in the form of continuing newspapers suffered a series of upstarts that were not entirely successful at the beginning. Since then, it has certainly been a long journey of hard work and innovation for journalists and newspaper editors. Newspapers

Since the arrival of the press to the cities of La Paz and Sucre in 1825, there were several publications in the form of religious leaﬂets and ofﬁcial announcements, but either they did not have a consistent publication date or they were not released in a continuing format. The ﬁrst well-organized newspaper published in Bolivia was titled El Diario; it was founded in 1904, with its ﬁrst ofﬁcial publication date on April 5 of that year. Its founder, Jose´ Carrasco Torrico, developed the daily journal that included coverage on politics, regional news, sports, and literary criticism. During the 1920s and especially the 1930s, it quickly grew into a paper of national coverage. The tutelage of the newspaper has always remained with members

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of the Carrasco family, including the editor-in-chief in 2010, Jorge Carrasco Jahnsen. The turbulent period of the 1930s did not lend itself to the establishment of new enterprises, including newspapers. However, the beginning of the following decade witnessed the emergence of several newspapers, most of which ´ ltima Hora was created in La Paz. In 1947, are still alive today. In 1939, U another two major dailies were established: La voz del pueblo and Presencia. The former follows a liberal perspective, and the latter has a strong Catholic point of view, which guides the type of conservative coverage they provide. As of 2010, Presencia is still one of the best-selling newspapers today, with a daily publication of 74,000 papers. It is released by the Roman Catholic clergy, who are actually very socially conscious and have used their newspapers to continuously advocate for social change in the country. The decades of the 1960s and 1970s were proliﬁc decades for the development of journalism in Bolivia. The newspapers Jornada and Hoy were established to cover updated news; Hoy was a morning-edition newspaper, and Jornada became a late-afternoon edition that provided coverage of the important news of the day that the morning newspapers could not offer. Bolivia also experienced an explosion of provincial or regional newspapers in the 1970s. Their goal was to provide more content about a speciﬁc region of the country, and to rely less on the news provided by national-edition papers from La Paz and Sucre. The regional press was monopolized in three cities: Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, and Oruro. Cochabamba produced what are perhaps the three most recognized regional newspapers: Cları´n, Los Tiempos, and Prensa Libre. Oruro’s editions took a more patriotic tone with daily journals such as La Patria. The city of Santa Cruz was already becoming an economic powerhouse in Bolivia, and its publications reﬂected its business orientation with El Comercio and El Deber. Even today, the former follows a business approach, and the latter takes an antagonistic position against the capital cities of La Paz and Sucre. Toward the end of the 1970s, the region of Santa Cruz already resented that it produced so much of the national income and revenues, yet it received only marginal help from the federal government. This feeling would only grow stronger in the following decades. At the beginning of the 21st century, Bolivia has at least 20 newspapers of national coverage. In keeping up with technology, they now all provide their content on the Internet as well. The printed media is mostly dominated by private owners who have strong connections to speciﬁc political parties. As such, each newspaper has a certain political bias that becomes more apparent during the period of regional and national political elections. They have used their publications to mobilize people and achieve electoral advantage. The two exceptions are the Presencia and El Cambio. The Presencia is still essentially

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run by the Catholic Church, and it may be the only newspaper that does not follow a speciﬁc political ideology in Bolivia. El Cambio, the ofﬁcial newspaper published by the federal government, was established in 2008 by President Evo Morales to be able to disseminate the ofﬁcial point of view advocated by government agencies. As of 2010, some of the most inﬂuential and popular daily-edition newspapers are: El Diario, La Prensa, El Cambio, El Mundo, Los ´ ltima Tiempos, El Potosı´, La Razo´n, La Patria, El Paı´s, El Nuevo Sur, Jornada, U Hora, Opinio´n, El Nuevo Dı´a, and El Deber. It is important to note that the overall circulation of newspapers in Bolivia is rather low; it averages about 65 readers for every 1,000 people. The potential explanations for these low rates of readership include: poverty rates, rural illiteracy levels, distribution problems, Spanish versus Andean languages, and the indigenous perception that the news does not reﬂect their needs or reality. National statistics reveal that almost 60 percent of the population lives below the poverty line; so, they likely will not spend their money in newspapers. Roughly 40 percent of the population lives in rural areas; so, they usually will obtain their news from radio programming. Almost 55 percent of the population is of indigenous background, and the country seriously lacks publications in their languages. There seems to be a very minimal effort to provide such a service, perhaps because it is not ﬁnancially proﬁtable. Bilingual Print Media

Despite the fact that almost 60 percent of the national population is of indigenous heritage and speak mostly Quechua or Aymara, there are surprisingly very few examples of printed information in those languages. Literacy is a basic requirement to be able to develop a wide readership of books and newspapers. Since just about all the newspaper publications are released in Spanish, a large percentage of the indigenous population, who do not always speak Spanish, is marginalized by a lack of updated information. Since the late 1990s, Bolivia has tried to attract foreign investment, but while being extremely cautious not to lose national territory or natural wealth. The result in the printed media has been the emergence of two new publications in English: Business News Americas and Red Bolivia International. They usually provide information on investment trends, trade, and tangible business logistics such as real estate, ofﬁce space, distribution companies, and service professionals such as accountants and lawyers. Cultural Magazines and Academic Journals

There seems to be a magazine dedicated to every human interest. Bolivia offers a large variety of cultural publications that cover contemporary topics such as music, arts, sports, economics, food, festivals, outdoor activities,

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entertainment, and travel. While an endless number of magazines are available, the main social and cultural publications can be separated into four categories: (1) magazines used as a regional reference for cultural events, (2) weekly magazines focused on economics, politics, and development concerns, (3) academic journals dedicated to literary and cultural analysis, and (4) magazines speciﬁcally designed to promote local tourism. The ﬁrst type includes Imagen, which offers a survey of articles and insightful reviews related to contemporary cinema; Tu Guı´a, which includes a comprehensive weekly guide to culture, ﬁlm, and music entertainment news; and Pulso, a weekly review focused on articles that highlight regional cultural values from a sociological and anthropological perspective. The second group comprises magazines and weekly editions of newspapers that focus on social issues. The main topics focus on politics, economics, and development. The most salient example of this type of publication is the Revista Boliviana de Economı´a Polı´tica, which was established in 1999. It summarizes the information on political events and articles that usually ﬁll the front page of most national and regional newspapers, then places those events in the context of social consequences such as (un)employment, social beneﬁts, and educational funding. It also includes articles on foreign, private, and government investing and the tangible results or consequences for the local population. It explains why certain investment and infrastructure projects might translate into actual jobs, environmental degradation, or even cultural issues related to language, education, and social events. Another popular weekly magazine in the politics/economics/social realm is titled Los Tiempos, but it is focused more on the regional area of Cochabamba; its electronic version on the Internet offers even more updated data and information with current events, but with a cultural twist on them. The third and fourth groups of magazine publications represent more of a social enterprise. The third group comprises journals focused on literary and artistic articles from an academic point of view. Trazos is a literary publication devoted to emerging authors, but focused mostly on poetry. It is organized and published by the union of writers from Santa Cruz. Encuentro is also an extremely popular cultural magazine that showcases local writers with short stories and poems, but it also serves as a reference source for regional cultural events available throughout the country. The fourth group of magazines is at the beginning stages of promoting Bolivian tourism to the world. The magazines Pasajero Turismo and Foto Bolivia offer the best visual guides to encourage tourism towards the lesserknown areas of the country, beyond La Paz and Lake Titicaca. However, Bolivia still has a long way to go to manage its tourism effectively. Its geographical position makes it difﬁcult to attract a large number of international visitors. Moreover, the National Agency of Tourism is still struggling on how

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to brand its natural and cultural assets. Part of the frustration is that Bolivia often gets overshadowed by its neighbors. It does not have the monumental ruins of Machu Pichu; it does have the ruins of Tiwanaku, but those ruins lack the impressive landscape around them that photography enthusiasts value so much. Bolivia does have a rain forest, but Brazil attracts most of the tourism for that natural attraction. Also, Bolivia has magniﬁcent glaciers, but Chile’s counterparts are much more accessible via cruise ships. There are two defunct publications that are often counted as newspapers and also as magazines. They offer an important historical contribution to the development of print media in Bolivia, especially in the city of Potosı´. Gesta Ba´rbara marked the genesis of literary criticism in Bolivia. This literary journal had two periods of publication (1918–1925 and 1948). Since its founders—Carlos Medinacelli and Gamaliel Churata—were both journalists, there is a tendency to label this publication as a newspaper. The general goal of this journal was to offer literary analysis of the avant-garde literature being produced at the time in Latin America. The articles published here offered the foundation for literary criticism for several generations to come. The other historical publication, Cro´nica Guaraya, also provides an important view to the society of the early 1900s. Cro´nica was created when, in 1896, a Franciscan father, Bernardino Peccioti, wrote a letter to a fellow friar. Then, he continued to write one letter a week, which then began to be printed weekly until 1915. The general principle was to publish the chronicles of a missionary journalist working in South America. His superiors ordered him to stop the publication due to a potential social conﬂict with the political elite of the period. Peccioti obeyed the orders, but he selected the best stories and published it in a book format. The Cro´nica Guaraya’s format resembled more a leaﬂet than a newspaper, but this publication certainly contributed toward the development of printed media in Bolivia. BROADCASTING MEDIA Radio

In 1897, Jose´ Clerc and Francisco Cerro took the initial steps towards achieving radio transmissions in Bolivia. They linked La Paz with two small towns, Mira Flores and Obrajes. The following two decades witnessed multiple inventions and technical advances regarding radio transmissions. The Catholic religious order of the Calixtinos Brothers at the San Calixto College experimented with radio operations, and by 1914, they already had equipment potent enough for transmissions between La Paz and Viancha with a distance of 35 kilometers (21.5 miles). The religious fathers Francisco Cerro and Pier Descotes built their own transmitter in 1922, which was designated as the very ﬁrst radio station in Bolivia, called Observatorio San Calixto; it received the

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ofﬁcial designation CP1AA. At a later time, this transmitter was donated to the Bolivian military during the Chaco War with Paraguay (1932–1935). There is, however, a dispute by the owners of Radio Chuquisaca, who claim that they were the original pioneers of radio transmissions in Bolivia. Despite their claim, national archive records show that their license was actually granted on September 29, 1928, and it received the designation CP1.2 The years from 1920 to 1940 marked important advances in radio broadcasting, and they were closely linked to Bolivian history. For example, the brothers Rodolfo and Enrique Costa founded Radio Nacional (designated as CPX) in 1927. This is known as the very ﬁrst commercial radio station in Bolivia. Two years later, this station sustained almost national reach, and President Hernando Siles used it to address the nation via radio on the Radio Nacional for the very ﬁrst time in Bolivian history on March 2, 1929. Ironically, this historic event of mass communication happened during the repressive regime of Hernando Siles, a president who shut down all the national newspapers because they were critical of his policies. The initial programming scheduled for Radio Nacional usually lasted only one hour a day. Part of the time was a news update lasting 30 minutes, in which the radio broadcasters read the latest news published on the daily newspapers of the time, like La Prensa and El Diario. Perhaps the next signiﬁcant improvement on communications was marked by the arrival of Radio Illimani (designated as CP4 and CP5), established in 1933. At the time, it had the most advanced technical equipment in South America. This station became immensely popular during the El Chaco War with Paraguay as it provided daily information to the general population. Two years after the war ended, the Bolivian government acquired the Radio Illimani station, and it continued to enlist extremely talented individuals such as Felipe Nery Loayza and Jose´ Marı´a Velasco Maydana, who incorporated musical and artistic programming into the radio transmissions.3 In 1939, the Jesuit priests played a crucial role in establishing an important and long-lasting institution in Bolivia: Radio Fides, based in the city of La Paz. This was a continuing effort by the Catholic orders to be involved in radio communications to propagate their message and address the needs of the masses of Bolivia. By the 1940s, radio programming already included news sections, musical shows and interviews, and even sport reports. A famous chronicler of the period was Mario Cucho, who reported live soccer games right from the soccer stadiums on behalf of Radio Illimani with his show “La verdad desde la cancha” (The Truth from the Sidelines). While radio transmission was becoming more enjoyable and entertainment-based for the general population, it also served as the main source of information regarding national and international affairs.

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Las Radios Mineras (Radio Stations Organized by Mining Workers)

Bolivia is the only country in South America where trade unions own a signiﬁcant number of radio stations. The story of the Bolivian miners’ unions and the radio stations they created is a tale of courage, resistance, and adversity. They often had to keep radio transmissions going just as they were also resisting military attacks on their facilities. The 1940s were years of brutal military regimes that eventually exploded as the Bolivian Revolution of 1952. The miners had been working for centuries producing Bolivia’s mineral wealth, and they wanted better conditions for themselves. They ﬁrst organized labor strikes, but those usually were immediately and brutally stopped. This was precisely the time when public protests were squashed by the government to avoid any type of dissent. It was during this turbulent time in 1946 that miners and teachers at the mines of Siglo Viente started to use clandestine radio frequencies to organize labor protests. They usually relied on rudimentary, homemade types of equipment to communicate and avoid government repression. This is a vivid example of how workers can utilize technology to organize their social struggle. The miners realized that the Indians’ strong oral traditions made radio messages a very effective manner of communication, even better than printed newspapers. This is how the Radios Mineras were created, and most of them lasted from 1947 to the 1980s. This could also be called “Radio of the Resistance,” because they operated illegally and under extreme constraints. In a short period of time, most mining centers were operating their own grassroots radio station. Their clandestine operations were often transmitted from inside mineral mines underground to avoid detection by the authoritative regimes. One relevant example of such Radios Mineras was San Jose´ Radio Nacional de Huanani. Their general goal was to provide radio transmission for the general population, and they were giving powerless people a voice. Their underground (literally) operations were hardly ever detected by the authoritative military governments of the time. There are two competing versions regarding the very ﬁrst of the Radios Mineras in 1947. They were, in fact, both established in the same year. One version proposes that Radio Sucre was the very ﬁrst of this type of radio stations located in the municipality of Cancan˜iri; its position was to provide information from a perspective that was based on the needs of workers and not the ofﬁcial economic news reported by the wealthy elite of the time, who were usually mine owners and metal exporters. The station was discovered by the military and destroyed only two years later during a regional civil war in 1949. The second version proposes that La Voz del Minero (The Miner’s Voice) was founded in Potosı´, a crucial mining area in Bolivia. Apparently, the original broadcasters were actually union leaders of mining workers.4

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When the Bolivian Revolution occurred in 1952, there were almost 20 Radios Mineras in operation. They reached their apogee in the early 1960s. Afterward, they became increasingly expensive to operate, and they did not really have corporate sponsors or advertising revenue to keep them aﬂoat. However, the mining industry declined tremendously since the late 1980s, and hundreds of mining workers were laid off as the government closed nonproﬁtable mines. Since union dues and ﬁnancial contributions by mining workers almost disappeared, most of the Radios Mineras had to close their doors. There are still ﬁve of them in operation, and they are mostly still owned and operated by mining-worker unions. As of 2010, the ones currently under operation are: La Voz del Minero, Libertad, Mina Santa Fe, 16 de Marzo, 21 de diciembre, Vanguardia, and Nacional de Huanani. These radio stations are still being managed, ﬁnanced, and staffed by unions of mining workers in Bolivia. Revolution (1952) and Political Radio

The Bolivian Revolution of 1952 brought to power the political party of the Movimiento Nacional Revolucionario (MNR). It quickly approved land reform, the nationalization of mines and oil ﬁelds, and the improvement of educational programs. It also established a new constitution with universal suffrage, giving everyone the right to vote without any limitations based on literacy, gender, or property ownership. The new government also mobilized its resources to establish new methods of delivering information, including the Instituto Cinematogra´ ﬁco Boliviano (ICB) and Radio Tupak Catari. The radio programming of this new venture took a populist approach by providing broadcasting of soccer games, popular music, and news reports relevant to the local population. It was transmitted via short wave, and it had a national reach. The other salient example of radio efforts of this period is Radio Unio´n, established in 1960. It was given that name because its goal was to create not a “super station,” but rather a chain of radio stations that would reach the entire national territory from the highest mountains, to the high valleys, and all the way down to the lowlands near Paraguay. Its main programming strategy was to offer popular music of the time, which included bolero trio music from famous groups such as Los Panchos and Los Cinco Latinos. Since the 1980s, it has become apparent that most radio stations have a political bias that reﬂects the preference of their owners and the regional position in regard to the federal government. Moreover, many radio stations actually now belong to communication conglomerates that also include a newspaper and even a television channel. Most of them line up their news coverage and opinions according to the political party with which they have

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allied themselves. Given this parochial approach by the privately owned radio stations, the federal government under the guidance of President Evo Morales recently questioned the accessibility to public radio programming that is not politically motivated, but rather aimed at improving the lives of the disadvantaged and poor population in the country. The result was the intervention of federal government agencies in 2006 to provide a balanced coverage of radio programming with a national reach. Sistema Nacional de Radios de los Pueblos Originarios (National Radio System for Indigenous Groups, 2006–2010)

National statistics indicate that, as mentioned earlier in this chapter, radio broadcasting is the medium of communication with the largest penetration of the national market in Bolivia. General surveys also indicate that 85 percent of the radio stations are privately owned, others have religious afﬁliations, and fewer than 7 percent actually deliver educational and cultural information. Furthermore, only a handful of attempts are ever made to deliver information in native languages other than Spanish, even when 55–60 percent of the population speaks an indigenous language. To address this discrepancy, indigenous groups (or pueblos originarios in the current Bolivian lingo) received wholehearted support from President Evo Morales to develop a new national system of radio networks intended to reach the isolated and rural areas of the nation. In 2006, an initiative was launched to deliver radio programming to peasant communities, original native populations, and social groups isolated in rural areas. The ﬁrst step was to install eight repeating stations in rural communities to relay the radio programming offered by the government-owned network Patria Nueva. The national network added two information services to their daily programming to be delivered in an array of indigenous languages, but mostly in Quechua and Aymara. The general content included national and regional news, plus notices on educational and cultural opportunities and events. The second step was to link the Patria Nueva network with another 50 allied stations to deliver additional radio programming in topics that ranged from sports, news, music, and entertainment. Then, in 2007, the third step included the installation of 24 new radio stations (14 AM and 10 FM) based on the target communities, with the goal to make them self-sustainable. One of the immediate goals was to have announcements of jobs available so that community members could directly beneﬁt from this information. The fourth step was implemented in 2007–2009; it consisted on providing additional training for managing, stafﬁng, and sustaining local stations, plus the professional technical training to maintain and repair the necessary equipment. For 2011–2012, the government plans to ﬁnish the installation of 82 radio

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stations in rural communities and in small cities in between them to provide adequate coverage nationwide. The general goal was to have radio stations that reﬂected the needs, concerns, and language of the local population. It seems that the effort has been tremendously successful. The report of all these accomplishments supported and funded by Morales’s government was timely released in 2009, when he was running for reelection. Needless to say, he was extremely popular among the indigenous groups and rural communities. After all, he delivered on his promise to improve their living conditions, if only in a marginal way. Contemporary Radio Stations

The four most active radio stations in the nation are Radio Panamericana, Radio Fides, Radio Estrella Cochabamba, and Patria Nueva. Radio Panamericana began in 1972. Its modern equipment, outstanding journalists, and contemporary music programming have made it a popular station with national reach, which makes it attractive for advertising accounts looking for a wide range of markets available. Its main channels of distribution are located in La Paz, Cochabamba, Beni, Potosı´, Oruro, Chuquisaca, Tarija, and Santa Cruz. Radio Fides is a radio network with at least 28 stations also distributed throughout the main cities of the country. In several regions, it actually owns several stations in the same city to address different populations and advertising markets. For example, in Sucre, there are two separate Fides venues: Radio Onda Joven reaches the younger population with more contemporary music, news, and entertainment information; and Radio Loyola S.R.L reaches out to a more conservative, older crowd with multiple newscasts emphasizing current events. Radio Estrella is based in Cochabamba, and it is the only radio station in the country to have had the Pope John Paul II as the person who ofﬁcially inaugurated the ﬁrst day of radio transmission in 1988. They were the ﬁrst station to offer 24-hour nonstop programming in Bolivia.5 The government-owned station network Red Patria Nueva has 16 stations throughout the country to deliver its ofﬁcial message. It is now also linked to the Sistema Nacional de Radios de los Pueblos Originarios, which offers radio programming to address the needs of indigenous groups, rural areas, and isolated communities. There is no doubt that tremendous advances in radio communications have occurred since the ﬁrst day in 1897 when Bolivia experienced the ﬁrst radio transmission. Since the beginning of the 20th century, a multitude of talented individuals have made the improvements on radio programming an increasingly popular product. It was also during the mid-1900s that Bolivia experienced the introduction of the telegraph and television.

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TELEVISION The genesis of television programming dates back to 1963, when the Bolivian government founded the Channel 7 network. It actually ﬂourished in 1969 right in the middle of a brutal dictatorship. While the original intent was to offer public television programming, Televisio´n Boliviana quickly became a political instrument used by several political leaders and dictators to reach the national population. However, those leaders also used it to combat dissent. For example, the government introduced television programming in several mining stations hoping to reduce the inﬂuence of the Radios Mineras. During the 1970s and early 1980s, there was a rapid growth of Televisio´n Universitaria. It relied on independent programming with the general purpose of providing educational materials on the air. The system quickly expanded to include eight regional channels. In 1979, General Garcı´a Meza took over the country, and his actions had serious consequences for the nascent television media. He placed military ofﬁcers in charge of the administration of all major universities. As a result, all the university television channels were controlled by the Minister of the Interior in Bolivia, and their programming was constantly censured. The country would spend 15 years looking at only one television channel (except for the limited range of university stations). In April 1984, private investors started to change the communications environment in Bolivia. The inﬂuential Pacen˜a de Televisio´n was one of the ﬁrst stations funded with private capital established in 1984. During that year, the country experienced an unexpected growth to 35 television channels, which then became much harder for the federal government to censure so many venues with so much material being broadcasted simultaneously. The sudden proliferation of new channels provided more choices to the consumer. By 1988, there were 35 private channels (18 of these were limited to urban areas, and another 17 channels attained only regional coverage). However, most of the programming continued to be concentrated on speciﬁc cities such as Santa Cruz, La Paz, and Cochabamba. During the decade of the 1990s, a trend towards monopolization of the media quickly occurred. The new national media conglomerates—including Garafulic, Kuljis, and Ferna´ndez—often include a corporate structure that owns radio stations, newspaper publications, combined with television stations. The three-pronged approach is often used for a massive assault of political opponents and to mobilize people into action, especially street protests, which are common social events in Bolivia. The result is that only a handful of companies obtain the lion’s share of the always-elusive advertising revenue in the nation. Consequently, university television stations cannot

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obtain government or private funding, and they have often shut their doors due to the chronic lack of funds. Cable Television

Cable service offered better reception than average television signals in the 1980s. During the early 1990s, cable companies enjoyed tremendous growth, but mostly in urban areas. Most cable venues actually provide very little original programming in Bolivia. Instead, they include a large number of foreign programs from the United States and other channels in Latin America, including: SUR Peru´, Telemundo from the United States, Televisio´n Dominicana, TV Venezuela, Wapa de Puerto Rico, TV Chile, Caracol from Colombia, Azteca Mexico, Telefe Internacional from Argentina, Ecuavisa from Ecuador, and Televisio´n Espan˜ola. The network Multivisio´n is the most common cable (or pay TV) available in the country. It offers roughly 65 channels based on the urban centers of Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, and La Paz, but it also provides programming to about 30 channels throughout the country. On the surface, there seems to be a vast choice of channels. However, after careful analysis, it becomes apparent that companies in Bolivia produce miniscule amounts of original programming. Most of their offerings are based on agreements with foreign companies to ﬁll the needs and interests of the Bolivian population. Perhaps the high rate of cable piracy (estimated to be over 80 percent) explains the reluctance of cable executives to invest in the creation and production of original programs. Since most media venues follow a political ideology, they are usually aligned with a speciﬁc political party in Bolivia. As a result, the Bolivian government is heavily criticized in most media formats. So, presidents such as Evo Morales have also turned to the use of mass communication for political purposes, and they make almost daily use of the government-run newspaper (Cambio), a radio network (Red Patria Nueva), and a television channel (Televisio´n Boliviana) to deliver their own ofﬁcial message. ELECTRONIC MEDIA The Internet has become an important tool for social communication. It facilitates professional work and research, and it connects people in different formats. In Bolivia, both government and private investment have generated a rapid explosion of internet communication networks. As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, according to the CIA World Factbook, in 2009, Bolivia had 105,031 Internet Service Providers (ISP), and almost 1 million users had access to the Internet as a major tool of communication. Even for people who cannot afford the purchase of a computer and pay for Internet

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service at home, there has been a recent proliferation of Internet cafes where people can have inexpensive access to online networks. FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AND POLITICAL TENSION Since the approval of the new Bolivian constitution in 2009, members of the press had a legitimate concern about the government’s position regarding freedom of expression. While Article 16 guarantees freedom of the press, Article 18 has been a point of contention between the federal government and journalistic organizations. Article 18 has, in fact, turned the moral principles of truth and responsibility into legal statutes punishable under the law. To this end, the state has since established in La Paz the Tribunal de Imprenta (Press Tribunal) to judge speciﬁc violations of “veracity and responsibility” and consequently established a juridical confrontation with the press. For example, La Prensa recently published an article in which it narrated the details of how President Evo Morales has ﬁled criminal charges and requested an investigation of several members of the press working at La Prensa, who had recently published a story about him and his alleged involvement in providing illegal government contracts.6 This was actually the second Press Tribunal convened in 2009. The ﬁrst suit was ﬁled by Senator Walter Gutieras against the newspaper Extra. The fear among members of the printed press, as well as their colleagues in radio and television, is that the new constitution will be used as a political weapon to intimidate journalists and newspaper editors. It is worth noting that such clauses of “veracity and responsibility” already exist under the ethics code of the journalism profession in Bolivia. Following Bolivian law, all journalists must hold a university degree in journalism or communications to work as members of the press. The degree allows them to subscribe to the Registro Nacional de Periodistas, or National Register of Journalists, which offers its own set of ethical rules and guidelines. Members of such an organization have already pointed out that the proposed law is not really a new revelation; it has already existed since 1926. In addition, there is already a Press Tribunal that sanctions unethical violations, but functions mostly as a self-regulating professional organization.7 This is very close to the way in which professional groups for lawyers and medical doctors already operate. The danger is that the Bolivian government is seeking to use the new constitution to establish legal and criminal offenses against members of the press for violations of “veracity or truth.” However, the proof of such veracity will be determined by a judge appointed by the government and not a civilian group or reviewers. The result has been an increasing tension between the Bolivian presidential ofﬁce and members of the Bolivian press. The country already has some of

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the toughest defamation laws in the continent, established in 1995 as part of the Bolivian Telecommunications Act. While newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and television networks can operate without censorship, the Bolivian Penal Code offers important restrictions. For example, members of the press found guilty of openly insulting, slandering, or defaming incumbent political ofﬁcials can end up in prison or forced to pay heavy ﬁnes for civil damages. Consequently, the Bolivian communications networks have to be extremely careful when making accusations of corruption and other irregularities in government functions. While journalists and members of the press certainly have a right to protest the new laws, there is another side to their story. The government often claims that these new restrictions are actually necessary to protect consumers (readers) from receiving a distorted truth that is based on speciﬁc agendas, political views, or economic interests. This is also not a new position that the government adopted all of a sudden. Recent studies have noted a considerable decline on the ability of Bolivian readers to trust and respect members of the press.8 According to Beltran’s research, almost 60 percent of Bolivian journalists interviewed acknowledged knowing a colleague who had received bribes or gifts to edit his/her story or not publish it altogether. The public is also somewhat tired of reading news that is motivated by political agendas to attack the opponents of a speciﬁc political party or candidate running for ofﬁce. Consequently, journalists have lost credibility and seriousness in the eyes of the Bolivian public. In 2002, renowned journalist Rau´l Pen˜aranda directed an extensive research project for the weekly newspaper La E´poca by polling 250 professional journalists and correlated the data with recent opinions of the public regarding the trustworthiness of the press. The motivation for the study was an apparent moral decline of ethical values in the press, which can lead to the publication of stories that cannot prove their truthfulness. Sometimes, the stories published are correlated to chasing the elusive amount of money tied to advertising, which provides the ﬁnancial lifeline to newspapers and magazines. The interesting results indicated that 53.7 percent of the Bolivian journalists polled declared that they had accepted a bribe in order to manipulate information on the stories they printed. In addition, they indicated that the money usually came from politicians, corporations, and workers’ unions. In addition, 65 percent of the journalists indicated that they personally knew of a colleague who had been bribed by a government ofﬁcial or a business owner.9 These studies offer considerable evidence that the Bolivian press is experiencing a moral deterioration that places into question their ability to be trusted by the public. Obviously, the ethical guidelines are being blurred in

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Bolivian journalism and communications media. The government is keenly aware of this position, since politicians are usually the targets of newspapers who like to point out their transgressions and inadequacies. According to John Enders, the relationship between President Evo Morales and the Bolivian press deteriorated even further in 2009. Since most daily newspapers usually point out the government shortcomings on their front pages, Morales has retaliated by refusing to even speak to the local media since January 2009. Even though this was a crucial year for national elections, all the presidential press conferences invited only members of the international press corps and prohibited the access of Bolivian journalists. 10 When formal announcements were needed, they were released via the Agencia Boliviana de Informacio´n (ABI), the ofﬁcial government news agency, which works in a similarly impartial manner as the Associated Press in the United States.

Presidential Palace in La Paz. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

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The president carried out most of his reelection campaign in 2009 by speaking in public places and relying heavily on the government-owned media outlets such as the state radio network Nueva Patria, their own newspaper Cambio, and the government’s television station Televisio´n Boliviana. He was reelected in December 2009 to serve another ﬁve years as president. It is apparent that the game of politics is no longer played on streets, plazas, or neighborhood doors; it takes place on the front page of newspapers, brief visits to radio stations, and in front of television screens. The role of the printed and broadcasting media has become a cornerstone of Bolivian politics. NOTES 1. “Organizaciones de prensa piden respeto a la libertad de espresio´n.” La Razo´n. October 10, 2008. 2. Ramiro A. Guerra Revollo, “Historia de la radio difucio´n en Bolivia.” December 11, 2006, 1, http://www.sabetodo.com/contenidos/EEyVlVZuppavwSOirC.php (accessed December 6, 2010). 3. Ibid., 3. 4. Alan O’Connor, “The Miner’s Radio Stations in Bolivia.” Journal of Communication, Winter 1990, 102–10. 5. Go´mez, Myriam. “La Historia de la Radio en Bolivia.” Sintonia DX. No. 1 Boletı´n de Bolivia DX Club, 1983, 1, http://www.pateplumaradio.com/south/ bolivia/cphistoria.htm (accessed December 6, 2010). 6. “Bolivia: Conﬁrman Tribunal de Imprenta en caso Evo Morales vs. La Prensa,” La Prensa, May 19, 2009. 7. Vero´nica Ormachea Gutie´rrez, “Por la libertad de expression,” La Razo´n, October 16, 2008. 8. Luis Ramiro Beltra´n Salmo´n, “La e´tica periodı´stica en Bolivia: situacio´n y perspectiva,” Sala de Prensa An˜o V, vol. 2 (February 2004). 9. Rau´l Pen˜aranda Undurraga, Retrato del periodista boliviano (La Paz, Bolivia: Centro Boliviano de Estudios Multidisciplinarios, 2002), 49. 10. John Enders, “Standoff between Evo Morales and Bolivian Media Outlets Escalates,” Miami Herald, May 6, 2009.

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6 Cinema

FOR OVER 100 YEARS, Bolivian ﬁlmmakers have struggled with the task of portraying a true national identity. Their inexorable quest deals with attempting to illustrate on the big screen what it means to be Bolivian in a pluralistic society. For nearly a century, ﬁlmmakers have been almost obsessed with addressing the plight of the Indians in Bolivia. This indigenismo (indigenous-oriented approach) is part of a movement that was also reﬂected in literature, music, and the arts throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Since ﬁlm directors have been the driving force behind a cinematography industry in Bolivia, it is not surprising that directors are far more famous than actors or actresses themselves. For example, ﬁlm critics usually focus much more on the virtues of the ﬁlm director than on the performance of the protagonists of the movie. Film lovers in the United States have not yet truly discovered the valuable gems of Bolivian contemporary ﬁlms. For most Americans, there are perhaps two ﬁlms that somehow are related to Bolivian characters, geography, or themes: Stand and Deliver, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The ﬁrst ﬁlm illustrates the life of Jaime Escalante (1930–2010), a Bolivian-born mathematician who taught advanced calculus and mathematics to high school students in the low-income area of East Los Angeles. The role of Escalante as an educator was immortalized by actor Edward James Olmos. The latter ﬁlm featured Robert Redford and Paul Newman as two western outlaws who ﬂed to Bolivia. While the adventures of these two North American bandits are well known in South America, it is not entirely clear how much information is historically accurate and how much is now a folklore legend.

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GENERAL BACKGROUND As expected, the development of the Bolivian ﬁlm industry has corresponded with important historical and political events. When reviewing the trajectory of the national ﬁlm genres, it is also important to take into account the economic realities of this Andean nation. Since the early 1900s, a long list of talented individuals has participated in the creation of documentaries, comedies, thrillers, dramas, and even occasional animated ﬁlms. While there is a wealth of artistic creativity in Bolivia, ﬁlmmaking projects have gone through stages that include high levels of production followed by steep declines due to crippling economic conditions or repressive military regimes. Since the beginning of the 1930s, and up until today, one of the most signiﬁcant challenges for the Bolivian ﬁlm industry has been the complicated process of achieving appropriate ﬁlm distribution channels. An additional obstacle has been that the number of movie theaters available nationwide has diminished drastically in the last 20 years. The business aspect of movie making—together with competition from television, cable, and piracy—has made modern ﬁlms almost nonproﬁtable ventures in Bolivia. In addition, most of the distribution market is actually dominated by Hollywood ﬁlms that are either dubbed or subtitled in Spanish. The only hope for Bolivian cinema is that national ﬁlms can triumph in the international markets; this effort has been moderately successful since the 1990s, but became increasingly more viable at the beginning of the 21st century. For example, several recent Bolivian ﬁlms such as Zona Sur (Southern District) released in 2009 have been shown abroad and have received important awards in international venues like the Sundance Film Festival in the United States. THE SILENT PERIOD (1904–1930) The genesis of Bolivian cinematography developed very slowly. Filming camera and equipment arrived in Bolivia in 1897, but it was not until 1904 that the ﬁrst ﬁlm ventures were actually shot in Bolivia. These original silent ﬁlms were titled Retrato de Personajes Histo´ricos y de Actualidad (A View of Historical and Modern-Day People); it was limited to showcasing the incumbent government ﬁgures of the time. In 1907, the ﬁlming company called El Bio´grafo Olimpo released a short ﬁlm documentary that showed how the newly elected National Congress took ofﬁce. By 1912, director Luis Castillo began a series of short ﬁlms that no longer focused on political ﬁgures. Instead, he turned his attention to common community activities, such as local parades, religious celebrations, and even pleasant walks among central squares and plazas. The decade of the 1920s witnessed the transition from documentaries to full-length silent ﬁlms. First, on July 14, 1925, Pedro Sambarino directed

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Corazo´n Aymara´ (Aymara’s Heart), the ﬁrst complete feature ﬁlm created in Bolivia. Both Sambarino and his producer, Rau´l Ernst, were inﬂuenced by the indigenista movement prevalent at the time in most literary and artistic media. So, it is not surprising that their ﬁlm illustrated native-like settings displaying the natural beauty of the Altiplano regions of Bolivia. Another full-length feature ﬁlm released in 1926, La Gloria de la raza (The Glory of Our People), was also a silent ﬁlm designed with a pedagogical purpose regarding the indigenous heritage of the nation. This work reﬂected the research of the widely recognized anthropologist Arturo Posnansky, who had meticulously studied Andean cultures up until the Tiwanaku period. The ﬁlm itself no longer exists; the only evidence left is the brochures with photos and text of the main themes. At this point, all cinematography efforts did not yet translate into ﬁnancially worthy ventures. However, that all changed in 1929. The ﬁlm Wara Wara, released in 1929–1930, became a runaway box-ofﬁce success. It also changed the direction of the indigenous-oriented ﬁlm narrative. The accomplished director Velasco Maidana projected a plot based during the period of the Spanish conquest of South America. At the time, this was the most ambitious cinematography project even undertaken in Bolivia in terms of investment, the use of costumes, shooting locations, and most of all, the people involved in acting and generally recruited to contribute to the ﬁlm. Velasco was able to galvanize the talent of the acclaimed poet Guillermo Viscarra Fabre, the famous painter Arturo Borda, and even the sculpture artist Marina Nu´nez. The main actors were extremely popular public ﬁgures such as Juanita Tallansier and Emmo Reyes. Wara Wara also had a tremendous inﬂuence on the future of ﬁlmmaking projects in Bolivia. It affected everyone in the ﬁlm crew, including actors, technicians, distributors, logistics personnel, and many others. These crew members would become crucial players in the Bolivian cinema industry during the next two decades. TECHNOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL ADVANCES (1930–1970) The decade of the 1930s marked the beginning of technological innovations in Bolivia, and it prompted the intervention of the federal government to support the ﬁlm industry. La historia de la decadencia Aymara (The Story of the Declining Aymaras), released in June 1933, was the ﬁrst ﬁlm with sound produced in Bolivia. According to the Consejo Nacional de Cine, or CONACINE, the ﬁlm was a collection of scenes shot during the previous decade, reorganized on a new sequence and adopted to a storyline with sound. The Teatro Municipal in La Paz was the ﬁrst location to show such ﬁlms with sound. This theater is a cultural institution that is still very much alive today

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Teatro Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho in Sucre. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

with cultural performances, ﬁlm viewing, theater plays, and dance competitions. Another important venue for cinema and ﬁlm festivals is the Teatro Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho in the city of Sucre. It is a midsize theater built with a neoclassical exterior and an opulent interior that used to house the city opera. Nowadays, it has an ambitious year-round repertoire that includes concerts, poem readings, play productions, and international ﬁlm festivals. The technical advances related to incorporating sound onto ﬁlms did not evolve dramatically since its inception in 1930. For a few years, the industry tried different methods to improve the quality of sound to be delivered as part of the moviegoing experience and to capture the interest of the audience. The movie theaters themselves also experimented with various sound systems that did not seem to improve much during that decade. Ironically, the ﬁrst ﬁlm with sound also had an adverse effect on the cinematography industry of Bolivia. For example, it deeply affected the companies that specialized in developing ﬁlm, it inﬂuenced how directors did the montage of movie scenes, and it also determined how the motion pictures were edited. Overall, it seemed to hurt most of the businesses in charge of processing the ﬁlm because they could not incorporate the sound technology right away. Consequently, most of the ﬁlm production came almost to a complete halt for about 10 years.

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During this slow period of production, however, extremely important events also took place behind the scenes. For example, in 1947, the company Bolivian Films was established by an American called Kenneth Wasson. It was here that Jorge Ruiz, perhaps the most salient documentary ﬁlmmaker in Bolivia, was able to develop his skills and innovative techniques. A year later, he met Augusto Roca, a highly talented technical director. These two ﬁlmmakers created a bond that would eventually turn them into icons of Bolivian cinema for the next few decades. Another technical innovation in 1949 created renewed optimism for the ﬁlm industry in Bolivia. That year, Alberto Perrı´n Pando directed the ﬁlm Nacio´ un imperio (An Empire Was Born), which was the ﬁrst full-length feature ﬁlm shot in color. He collaborated closely with both Augusto Roca and Jorge Ruiz on this project. The ﬁlm was shot around the scenic Lake Titicaca and its islands, especially the Isla del Sol. The main goal was to project the origins of the Inca Empire. The ﬁlm enjoyed only moderate success, mostly due to the social concerns of the time. From a general point of view, this was a period of social upheaval that would culminate with the Bolivian Revolution of 1952. The year after the revolution, the new government in power from the MNR (Movimiento Nacional Revolucionario) political party created the Instituto Cinematogra´ﬁco Boliviano (ICB) in 1953. It was the ﬁrst attempt by the federal government to support creative projects to develop the national ﬁlm industry. The ICB lasted until 1968, and it supported projects of great magnitude and inﬂuence. For example, in 1953, Jorge Ruiz worked on a short ﬁlm titled Vuelve Sebastiana, or Sebastiana Returns. The director showed respect, eloquence, and historical accuracy while narrating the harsh lifestyle of the Chipaya Indians. It was the very ﬁrst Bolivian ﬁlm to earn an international award for Best Documentary at the SODRE Film Festival in Montevideo, Uruguay. According to CONACINE, a coalition of ﬁlm directors, movie critics, and cultural experts recently declared Vuelve Sebastiana as the most important motion picture in the history of Bolivian cinema. In 1966, another brilliant director, Jorge Sanjine´s, directed the ﬁrst ﬁlm in the Aymara language, Ukamau; it was produced with funds from the ICB. The storyline focused on the abusive practices of inﬂuential mestizos (half Indian and half European) toward the indigenous Bolivian population. The main topic of discrimination certainly touched a nerve on the social conditions of the time. During this ﬁlm, Sanjine´s experimented by including actors who had theatrical experience and incorporated them into motion pictures, something that was simply not done at the time. It resulted in the positive transition of future protagonists like Marcelino Yanahuaya and Ne´ stor Paredo from theater stages onto the big screen. Both Yanahuaya and Paredo

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would become recognizable talented actors in the ﬁlm industry. Jorge Sanjine´s would also become one of the most proliﬁc and inﬂuential ﬁlm directors in the history of Bolivia. However, in 1968, the federal government shut down the ICB, and it created channel 7 in television, completely ending the only ofﬁcial support for the ﬁlm industry in this Andean nation. FILMMAKING DURING MILITARY REGIMES (1970S AND 1980S) The decades of the 1970s and 1980s witnessed great political turmoil in Bolivia. There were several coups d’e´tat, deposed presidents, counter coups, and several military regimes that were notorious for human rights violations. For example, the period from 1978 to 1982 was one of the most chaotic stages of Bolivian history since its independence. During these ﬁve years, Bolivia had nine presidents, only two of whom were constitutionally approved; the other seven leaders were simply considered to be de facto presidents. While there were some economic advances during this period, most branches of government were often accused of corruption and economic mismanagement. In addition, the 1980s is also the period when narcoticstrafﬁcking become more organized and prevalent in the nation. Regional politicians were often accused of being linked to cocaine trafﬁcking. This tumultuous period in history was a mixed blessing for the ﬁlmmaking industry. Overall, the government funded an increased infrastructure aimed to improve the quantity and quality of ﬁlms shot in Bolivia. However, these benevolent gestures also came with increased repression tactics against many artists, writers, and ﬁlmmakers. For example, director Jorge Sanjine´s was forced to emigrate from Bolivia in 1973 when Juan Jose´ Torrez was deposed after a successful coup d’e´tat orchestrated by one of Bolivia’s most notorious dictators, General Hugo Banzer Sua´rez. Sanjine´s received political asylum in Peru, where he continued to work on ﬁlms like El enemigo principal (The Main Enemy). His exile from Bolivia changed his craft in a meaningful way: he now had a different audience in mind. Instead of making ﬁlms and documentaries about the indigenous peasant population, now he made motion pictures for them as his main target audience. On the other side, starting with the 1970s, there was a general concern in Bolivia to rescue the previous ﬁlm heritage that had not been archived anywhere in the nation. The 1980s was also a decade in which the government offered tangible support, as illustrated by the solidiﬁcation of legal and ﬁnancial aspects of creative and artistic work in Bolivia. For example, the Cinemateca Boliviana was established in 1976 to rescue the audiovisual materials that had been lost and to promote the development of new full-feature ﬁlms. That

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same year, the municipality of La Paz established the Premio Co´ndor de Plata (Silver Condor Prize) to recognize the work done on short musical ﬁlms. The period of political repression sparked the genesis of a new wave of ﬁlmmaking in Latin America. During the 1970s and 1980s, authoritative governments (including dictatorships, death squads, military restrictions, and repression of social movements) developed not only in Bolivia, but also in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. The new artistic trend became known as Cine Posible (Possible Film Making). The tangible product was a ﬁlm that would still include a critical view of society, but without being too obvious so as to make sure the ﬁlm was not censured and it still could be shown to the public. There were three shining examples of this new strategy in Bolivia. First, Antonio Eguino released the ﬁlm Chuquiago in 1977 with Paolo Agazzi as the assistant director. The new approach seemed to have worked; the ﬁlm was a notable ﬁnancial success with the public. Surprisingly enough, the military regime of Hugo Banzer supported the movie and insured wider distribution than usual, even when the ﬁlm included a veiled critique of authoritarian rulers. Following a safer topic, director Jorge Guerra Villalba released El embrujo de mi tierra (My Enchanted Land) in the same year. His general goal was to show the geographic beauty of multiple locations around the country and narrate the highlights of Bolivian history, but without being too critical. In addition, director Jorge Ruiz delivered a documentary titled El clamor del silencio (The Strength of Silence), which addressed a very emotional subject in Bolivian history: the loss of access to the Paciﬁc Ocean after the War of the Paciﬁc with Chile. Ruiz produced this ﬁlm to commemorate the 100th anniversary since Bolivia had lost the war. While the documentary is often claimed to be one of Jorge Ruiz’s best work, critics also claim that it was used by the government to appeal to the popular nationalism and to distract the masses from the bigger problems that the country was facing at the time. The decade of the 1980s brought to Bolivia yet another crisis, in the form of an economic tsunami. During this period, one particular director, Paolo Agazzi, emerged as a proliﬁc ﬁlmmaker to illustrate the economic struggles of the general population. He was born in Motta, Italy, and he settled in Bolivia in 1975. He had already collaborated as an assistant director and in technical roles in previous ﬁlms with other Bolivian directors. However, in 1979, he wrote, directed, and edited his ﬁrst documentary ﬁlm. So, in 1980, he broke out on his own and delivered Hilario Condori Campesino (Hilario Condori the Peasant), a short ﬁlm narrating the difﬁcult lives of indigenous peasants who migrate to the big cities like La Paz and Santa Cruz in search of a better economic life. Only two years later, Agazzi released his ﬁrst full-length feature ﬁlm, Mi socio (My Partner), which highlighted

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the landscape of Bolivia by using a truck driver as the focal point. While this approach had been used many times in Bolivia, Agazzi’s ﬁlm provided an important contribution to the Bolivian consciousness. He went beyond the Aymara and Quechua territories traditionally covered by most ﬁlm directors, and he showed the economic difﬁculties and the harsh life of other indigenous groups often forgotten by both the government and the general population. The worst economic crisis of the country arrived in 1984; annual inﬂation increased at a rate of roughly 24,000 percent. These economic conditions sparked protests and marches from organizations such as the Central Obrera Boliviana (Central Bolivian Organization for Factory Workers), which were brutally repressed by the government. Paolo Agazzi was anxious to tell a story based on different economic conditions simultaneously coexisting in the country. So, adapting the Gaby Vallejo novel Hijo de Opa, he released the ﬁlm Los hermanos Cartagena (The Cartagena Brothers) in 1985. The ﬁlm uses two brothers as protagonists of the story to narrate the main economic events that occurred in the country since the Bolivian Revolution in 1952 to the middle of the 1980s. As the plot develops, key scenes and characters represent how the interests of speciﬁc social and economic groups in Bolivia have evolved over this period of three decades. While the story line was well done, Agazzi incorporated too many violent scenes that seemed to have been rejected by the public. As a result, ﬁlm critics quickly gave the movie negative reviews, and it was not widely viewed. Nevertheless, Agazzi ﬁnished the decade of the 1980s looking for other projects. In the meantime, the devastating effects of the economic crisis in Bolivia led to a reduced power of acquisition when people used the national currency. As a result, fewer Bolivians spent money on leisure activities like movies, and instead ﬂocked to television channels and cable for entertainment, while the piracy industry also ﬂourished. CONTEMPORARY FILMS IN BOLIVIA The decade of the 1990s generated further interest in ﬁlmmaking, government funding, and the need of entertainment for the masses. From a legal framework, the Bolivian Congress approved La Ley General del Cine (Law 1302) in 1991 to offer support and coordinate the process of ﬁlm development, locations, copyrights, etc. As a follow-up step in 1992, after Law 1302 was implemented, the government established the Consejo Nacional del Cine, or CONACINE, to offer legal and artistic representation to the industry. Moreover, the agency established a monetary fund to encourage ﬁlm projects via the Fondo de Fomento Cinematogra´ﬁco, or FFC (FilmMaking Monetary Fund). Their goal was to lend money to Bolivian projects

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to ﬁlm, edit, distribute, and release ﬁlms in the country. They usually provided matching funds, depending on the project. As it turned out, the ﬁrst call for projects offered by the FFC in 1995 exceeded all expectations. Moreover, the proposals were of high quality and seemed to have tangible goals and a sound business plan. The result was something that had never happened in Bolivia: the release of ﬁve full-length ﬁlms within the same year. The ﬁrst ﬁlm was Viva Bolivia toda la vida (Viva Bolivia for Ever), where director Carlos Me´rida tried to capture the national pride of Bolivia’s soccer team and its qualiﬁcation to the Soccer World Cup in 1994 to be held in the United States. Unfortunately, the ﬁlm was not well received by the public. Second, ﬁlmmaker Jorge Sanjine´s created a sense of suspense regarding the release of his ﬁlm Para recibir el canto de los pa´jaros (To Hear the Bird’s Song), which narrated the brutal clash of cultures (Spanish and Indigenous) that occurred during the Spanish Conquest. Next, director Juan Carlos Valdivia addressed a more contemporary topic in his ﬁlm Jonas y la ballena rosada (Jonas and His Pink Whale). The plot was set during the 1980s, and it illustrates the customs and contradictions of newly rich people in Santa Cruz, and how they ironically became wealthy during the worst economic recession in history. While the ﬁlm was extremely successful in the province of Santa Cruz, the rest of the nation basically ignored it. A couple of months later, the ﬁlm Cuestio´n de fe (Matters of Faith) was extremely well received by the general public. This was director Marcos Loayza’s ﬁrst ﬁlm. It shows the adventures of three friends who drive an old pickup truck (baptized as Ramona) to the Yungas region to deliver the statue of a virgin that had been commissioned by a drug dealer. While their experiences seem similar to other “scenic” ﬁlms, Loayza introduced new concepts such as comedy and suspense; these elements had never been used before in Bolivian cinema within the context of a general drama. In addition, the ﬁlm was completed within an extremely tight budget without sacriﬁcing quality. It also obtained several international awards and recognition, including Best Foreign Film at the San Juan Cinema Festival in Puerto Rico; Best Film in Salamanca, Spain; Best Drama in the Festival de Cine de Cartagena, Colombia; and Best Script at the Biarritz Film Festival in France. Not surprisingly, Cuestio´n de fe became one of the most successful Bolivian ﬁlms at the box ofﬁce. All these awards opened additional doors for Loayza, who directed his second ﬁlm in Argentina, Escrito en el agua (Written on Water). Close to the end of 1995, the last ﬁlm supported by the FFC was released; it was simply titled Sayariy. This was the only documentary done by a female director: Mela Ma´rquez. Her short ﬁlm dealt with the ritual ceremonies called tinku that indigenous groups in northern Potosı´ perform every year. She embedded the use of poetry for a different stylistic effect in her ﬁlm. While it was generally well accepted, it

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certainly did not translate into enough of an economic success to even recover the cost of production or to pay back the loan to the FFC. Since the 1990s, several contemporary ﬁlms have explored the concept of religion in Bolivia. The recent pictures Los Andes no creen en Dios (The Andes Do Not Believe in God), Cuestio´n de fe (Matters of Faith), Corazo´n de Jesu´s (Sacred Heart), and ¿Quie´n mato´ a la llamita blanca? (Who killed the White Little Llama?) have all made religion a key feature of the storyline. The directors use their ﬁlms to question, negate, ponder, or even reafﬁrm the Catholic Church and its actions. However, the last ﬁlm certainly takes an accusatory tone to denounce the actions of both the individual priests and the church as an institution. However, while the directors use their cinematography skills to generate a dialogue regarding church values, they all present those values within a context of social tolerance. CINEMA IN THE 21ST CENTURY Bolivian ﬁlmmakers have to face new challenges in the 21st century. First, they continue working during a period of economic scarcity in Bolivia. Second, they are facing new technical complexities of ﬁlming in Dolby stereo and increasingly using more and more digital media. Third, directors now are looking at international markets to obtain recognition, validation for their work, and enough economic success to make their ﬁlms ﬁnancially viable. These challenges can certainly be converted into opportunities, but many others—such as the use of digital technology—incur additional costs, equipment, and training. Another apparent complication, according to Vero´nica Co´rdoba (2007), is that the issue of portraying a national identity in ﬁlm has not really been accomplished, even after 100 years of working to achieve such a goal. At the beginning of the 21st century, Bolivia experienced an extremely proliﬁc period in cinematography, which is often reﬂected in ﬁlm festivals. For example, the city of Santa Cruz has become a strong supporter of this artistic pursuit. In 2011, it organized the XII Festival Iberoamericano de Cine de Santa Cruz. Being exposed to international cinema in Spanish has helped Bolivian cinematographers and support personnel to develop quality projects in the last decade. Some of the most recent and acclaimed Bolivian ﬁlms are included in Table 6.1. Many of these ﬁlms have accomplished national recognition and even foreign accolades. For example, Zona Sur (Southern District) won two crucial awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival: the Best World Cinema Screenwriter Award and the World Cinema Best Directing Award in the Dramatic Genre. Another successful Bolivian ﬁlm was the release of La u´ltima jugada

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Table 6.1 Recent Titles of Bolivian Films Title

Director

Year

Alma y el viaje al mar (Alma and Her Trip to the Ocean)

Diego Torrez

2002

Los hijos del u´ltimo jardı´n (The Children of the Last Garden)

Jorge Sanjine´s

2004

Corazo´n de Jesu´s (Sacred Heart)

Marcos Loaysa

2004

Margaritas negras (Black Daisies)

Claudio Araya

2005

El clan (The Clan)

Sergio Calero

2006

¿Quie´n mato´ a la llamita blanca? (Who Killed the White Little Llama?)

Rodrigo Bellot

2006

El estado de las cosas (How Things Are)

Marcos Loaysa

2007

Rojo amarillo verde (Red Yellow Green)

Sergio Bastani, Martin Boulocq, and Rodrigo Bellot

2009

Zona Sur (Southern District)

Juan Carlos Valdivia

2009

En busca del paraı´so (In Search of Paradise)

Miguel Cha´vez

2010

La u´ltima jugada (The Last Play)

Paz Padilla

2010

Copacabana

Fernando Martı´nez and Susana Lira Fernando Martı´nez

2011

Cuando los hombres se quedan solos (When Men Are Left Alone)

2011

(The Last Play). This is a tragic comedy (a genre little explored in Bolivian cinematography) dealing with the topic of cancer and how it touches an entire family. The movie was released in 2010 in the capital cities of all the nine departments (states) in Bolivia. It quickly received favorable reviews from critics, and it became a ﬁnancial success, even though it competed with the local release of other Hollywood ﬁlms at the same time. All the recent international success has certainly brought attention to the creative talent of Bolivia. However, in 2007, local ﬁlm critic Vero´nica Co´rdoba warned of the danger of trying to please the foreign markets. The problem is that directors no longer make ﬁlms for Bolivian audiences who are still unclear about what it means to be Bolivian in a pluralistic society. In her opinion, the movie-making process for international markets often standardizes the script, dilutes the original content, and forces directors to hire foreign actors, and the result is often a cheap imitation of Hollywood ﬁlms. Even though her opinion is certainly valid, it seems that the modern trend in a global cinematography is to actually search for universal themes that appeal to a wider

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audience who can relate to the stories on the big screen, regardless of their nationality or social condition. Perhaps the time to cater to the indigenous population of Bolivia has transcended from the indigenismo movement of the 1930s–1960s into a more universal ﬁlmmaking experience that can engage a wider population in Bolivia, including the indigenous peasants. ECONOMIC REALITY Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, and the movie theater experience is essentially an urban recreational activity. While cities such as Santa Cruz, La Paz, Sucre and Cochabamba have several state-of-the-art multiplex cinemas, small towns and isolated communities usually do not have a single movie theater in town. On top of that, almost 100 percent of the ﬁlms in Bolivia are done in Spanish. Consequently, since almost 60 percent of the population speaks another language as a mother tongue, this massive group has to watch ﬁlms on a second language of which often they do not have a good command. As a result, they are marginalized, since they do not necessarily always enjoy the experience of a ﬁlm as a distraction or social activity. Co´rdoba’s 2007 study shows that the number of movie theaters in Bolivia has diminished signiﬁcantly. In 1984, there were 240 movie houses; by 2001, the number had already been reduced to only 40; even worse, by 2006, there were only 25 movie theaters or multiplexes left, in an entire country the size of Spain and France combined. Co´ rdoba attributes the decline in actual movie buildings to the fact that making ﬁlms in Bolivia is most certainly a nonproﬁtable venture. Part of the problem might be that local ﬁlm directors have often alluded to national themes that are not relevant outside of Bolivia, so they do not collect much in foreign screenings. Within the country, the purchasing power of most Bolivians has also diminished due to economic austerity measures and lack of good-paying jobs. Moreover, modern factors have also contributed to the low attendance to movie releases: the competition from television programming, cable shows and movies, and a rampant piracy of illegal ﬁlms sold on the street. It is commonplace for people to buy bootlegged copies of the latest ﬁlms right on the streets for less than US$1. The vendors even have DVD players on site to give customers a demonstration of the good-quality material they sell. The result is that a large number of movie theaters have simply closed their doors throughout the nation. They are just not a proﬁtable business venture or investment. The federal government has tried two speciﬁc programs to alleviate the economic perils of movie making and ﬁlm distribution in Bolivia. First, they established the Fondo de Fomento Cinematogra´ﬁco, or FFC (Film Making Support Fund). Their goal is to lend money to Bolivian projects to ﬁlm, edit,

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distribute, and release ﬁlms in the country. They usually provide matching funds, depending on the project. However, since most ﬁlmmakers have not turned a proﬁt in their latest ventures, the FFC has not been paid back, and they are now an ofﬁcial government agency with a lofty purpose but no funds to support it. The second venture, the Red de Microcines in Bolivia (The Small-Movie-Theater Network), was launched in 2009 and might prove to be practical and economically viable. The ofﬁcial founder was the Centro Cultural Yaneramai in El Alto, near La Paz. The founders brought on board the national association of Consejo Nacional del Cine (CONACINE), the Municipal School of the Arts in El Alto, the Peruvian organization Grupo Chaski, and over a dozen ﬁlm directors from around the world. Their goal is to bring cultural, educational, and entertainment ﬁlms to communities currently not served by a movie theater. The microcines (small movie theaters) also have a practical side. To obtain a franchise, local individuals or organizations can apply to the main headquarters in El Alto, Bolivia. Then, they would be guided as to how to turn a small business space into a business venture that is actually ﬁnancially viable. Moreover, it can generate a family patrimony as well as create a small number of jobs throughout the nation, especially in rural communities. The people interested in this venture would receive government funding and training on how to run a small business. It would take at least three to ﬁve years to see if this program is successful. As they say in Bolivia, “Ya veremos” (We’ll see).

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7 Performing Arts: Music, Dance, and Theater

BOLIVIANS have a rich history of creative expression. Performing arts like music, dance, and theater have been a part of the national social fabric for centuries. Contemporary festivals and parades incorporate traditions that blend elements of pre-Columbian cultures, Inca rituals, European heritage, African rhythms, and even Amazonian inﬂuence. This rich tapestry has contributed to unique musical sounds, well-choreographed dances, dramatic performances, intriguing literary plots, and the development of original musical instruments that have permeated the harsh living conditions in the Andes. Of all the South American nations located along the Andes Mountains, Bolivia’s musical traditions are the most rooted in their indigenous past. However, the current appreciation and value placed on indigenous heritage was the result of the 1952 revolution, which created cultural awareness about the native populations, especially the Quechua and Aymara groups. To promote this recent cultural pride, the Ministry of Education actually developed a folklore department that still showcases the rich national cultural heritage. Perhaps the most well-known displays of musical celebrations are the famous Carnivals that take place throughout Bolivia; they represent a blend of music and dance that offer a vision of the past but are ﬁrmly embraced in contemporary culture. In addition, musical traditions and celebrations within Bolivia reﬂect regional differences. For example, the warm area of Tarija expresses a celebratory mode marked by almost tropical rhythms, but the desolate locations of the Altiplano reveal soulful and almost mourning

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melodies. The variety of musical styles and sounds within Bolivia represent a rich cultural patrimony. MUSIC The music of the Andes Mountains has been inﬂuenced, molded, and adapted by historical events. While the label of “Inca Music” is used in a general sense, it is erroneous because this type of folk music is actually a blend of cultural, racial, and ethnic mixing. It combines musical instruments and dance patterns that were used centuries before the Incas, but it also incorporates Spanish and African inﬂuences. Consequently, to better understand Bolivia’s folk music, it is best to view it along an evolution continuum. Andean Folk Music in Bolivia

The unique sound of Andean folklore music is based mostly on the salient features of wind and percussion instruments. The use of different ﬂutes and drums used in the Andes area have been found and dated to periods not only before the Europeans, but even predating the arrival of the Incas to the region (1200–1500 CE). Actually, archeological excavations in the ruins of Tiwanaku have revealed that musical instruments in the Andean highlands were being played well before the birth of Christ.1 These ﬁndings, together with written records, reveal that Andean music was strictly instrumental in its original form, and it did not have any vocal arrangements. The arrival of the Europeans (mostly Spanish) in the 1500s introduced new musical instruments to the Bolivian scene, especially various types of string variations such as violins, guitars, harps, and mandolins. It also introduced a new form of musical notation, which was completely new to the area called Upper Peru at the time. These new instruments were quickly adapted in the regions that are now the highlands of Argentina, Peru, Chile, and Bolivia. They were then incorporated to the existing music of the Andes. The level of adaptation was so incredibly rich that it even prompted the creation of a brand new instrument to reﬂect the needs of both European tastes and local indigenous soulful sounds. The result was the creation of the charango, a small 10-stringed instrument descended from the lute and traditionally made in parts of Bolivia with the shell of an armadillo. This became Bolivia’s national instrument, so much so that now there are national charango competitions held every year dedicated to the celebration of music composed primarily through this instrument. Other native instruments that provide unique Andean sounds are the quena (single-reed ﬂutes) and the zampon˜a (deep wooden pipes). Despite the fact that Andean music has received foreign inﬂuence for centuries, it remains decisively indigenous.

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It is worth noting that Spanish has been the ofﬁcial language of Bolivia for centuries, but even today only about 60 percent of the population actually speaks it. The remainder of the population uses mostly Quechua or Aymara, and these languages are reﬂected in the representations of traditional folk music. This linguistic persistence reﬂects the clear endurance of Andean culture, which has outlasted Inca inﬂuences, Spanish domination, and even contemporary indifference in urban areas. The decade of the 1960s was crucial for folk music in South America. Overall, there was an antiauthoritarian sentiment in the continent. By 1965, a youth movement in Chile started an artistic and political movement that created a peculiar type of protest music, which was performed by using Andean native instruments exclusively. It became commonplace to see these bands perform in plazas and other public gatherings. This musical style became extremely appealing to other young students, especially in Peru and Bolivia, which were experiencing brutal military dictatorships at the time. Two decades later, they abandoned its political message and confrontational style in order to incorporate more love and melancholy lyrics, which then became known as Andean music. As a result, it became more commercially viable, and it started to be played on local radio stations and small night clubs. Ernesto Cavour and La Fiesta del Charango

The charango has ﬁve pairs of strings and looks like a small guitar. It is well known since the 17th century, and it was created mostly in the Bolivian regions of Potosı´ and Chuquisaca. Traditionally it was made from shells of armadillos, but today it is mostly made of wood. If the charango is considered to be the national instrument of Bolivia, then Ernesto Cavour is the most recognized national musician in the country. He was born in La Paz in 1940. In 1965, he founded (together with Edgar Jofre´) the famous group Los Jairas, which was extremely popular between 1966 and 1971. This popular quartet also included musicians like Alfredo Domı´nguez, Julio Godoy, and Gilbert Favre. The Jairas adapted traditional Andean sounds to appeal to an urban audience and even an international market. Despite the group’s success, Cavour left the group to dedicate his musical life to play, compose, and make musical arrangements exclusively based on the sound of the charango. His dedication led him to write and edit books and music courses on How to Play the Charango, and How to Play Quena—two crucial instruments needed in Bolivian folk music. He was also a key developer and inventor of other musical instruments such as the zampon˜a croma´tica. Cavour’s dedication and innovation will be available for many future generations to enjoy in the Museum of Musical Instruments, which he founded in La Paz. The comprehensive collection of instruments includes

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Museum of Musical Instruments Ernesto Cavour in La Paz. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

over 2,000 pieces donated from Cavour’s personal collection of handcrafted pieces. The general goal of the museum is to use these instruments to remember and enrich the musical heritage and folklore of Bolivia. However, Cavour will always be remembered as the maestro of the charango, which has always been his musical forte. The national Fiesta del Charango was established in 1973 to promote, recognize, and enhance the versatility of this instrument on the national musical scene. The national festival takes place toward the end of October in the town of Alquile, which is part of the department (state) of Cochabamba. The festival attracts music lovers from all over the nation and neighboring countries like Argentina, Peru, and Chile. The attendees enjoy musical performances and concerts by some of the most recognized bands in the nation like Proyeccio´n, Awatin˜as, Expresio´n, Llajtaymanta, Pasio´n Andina, and Yalo Cuellar. There are several awards handed out every year. The main prize is the Charango de Oro (the Gold Charango), which goes to the most notable charango musician of the year. There is also an award for the best charango maker, which recognizes the best artisans and craft makers in the ﬁeld. Moreover, the event promotes the use of this instrument among the younger population

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by awarding special recognition in the categories for children and young musicians. Contemporary Music of Bolivia

The 1952 social revolution brought recognition and awareness of folk music at the national level. To make traditional music more popular, several groups added lyrics to the instrumental melodies. During the 1960s, the trend of native music continued toward a more inclusive approach, blending new musical aesthetics, spiritual experiences, and artistic performances. In fact, it was during this decade that Bolivian folk music won acceptance and even popularity throughout the country. Musicians like Gilbert Favre, Alfredo Dominguez, and Ernesto Cavour adapted and modiﬁed indigenous music to make it palatable to urban populations and even European audiences. In the late 1960s, a band from Cochabamba called Los Kjarkas improved on the special fusion of traditional music and urban sounds; it became extremely popular. Los Kjarkas was founded and directed by the three Hermosas brothers. They focused on playing dance music (like huayno and sayas), which were based on a mixture of indigenous sounds and African rhythms imported into Bolivia via slavery during the Spanish colonial period. Perhaps their best-known song was their popular hit “Llorando se fue,” which gave genesis to the world’s fascination with the lambada dance of the 1980s in northern Brazil. The unprecedented success of the Kjarkas in Bolivia inspired other bands like Grupo Aymara and Luzmila Carpio, which focused on international tours and bringing Bolivian music to the world. By the 1980s, Bolivian folklore music had ﬁnally become accepted in both national and international music circles. In retrospect, however, many people now question how much the music had to be adapted and transformed to make it palatable to nonindigenous music lovers. In fact, cultural researchers like Michelle Bigenho now question the authenticity of Bolivian music performances and whether they actually sound indigenous enough.2 This author (also an accomplished violinist) carried out extensive ﬁeld work from 1993 to 2000 reviewing carnival performances, folkloric shows, and musical adaptations. Her study concludes that the inﬂuence of indigenismo does help toward the admiration of indigenous cultures. However, the same intellectual trend has been translated into social stereotypes, which have in turn become accepted in musical performances and the current view of Bolivian culture. Classical Music

The tradition of classical music started to develop in Bolivia during the Spanish colonial period. Its genesis dates from the late 1500s, when military bands, church choirs, and cathedral music were introduced to the Andes

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highlands. The famous Catedral de La Plata—which is now in the city of Sucre—was a popular location of classical music concerts and performances during the early 1600s. This cathedral actively trained musicians in string, wind, and organ musical arrangements to accompany its famous singing chorus. The European style of classical music continued inﬂuencing Bolivian artists even after independence from Spain in the early 1800s. The Bolivian Conservatorio Nacional de Mu´sica was founded in 1907. Its main goal is to offer musical education and advanced training to singers, instrumentalists, composers, and choir directors. In addition, the conservatory is in charge of organizing special performances and recitals, musical competitions, training seminars, and professional development workshops for professional musicians. To support the development of its attendees and the general musical community, it offers a specialized music library that includes over 7,000 recordings, books, and musical sheets. Following on the desire to develop a classical musical tradition, a government decree established the Orquesta Sinfo´nica Nacional in 1945, also in La Paz. On its debut in 1947, it performed classical pieces like the “Fifth Symphony” by Tchaikowsky; the “Singing Masters of Nuremberg” by Wagner; and the “La Coronilla” by Teo´ﬁlo Vargas. Since then, the Sinfo´nica has had both Bolivian and foreign musical directors as well as well-known visiting singers, instrumentalists, and directors. The Orquesta Sinfo´nica Nacional de Bolivia has been the launching platform for many classical music careers. Without a doubt, Javier Caldero´n is the most noteworthy ﬁgure of classical acoustic guitar in Bolivia. He initiated his music career with the Sinfo´nica in 1965. As of 2010, the music director of the Orquesta Sinfo´nica Nacional was the American David Handel. Beginning in 2002, he renewed a level of awareness and excellence to the ﬁeld of classical music in Bolivia. He brought the classical sounds of Beethoven and Bach to the new concert hall Centro Sinfo´ nico Nacional in La Paz, as well as many other Bolivian cities and concert venues. Since 2007, the new concert hall has seen its attendance increase over 1,000 percent, with over half the recent music enthusiasts being under 25 years of age, which is certainly a signiﬁcant accomplishment in the ﬁeld. The calendar of the Orquesta Sinfo´nica Nacional is extremely ambitious; in 2010, it scheduled over 60 presentations at its national headquarters in La Paz. In addition, it is in popular demand for a national tour within Bolivia, and several individual presentations abroad. Moreover, these live presentations have fueled a general demand for CDs of classical music in Bolivia, even if they are illegally copied and sold on the street. The most popular and ﬁnancially successful audio CDs of classical music in Bolivia were titled Bolivian Baroque (volumes 1, 2, and 3). The latest

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volume released in 2010 was a ﬁnancial and musical success, just like the other two previous pieces. Volume 3 highlights the work of Bolivian Baroque music from the colonial era found in the Misiones Jesuitas de Chiquitos area of Bolivia. Then, it was performed by Bolivian musicians in partnership with the acclaimed group Florilegium, the award-winning Bolivian Arakaendar Choir, and four prominent Bolivian singers. The result was well received by the public both in Bolivia and international circles of classical music. In fact, this speciﬁc audio recording was selected by the BBC magazine (published in England) as the best classical CD of the Month in March 2010. To further expand on the interest of classical music, the city of Santa Cruz organizes a 10-day event called the International Festival of Baroque Music. The festival comprises a series of concerts held in Santa Cruz and several of the small towns located in the area of the Jesuit missions nearby. It is evident that the taste for classical music in Bolivia continues to attract new audiences, and government efforts of creating a national symphony and a music conservatory are already paying beautiful-sounding dividends. ˜ as/Folk Nightclubs Pen

Many Bolivinans enjoy an evening of folk music at the local bars or night clubs, locally known as pen˜as. The ambiance is rather informal, and it is usually accompanied by drinking beer, wine, or the strong regional grape brandy called pisco sour. The entertainment includes several bands of traditional music, which reﬂects the variety that exists even during that genre. Each of the music groups from different regions of the country offer a unique sound even though they are all performing Andean music. Actually, Andean music sounds differently in the highlands of Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, and Peru. In Bolivia, the best pen˜as are usually found in urban areas such as La Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz. The musical performers wear traditional clothing and include such typical instruments as charangos, quena ﬂutes, zampon˜a pipes, guitars, and drums. Most of the bands perform renditions of famous melodies and classic Andean songs. These groups have now also added electronic instruments like piano, bass, and keyboards. However, modern technology has allowed these groups to record and burn their own CDs, which they usually try to sell for a “special” price right after their performance. Modern Pop Music

The contemporary performers of folk music in Bolivia are keenly aware that they have to compete for an audience that also listens to other sounds and rhythms, like salsa, rock en espan˜ol, and modern pop music. A good example is the band Azul Azul, a group from Santa Cruz specializing in pop music with a rock edge to their performances. Formed in the 1990s, this band has

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remained relevant and popular in Bolivian radio, which is the media format with the largest penetration of the national music market. Their hit songs “La Bomba” and “Dame chocolate y te doy Bom-Bom” have become extremely popular not only in Bolivia, but also in neighboring South American countries. Their new music CD in 2010, with their hit song “Quiero que tu´ me quieras” (I Want You to Love Me), quickly received favorable musical reviews in the industry and became a ﬁnancial success as well. This new musical venture reveals that, based on the recent wave of interest in pen˜as, traditional indigenous music and its modern adaptations continue to share a musical market with the other genres. DANCE Singing and dancing go hand in hand, and indigenous dances in Bolivia have endured the tests of time and history. The original Andean dances focused on topics such as fertility, marriage, war, rain, and hunting. However, traditional dances have not remained frozen in time. In fact, they have morphed to add layers of meaning and color to its intricate choreography that reﬂects historical and social events. As a consequence, there are danzas nativas that existed before the Spanish conquest and danzas mestizas that include a mixture of indigenous and European inﬂuence. Consequently, most traditional dances performed in carnivals and community celebrations are now a hybrid mix incorporating several cultures. The so-called Andean dances were ignored for centuries, and the Aymara and Quechua populations felt disenfranchised from the national cultural mainstream. The reality was that the colonial era (1500s–1810s), the nation-building period after independence (1820s–1920s), and the eventual transition to a republic (1920s–1950s) only provided a change in leaders and rulers who usually dismissed the indigenous concerns and necessities. Ironically, the relative isolation of the native communities actually served to preserve the original version of their folklore music and dances. It was not until the Revolution of 1952 that these cultural features were not only recognized, but actually promoted and celebrated at a national level. Nowadays, several communities throughout Bolivia celebrate their respective carnivals to highlight their regional cultural pride. The difference is that now they attract local, regional, and even international tourists to learn about these cultural treasures of the Andes. Carnavales

Carnavales, or carnivals, are important regional celebrations that strengthen community relations. In Bolivia, they blend ancestral native

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features with European traditions established during the colonial period. Most of the dances associated with carnivals are performed as satire that narrates a comical view of the European colonizers and their relationship to the native cultures. A good example is the dance los doctorcitos, in which the dancers wear exaggerated plastic noses, tiny glasses, and gray hair to represent the old Spanish lawyers during the colonial period. Most carnivals take place in February or March, but most communities begin preparations up to two months in advance. While there are numerous Carnavales in Bolivia, four salient examples have continued to generate tremendous enthusiasm among the regional participants, national visitors, and a wide range of international culture enthusiasts anxious to see a display of music and dance highlighted with colorful customs and masks. The carnivals of La Paz, Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca, and Oruro offer a feast for the senses. The carnival celebrations in La Paz, Chuquisaca, and Santa Cruz blend ancient traditions with family fun that incorporate regional music and allegoric dances. The Carnaval de La Paz takes place toward the end of February, and it includes multiple groups of native dances and traditional folklore. The main focus of the dances is a special ritual called Ch’alla, which offers appreciation to the Mother Earth Pachamama, to whom people ask for good fortune throughout the year. In addition, la morenada is a typical dance from La Paz that represents the rhythms of African slaves brought by the Spaniards during the colonial period. The Carnaval de Chuquisaca includes the former aristocratic heritage of the city of Sucre. Multiple dance groups wear traditional clothing of the region, and they also include decorated carts in a parade-like format. The unique tradition here is a game of eggshells full of perfumed water, which are prepared weeks in advance. They are usually thrown at people, but the pleasant aroma left behind mitigates the initial irritation of being surprised with an egg. The weeklong Carnaval de Santa Cruz focuses more on strengthening relations among its residents than on attracting regional and foreign tourism. Local people of all ages have fun playing a multitude of games, using water, soap foam, and bubbles. While carnivals in Santa Cruz, Tarija, and La Paz are certainly impressive, none of them take place on the scale of the jubilee in Oruro. The Oruro Carnaval is perhaps the most famous celebration in Bolivia. The festivities last for eight days and culminate on Ash Wednesday, so it falls in either late February or early March. For hundreds of years, the central theme of the entire celebration has been the Diablada, or Dance of the Devils. The genesis of this ritualistic dance was created in the colonial period around the 1600s, and it has survived for centuries virtually unchanged. The music is played by lots of drummers, pipers, and well-orchestrated brass

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bands. The entire street scene explodes with festive activities. There are literally hundreds of people of all ages dressed like devils in costumes with exaggerated monstrous features: monkeys, pumas, insects, etc. These little demonic ﬁgures are seen everywhere by jumping, leaping, and doing acrobatic moves. The main devil ﬁgures wear intricately embroidered body suits and shawls. It includes devils dressed like Incas to represent that historical period. Then, there are people dressed like devils with features of African slaves to remember their peril in the silver mines. Large family clans also participate in this parade-like dance festival, and every member of the family dresses in different colors according to their status (grandparents, parents, children, etc.). Figures of Satan and Lucifer lead all these groups taking part on the parade toward the local soccer stadium, where the actual celebration takes place. At the Oruro stadium, two separate yet related plays are enacted for the public. The ﬁrst play always presents a rendition of the Spanish conquest of the indigenous people. This ﬁrst play is rather secular and deals mostly with the brutal treatment of the Indian population. The second play is much more religious in both content and visual representation. Intended to address the battle of good versus evil forces, it represents the victory of Archangel Michael over all the devils and the seven deadly sins by judiciously using his ﬂaming sword. The results of the staged battle are announced by the local patron saint Virgen del Socavo´n (Virgin of the Grotto). The entire celebration ends when the dancers sing a solemn Quechua hymn thanking the earth mother Pachamama. In general, many people view the Diablada dance as a struggle between good and evil. Overall, this is a hybrid celebration that incorporated features of Catholicism with pagan rituals for the Quechua gods and deities. Contemporary Dance

Piano melodies and jazz music are often linked to modern dance in Bolivia. The results are powerful performances with elaborate choreographies that capture the attention of the audience. Perhaps the most salient representatives of this genre in Bolivia are Johnny and Cynthia Gonza´lez, a father-daughter team. Their shows are often presented in the Teatro Municipal in La Paz, which is considered to be the most prestigious stage in the country. Their 2010 tour of several national stages in Bolivia was extremely successful and well received by the mostly urban audiences. THEATER A common misconception in Bolivia is that theater performances were introduced to the Andes with the arrival of the Europeans. While this argument has

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some cogency, it does not take into account that the Incas had already used dramatic performance to represent religious, social, and educational concepts they wanted to introduce to the Aymara population when the current Bolivian territory was incorporated into the Inca Empire around 1200 CE . Most of these Inca plays have disappeared, but they are mentioned as references in the work of missionaries and Spanish chroniclers such as Inca Garcilazo de La Vega. The traditions of literary criticism, theater literary review, and a comprehensive history of Bolivian theater have been rather sporadic and inconsistent. Some possible reasons for lacking a sustained tradition of theatrical production have been the unforgiving geography, devastating military conﬂicts, repressive dictatorships, and unstable political systems. Given this lack of consistency, one of the best-received historical studies of Bolivian theater was the 2009 book by Daniel Gonza´lez Go´mez-Acebo, an acclaimed actor, journalist, and playwright from Spain, Gonza´lez Go´mez-Acebo studied the theatrical traditions of several indigenous groups of Bolivia, including the Aymaras, Quechua, Kallawaya, and Guaranı´. His general goal was to highlight the written theater pieces that were performed before the arrival of the Spanish domination of the area. According to Gonza´lez Go´mez-Acebo, there were two distinct theatrical genres: wanka (tragedy) and aranway (very close to the comedy genre).3 In this book, he analyzed Ollantay and Utqha Paukar, full theater manuscripts from the 14th and 15th centuries that were written anonymously. He also noticed that some of the Aymara theater pieces included characters who performed traditional dances as part of the play. Moreover, his research reveals that these characters still appear today in folklore Aymara dances dealing with nature themes of agriculture and animal hunting. So, the contributions of Gonza´lez Gomez-Acebo’s research show that all these individual cultures practiced theatrical performances even before the arrival of the Inca Empire to the area. Then, the Incas continued to use this live representation with the dual purpose of entertainment and education. Gonza´lez’s book provides an important contribution to the ﬁeld of theater history and analysis in Bolivia. His work was clearly supported by numerous organizations when it was released in Madrid in December 2009, including the Bolivian Embassy in Spain, the Ofﬁce of the Vice President of Bolivia, the Municipal Government of La Paz, and the National Ministry of Bolivian Cultures. The author has been applauded for the success of his book, and he is already working on another book that will focus on the Spanish theater in Bolivia during the colonial period (1500s–1800s). The Spanish arrival to the Andean highlands in the 16th century added another distinctive dimension to local theater during the 1600s and 1700s. The Catholic Church used theatrical performances as a didactic tool to instill

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new Christian religious values in the newly conquered, or converted population. The church also introduced in the 17th century more of the European literary pieces written by Spanish and French playwrights. Bolivia’s independence from Spain in 1825 created a political separation, but it did not necessarily mark a departure from Spanish literary and cultural traditions. The newly mixed population—when they were interested in theater—tried to emulate and copy the European theatrical traditions and even mounted performances that were completely incomprehensible to the local population because they did not reﬂect their social reality. However, in the 1850s, the plays Los Lanzas (The Lanza Brothers) and Odio y Amor (Love and Hate) by Bolivian playwright Fe´lix Reyes Ortiz became extremely popular among the new Bolivian elite population, mostly because they depicted the heroic activities of the independence wars. The main characters, however, were based on gloriﬁed heroes needed to develop a sense of national pride, but the theatrical plots did not portray average people. According to Guido Arce, Bolivian theater from the 20th century is mostly divided in four speciﬁc eras or stages. The ﬁrst stage is the theater written and directed by the acclaimed Bolivian drama writer Rau´l Salmo´n, especially during the 1960s. Salmo´n’s written literary work is often deﬁned as “social theater” because it explored topics relatable to the average Bolivian population. He blended historical events with social criticism. This proliﬁc playwright wrote award-winning pieces like Escuela de Pillos (School of Thieves), Juana Sa´nchez, Los hijos del alcohol (Alcohol’s Kids), and Plato pacen˜o (A Dish from La Paz). The second era for Bolivian theater was based on university theater performed by students and mostly also intended for a student population on college campuses. The third stage is the emergence of popular theater, which was based on social topics but not necessarily written with a literary tradition in mind. Many critics of Latin American theater consider popular theater to be entertainment rather than an intellectual and social critical approach. Finally, the fourth stage is the declining pattern of public indifference for the national theater since the 1990s.4 Bolivian Theater, 1970s–1980s

The Bolivian Revolution of 1952 resulted in tangible government efforts to make education, communication, and cultural activities accessible to all citizens. Most of the plays that were designed and presented during the 1950s in community theaters had the general didactic goal of highlighting the virtues of the revolution. At the end of the decade, the cities of La Paz, Santa Cruz, and Cochabamba became active participants in dramatic production and experienced an increase of social interest in this genre. In addition, the cities of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz also ﬁnanced and supported the Teatro

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Experimental Universitario with the aim to train future drama actors. However, during the 1960s, it was a theater that looked to the past, and inexorably it became a venue to narrate the historical experience from a new point of view. During the 1970s, Bolivia was plagued by widespread drug addiction, and it became a major exporter of cocaine to the world. During this period, several government agencies turned to theater as a device to deliver a message throughout Bolivia highlighting the dangers of drugs and its corrosive effects on families and societies. For example, the city of Santa Cruz created the Sistema Educativo Antidrogas y de Mobilizacio´n Social, or locally knows as SEAMOS. Its purpose was to use theater to reach students at secondary school levels with a message against drug addiction. The program became so successful for over a decade that they even organized a national literary theater contest in 1987. The winning playwright was Oscar Barbery Sua´rez, whose play El Portavoz (The Messager) was published that same year. It is a deep analysis of the trials and tribulation of a drug addict and the feelings of loneliness, hallucinations, and the effects on close family members. The play eventually reached the stage in national theaters under the name Laberinto. The decade of the 1980s represents a resurgence of literary production in Bolivia, but the creation of dramatic works dragged behind all the other genres. Nevertheless, a few notable playwrights ventured into more universal topics and pulled away from nationalistic themes. At the beginning of the decade, two seminal review books were published: Teatro Boliviano in 1980 by Mario T. Soria, and Teatro Boliviano Contempora´neo in 1981 by Oscar Mun˜oz Cadima. These two volumes set the tone for a more analytical approach to Bolivian theater and a call to action by other playwrights in the country. It is during the 1980s, that the city of Santa Cruz became the headliner for main productions in the nation; its local headquarters were housed at the Casa de la Cultura. The local government, cultural agencies, regional universities, and small theaters developed an impetus that resulted in a tremendous increase in attendance and book sales. Examples of drama production include the renewed work of Adolfo Mier Rivas, a proliﬁc playwright who had already written over 15 plays with general social themes. In 1983, he published Sebastiana, and it had tepid success. However, his play El Chiqui de mi Barrio (The Neighborhood Boy) depicts the life of small boys from humble beginnings from childhood all the way into adulthood. In the main plot, a humble boy faces a dispute with another “well-to-do” boy, and the former comes out the indisputable winner. The general goal is to make a social commentary, or to highlight a speciﬁc lesson. In this case, it was to demonstrate that neither economic background nor the color of one’s skin is the ultimate determining factors in a person’s faith. Through hard work and honesty, anyone can achieve greatness.

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Casa de la Cultura in Santa Cruz. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

General interest for the theater in the 1980s was ephemeral, and it was greatly reduced by the end of the decade. Daniel Pujol published Proceda (Proceed) in 1989; it was the only play published in all of Bolivia that year. The book was not a ﬁnancial or literary success. Moreover, there was no comprehensive effort to take it to a national or even regional stage. In addition, the city of Cochabamba, another former locus of theatrical activity, experienced the relative extinction of its productions due to lack of interest and ticket sales. Bolivian Theater in Crisis, 2000s

To address the status of Bolivian drama, the capital city organized the Festival Internacional de Teatro de La Paz (FITAZ) in 2000. It has been an annual event held in March each year. By 2003, it had grown into a festival with international recognition. It was precisely at this time that acclaimed playwright Karmen Saavedra organized a colloquium titled Teatro y Sociedad in Latin America: 1970–2003. It was intended to offer a reﬂection and an introspective look at Bolivian national theater. The result of this critical analysis by playwrights, drama actors, publishing houses, artistic directors, stage managers, and even theater house owners was eventually published in

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2005 and edited by Saavedra. Most of the writers included in the book decry the status of Bolivian theater in the ﬁrst decade of the 21st century. They criticized the general approach to imitate foreign theater, and they collectively proposed that taking this type of plays to the stage has actually distanced the public from participating in this social activity. Moreover, they also seem to concur that foreigners often try to tell Bolivian playwrights how to portray and understand their own culture. Yet, Bolivian-born and educated dramatic writers seem to be stuck in producing plays based on historical events; the result is that it is often viewed as theater of the past. Of course, there is also a practical aspect to the diminishing numbers of attending public to the theater houses: the recent economic problems since 2005 have hurt everyone, and many people would rather not spend money in entertainment, especially in a country with high levels of poverty such as Bolivia. Despite these social and economic setbacks, the future of Bolivian theater seems to be improving. Currently, the theater with the most dramatic productions in the nation is the Teatro Municipal in La Paz, although they continue to stage mostly foreign plays. There is also a Taller de Teatro in La Paz (Theater Training Workshops) in charge of training the future actors of this genre. In order to provide Bolivian actors with more opportunities and training, the seventh Festival Internacional de Teatro de La Paz (FITAZ) held in March 2010 promoted a more intercultural approach to the event organized by awardwinning actress Maritza Wilde. That year, the festival hosted theater groups from Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Ecuador, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, and Argentina. The judges of the event are selected from an international pool of professionals in the ﬁeld, and several Bolivian groups received awards for their performance, especially in the categories for children plays. In addition to La Paz, the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra has become an important center for theatrical activity. La Casa de la Cultura has evolved into a superb institution, especially under the direction of Rene´ Hohenstein. Local drama students in Santa Cruz also receive additional opportunities to perform as part of national theater festivals organized by the city. For example, in July 2011, the seventh Festival Nacional de Teatro Universitario held its yearly competition at the popular Teatro Paranifo Universitario, located in the center of Santa Cruz. These events offer university students the opportunity to compete at a national level, to attend seminars held by experts in the performing arts, and to learn from each other’s performances. Popular and Community Theater

Overall, theater critics seem to lament the fact that only a small fraction of the population attends theatrical performances. This point of view, however, is rather elitist; it reﬂects an attitude held only by a speciﬁc socioeconomic

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group who expects audiences with a certain air of sophistication, educational level, and even a literary background. Theater critics often do not realize that the majority of the people simply cannot afford to pay a high price for a performance they might not understand or even like. This is precisely where low-budget productions and speciﬁc scripts are created for community theaters throughout the nation. These play productions often have a pedagogical and social approach. A salient example of community theater is the work of playwright Rau´l Villaroel Arana, who specializes in satirical comedies with a sense of hidden sexual connotations. In 2010, he wrote, produced, and performed as the main actor in the comedy “Entre monjas anda el cura” (A Priest among Nuns). It was extremely popular with sold-out performances and ﬁnancially successful throughout small community theaters in Bolivia. The public usually includes three generations of grandparents, parents, and children. The main message was focused on how to improve parent-children relations. His approach of satirical performance with basic language and using words with double meaning results in extremely comical situations that the audience clearly appreciates. Obviously, the average population can also enjoy theater performances if they are both appropriate for them and also socially relevant. NOTES 1. A Short History of Andean Folk Music (Andean Nation, 2000), http:// www.andeannation.com/hist.html (accessed November 28, 2010). 2. Michelle Bigenho, Sounding Indigenous: Authenticity in Bolivia Music Performance (New York: Palgrave McMillan, 2002). 3. Daniel Gonza´lez Go´mez-Acebo, Teatro originario boliviano: Estudio histo´rico del teatro y la teatralidad de las culturas quechua, aymara, kallawaya y guaranı´ (Madrid: Agencia Espan˜ola de Cooperacio´n Inernacional [AEICI], 2009). 4. Guido Arce. “Los aportes del teatro experimental universitario al teatro boliviano” in Teatro y Sociedad de America Latina 1970–2003, ed. Karmen Saavedra (La Paz, Bolivia: Festival Internacional de Teatro, 2005), 44–53.

8 Architecture, Native Textiles, Visual Arts, and Fashion Design

THERE IS AN INCREDIBLE amount of creative talent in Bolivia. The Inca and Spanish conquests also inﬂuenced Bolivian artists in powerful ways. For example, cultures in the Andes highlands have created intricate textiles for centuries. Their colorful weavings are still being produced today for religious and recreational purposes. The Spanish introduced the European painting techniques that resulted in exquisite religious representations on canvas by Bolivian painters in the 1600s and 1700s. Nowadays, contemporary artists are involved in visual experiments that create fascinating results in the ﬁelds of painting and sculpture. While modern visual arts seem still to be based on the representation of the human body, their adaptations of geometrical ﬁgures are producing innovative results. The foundations of art have also extended to the work of modern visionaries on architecture and fashion design. At the beginning of the 21st century, Carlos Caldero´n is perhaps the most notable architect in Bolivia. He is a strong advocate of letting the creative process be the main inspiration for designing breathtaking architecture rather than letting technology dictate how structures should function or be designed. His work as a university lecturer is having a profound impact on the training of future Bolivian architects. Meanwhile, fashion design has exploded with possibilities in the last decade. The annual events of Bolivia Moda and Expobelleza have established the city of Santa Cruz as an important center for the fashion industry in South America. What started out as a regional fashion show in the early 1990s has grown into a series of inﬂuential and competitive events that include other

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related ﬁelds such as jewelry design, modeling agencies, cosmetic ﬁrms, and photography seminars. While most Bolivian contemporary artists are home grown, the world is beginning to discover the captivating work of painter Mamani Mamani and the exquisite composition of sculptures created by Francine Secreton. ARCHITECTURE When people arrive at one of the international airports of La Paz or Santa Cruz, the ﬁrst impression of these cities is like an ocean of unﬁnished building structures of reddish brick and rusting roofs of corrugated metal. Once on land, however, the cities reveal their architectural secrets, their colonial legacy, their indigenous artistry, and the chaotic architectural styles that seem to overlap each other. Only by walking among these small towns and urban areas do people become aware of the intricate balance of social networks, commercial spaces, residential neighborhoods, hidden plazas, shelters for migrant workers, urban planning, spiritual areas, and cultural gems. History has forged a unique blend of architecture that is still a tangible aspect of daily life, and it deﬁes Bolivians to deﬁne themselves. Tiwanaku and Inca Remaining Styles

Pre-Colombian architecture is still visible in Bolivia, especially in the Tiwanaku ruins and the Inca roads developed by the Inca Empire (1400s–1520s) just north of La Paz. The city of Tiwanaku was a civilization established at roughly 1100 BCE near Lake Titicaca and lasted until 1300s CE when the Inca Empire took over the area. Their descendents became the Quechua, Aymara, and Uru groups. At the point of its highest glory, the ceremonial site of Tiwanaku had a population of 100,000. It also boasted advanced architectural designs and engineering skills that incorporated plumbing and irrigation systems. The main buildings were constructed by using large stone blocks as walls and foundations, which were held together by using large copper pins. Consequently, the use of mortar was not necessary. Even though most of the Tiwanaku archeological site has crumbled over time or was destroyed by invading groups, parts of its cultural treasures have been saved. Some of the monolithic stone statues still remain on site, while other pieces have been moved to the Museo Nacional de Arqueologı´a in La Paz (about a 1.5-hour drive away). Currently, the Tiwanaku ruins still display some of the sandstone slabs weighing up to 20 tons each, which would have required considerable engineering skills to move and arrange to build structures on the site. There is also evidence of complicated stairways, carved entry gateways, and elaborate sunken courtyards. One of the most well-preserved structures

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Puerta del Sol (Sun God’s Gate) in Tiwanaku ruins. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

found on site is the Puerta del Sol (Sun God’s Gate). This massive structure has delicate carvings on the front side that reveal the calendar used by the Tiwanaku people. It clearly shows the distribution of 12 months with 30 days each, except that September was a special month with 35 days. September marked special celebrations to the Sun God. Its importance also marked the beginning of the spring season on September 21, as well as the start of the agricultural season. While the calendar reveals astronomical knowledge of celestial concepts such as the equinox and solstice, there are still large excavations efforts continuing to work with the aim of discovering more details about the earliest civilization in South America. The Inca Road System

The Inca roads offer evidence of remarkable engineering skills and visionary large-scale planning. Without the use of a written system or the use of wheels, the Incas developed a vast web of roads that linked the entire empire despite the formidable challenges of unforgiving geography in the Andes Mountains. The road system covered an approximate distance of almost 25,000 miles (40,000 km). The network of roads was essentially two separate

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roads that ran from north to south and multiple branches that reached both ˜ an coastal areas and high-altitude locations along the Andes. The Qhapaq N (Royal Road, also known as the Great Inca Road, or Camino Real) alone covered almost 3,700 miles (6,000 km) from the northern areas of the empire through what is now Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile, and eventually reached Tucuma´n, Argentina. The Camino de la Costa (Coastal Road) also stretched about 2,500 miles (4,000 km) from northern Ecuador to the middle latitudes of Chile. A series of branches, routes, and tributaries linked the two roads and also provided access to remote areas of the empire. The roads were owned by the Inca rulers, and permission to use it was required. For the most part, the roads were built by using the mita, or labor tax, that the Inca rulers imposed on the entire population. The main utilitarian purposes for the road were for military mobility, the work of special messengers, and trade. The Incas used llamas as animals of burden to carry materials and equipment; they did not have horses until the Spaniards arrived to the area in the 1500s. As part of the careful planning scheme, the road system also included over 1,000 stations at speciﬁc intervals (usually one day of walking) to offer shelter, basic food, and clothing to military personnel and special messengers. The Inca engineering skills were also evident in the use of bridges to cross rivers and streams. Some of them were built as suspension bridges using maguey plants to create rope and cables to sustain these structures, which were up to 200 feet (60 m) long. On other occasions, they crossed bodies of water by building oroyas (woven hanging baskets), which they pulled with a single hanging cable from either end to slide the occupants to the other side. Sometimes, when the streams were not too wide, they simply used two or three fallen logs arranged to cross to either side. Today, only about 20 percent of the original Inca road system is still visible in bits and pieces. Most of it has been destroyed as the demands for infrastructure have increased with modern life. The remaining sections are found near Quimes, Argenitna; Tiwanaku, Bolivia; and Cuzco, Peru. Currently the UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientiﬁc, and Cultural Organization) is working with six nations in South America to achieve special historical status for the remaining sections of the Inca Road in order to achieve the highly coveted recognition as a historical site and the designation as a World Heritage Site. Colonial Architecture

The Spanish colonial period (1520s–1820s) produced an incredible number of architectural gems in Bolivia, especially in the present-day cities of La Paz, Potosı´, and Sucre. Due to devastating earthquakes, modernization

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Bası´lica de Copacabana. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

programs, and urban sprawl, the remains of colonial buildings are mostly limited to religious locations and a few government administration sites. Among these structures, three prevalent periods dominated the architectural production of the time: renaissance, baroque, and mestizo styles. Renaissance-style (1550–1650s) churches were designed with thick adobe walls, imposing buttresses to achieve elevation, and interior courtyards conducive to meditation and a reﬂective lifestyle. The church of Copacabana near Lake Titicaca is a surviving illustration of the renaissance style. On the exterior, it shows simple white walls with green roof tiles using a structure of basic Roman arches and ﬁve cupulas, which were typical of Spanish churches from the 1500s. The interior, however, reveals an extremely ornate retablo (altar piece) that is completely gold plated. In addition, the section keeping the Virgen de Copacabana (or Virgen de la Candelaria) is done with pure silver to venerate the original statue done by Bolivian artist Iyupanqui in the late 1500s. Two other important buildings from the renaissance period of architecture of Bolivia are found in the ofﬁcial capital city of Sucre. The Iglesia de San Miguel also included an additional mudejar style in which the Spanish imported and incorporated the Moorish inﬂuence existing in southern Spain.

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This feature is clearly visible on the roof construction and decoration. The other signiﬁcant building from this period is perhaps one of the most historical buildings in the country: La Casa de la Libertad (Freedom House), located in the main plaza of Sucre. Jesuit priests built it as a vast complex that included a church, their own living quarters, and la Universidad de San Francisco Xavier de Chuquisaca, the second-oldest university in South America. The simple exterior gives way to beautiful courtyards and interior symmetrical designs. It was in this building that the original declaration of independence from Spain was signed and, in 1825, the ﬁrst National Congress was established. Due to its historical importance, the chapel inside this building is now considered the symbolic heart of the nation. The Baroque style (1600–1770s) imported a speciﬁc blueprint and design style from Spain roughly 100 years after the conquest of the former Inca Empire in 1535. In mineral-rich cities like Potosı´, la Iglesia de San Agustı´n is a vivid example of a church designed in the shape of a cross with a long nave and an elevated dome that was intricately decorated in both the interior and exterior. Another striking example of the baroque mestizo architectural style is the Church of San Lorenzo de Canrangas, built in the 1500s in Potosı´. Its intricate columns and detailed fac¸ade makes it one of the most photographed religious entryways in Bolivia. Two hundred years after the Spanish conquest, the colonial administration had trained enough local builders and artisans, and they had a greater role in the construction and decoration process of important buildings. This period of collaborative effort became known as Mestizo style (1700–1790). It used a neoclassical architectural style in the form of simple columns, basic exterior decoration, traditional Roman arches, and the use of natural light for the interiors. In addition, the surface of door entryways and some prominent windows were decorated with intricate stone carvings using indigenous motifs like Inca gods, plus a representation of regional animals and fruit. The Iglesia de San Francisco in La Paz is a salient example of how the architectural plans might have been developed by the Spaniards, but the decorating touches were clearly carried out by local indigenous artisans. The neoclassical period of architecture in Bolivia started in the late 1700s. The most salient example of this style is the Casa Nacional de la Moneda, or the National Mint. Upon conﬁrmation of the great potential for silver deposits in Potosı´, the king of Spain ordered the construction of a second mint with the purpose of minting the colonial coins to be used in the area, marked with the letter “P” on the back. At the time, all colonial silver coins were minted only in Bolivia and Mexico. Due to its great commercial importance, this new mint was the largest building ever commissioned in South America. It literally takes an entire large block of land. This commanding structure had

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Church in San Francisco located in La Paz. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

to be tall enough, secure enough, visually imposing, and yet a masterpiece of architecture. It served as the ofﬁcial mint during colonial times, but it was also used as a high-security prison. After independence from Spain in 1825, the building was also used as the military headquarters when Bolivia was engaged in the Chaco War against Paraguay. Once independent, the country did not move toward a new style of architecture as it had other economic and political goals to achieve in order to build a new nation. Consequently, the wealthy creoles in the country continued to use the previous Spanish-style architectural styles to build their residential and commercial venues. Contemporary Architecture

The arrival of contemporary architecture (1950–1980s) to Bolivian urban centers brought many high-rise buildings with the use of glass to cover their exterior surfaces. Even now, they appear disconnected, with no cohesive group of style or purpose; they mostly house commercial enterprises and ofﬁce buildings. Eventually, cities like La Paz started running out of space due to the physical limitations of having so many mountains surrounding the city, Consequently, on the southern section of La Paz, contemporary buildings

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about 25 stories high are commonly designed for residential condominiums, which house mostly well-to-do families who can afford this location surrounded by private religious schools, and modern shopping centers. During the 20th century, most colonial cities like Sucre, Potosı´, and La Paz were concerned with the preservation and restoration of their historical and colonial areas. The rest of the cities were mostly residential units built with red brick and unﬁnished facades that kept expanding as the cities grew in population after the 1960s. Perhaps, the only Bolivian city that actually took an organized review of their architectural future was Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The force behind a cohesive direction for city planning was the Colegio de Arquitectos de Santa Cruz (the Board of Santa Cruz Architects), a professional organization established on January 8, 1956. In contrast with the rest of the architects in the nation who had studies in Bolivia, most of the members of this organization had received their training from foreign institutions in Europe, the United States, and other Latin American countries like Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Mexico. These pioneering professionals from Santa Cruz took the dual role of urban planners and architects. They embarked on the ambitious task of modernizing the city with public works that included the paving of roads, the widening of avenues, the purchase of land on the outskirts for a potential future airport, and detailed plans to predict future trafﬁc patterns that would need trafﬁc circles and wider corners. The city map became designed as a pattern of rings that radiate from the center and expand outwards, with wide avenues connecting the trafﬁc rings. That was rather visionary for the 1960s; this group of architects gave the city of Santa Cruz a cohesive purpose and direction. More importantly, they also created the foundation for the profession of architecture for future generations of university students. Contemporary Bolivian architects like Carlos Caldero´n are in high demand for their services, and they can be selective about the projects they carry out. Perhaps the most famous architect in Bolivia as of 2010, Caldero´n has built important national venues, including the headquarters for the Alliance Franc¸aise Schools in La Paz; the Palacio de Comunicaciones also in La Paz; bridges like El Puente de Tarija; and the Children’s Museum in Kusillo. In addition, he is a professor of architecture in the Universidad de San Francisco in La Paz, and a frequent lecturer at several universities in the United States. In several of his recent lectures, he stresses the importance of the creative work in architecture, and he advocates that it should not be replaced by technological advances like computer technology. His latest concern is that too many architectural students are being trained to make their designs ﬁt what the technology allows rather than letting creative inspiration drive the designs of future professionals. The link between architecture and art is axiomatic.

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TEXTILES Some of the best traditional art is actually found in public plazas and streets throughout Bolivia. The work of folk artists does not necessarily hang in museums, and unfortunately, they are hardly ever recognized for their contributions to the local culture. Their creations are often relegated to impromptu arts-and-crafts markets that are erected during festivals and regional celebrations. However, these artisans and craftsmen have a long history that has kept their techniques alive for thousands of years. The production of textiles still remains as one of the most creative expressions of Andean art. The vibrant colors and designs of these utilitarian textiles have a signiﬁcant cultural history in Bolivia. Their antique weavings have recently been discovered by the outside world and are now been coveted as collector’s items. Weaving and Knitting

Traditional handweaving methods have not changed much in the Andes over hundreds of years. Actually, highly decorated weavings have been found in tombs or wrapped around mummies that date back as far as 3000 BCE.1 Cultures from the Bolivian Highlands (the Altiplano) worked with weavings made with high-quality wool from llama, alpaca, and vicun˜a animals, which were traded for food supplies like ﬁsh and vegetables grown by other cultures in the lower-elevation valleys. There is a lot of work to be performed even before the weaving begins, and the process is extremely time-consuming. There is a complex method of converting the raw materials into workable yarn. First, the collected wool is spun by hand to create a single strand of wool. Then, the weaver spins two separate lines to create yarn for the ﬁrst time. At this point, the dying process begins by using vegetable and other natural dyes. After that, the yarn is spun a third time to create both strength and elasticity at the same time. Originally, there were special ceremonial items that revealed the social importance of such detailed weavings that were as tight as 120 threads per square inch. During the Inca period (1200–1400s), the most advanced weavers worked full time at the Ajllay Wasi (temples) in the production of high-quality, handmade textiles and for decorations on ceremonial tapestries. Most of the weavers were men specializing on the creation of materials for religious rituals and for the use of the Inca nobility. The majority of the weavers in different towns, however, were women, and they produced intricate designs and colorful materials for daily utilitarian use. Perhaps the most common piece is the manta (locally also known as aguayo), which is essentially a shawl made of two separate handwoven pieces of material and then sewn together. Women tie this item around their chest

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Woman in Potosı´ wearing an aguayo shawl. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

and use it to carry items on their back, including groceries, clothes, or babies. Other practical woven items include faldas (skirts), unku (tunics), wincha (women’s head band), chuspas (coca pouches), and decorated belts. During the colonial period, the Spanish realized the value of the indigenous weavings due to their unique techniques and intricate motifs. As a result, the Spanish allowed multiple isolated communities to remain untouched in exchange for the payment of tribute in the form of woven textiles. The materials originally used for creating textiles in Bolivia were llama, vicun˜a, and alpaca ﬁbers, which came from animals native to the highlands in the southern and western parts of Bolivia. These are warm, practical fabrics to offer protection for the cold weather of the Bolivian Highlands. However, the Spanish introduced sheep wool as a less expensive alternative, and currently, the use of synthetic ﬁbers is more common due to the high cost of natural materials. The Spanish also introduced the techniques of knitting to the Bolivian population in the 1600s, which has changed the options available for traditional-themed textiles and utilitarian items. One example of the latter is the chullo (knitted hats), which have become iconic in Bolivia. These knitted hats with colorful patterns also cover the ears, and hence are very practical for the cold climate of high altitude locations in the Andes.

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Nowadays in the Altiplano, there is considerable regional difference in the richness of woven patterns, specialized motifs, and speciﬁc styles of using these clothing and accessory items. Among the regional variations, the textiles from the town of Potolo are the most recognized due to their red and black patterns and tight weavings. Weavers in the city of La Paz seem to prefer symmetrical designs, and the artisans in Potosı´ weave only one-half of the clothing item and leave the other half simply as black material. At the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a considerable decrease of skillful weavers. It is normal that economic factors would eventually make the production of weavings and knitted materials much cheaper by using mass-production techniques, synthetic materials, and chemical dyes. It is now not so strange to see some supposedly Bolivian crafts displayed in local department stores, but they are actually made in China. So, the work of artisans is no longer valued, unless clients are looking for high-quality items. In an attempt to rescue this valuable cultural tradition, the Museum of Ethnography and Art in La Paz has organized a program titled Tejiendo Arte (the Art of Weaving) by bringing skilled weavers to produce textiles right on the premises for people to see the variety of techniques and materials used in this process. The program has three essential goals: (1) to keep the weaving tradition alive; (2) to get art collectors interested in supporting contemporary artists; and (3) to curb the interest of illegally exporting antique Aymara textiles that end up in private collections abroad. One of the most successful efforts to keep weaving traditions alive in Bolivia has actually been organized by indigenous women from the Tarabuco and Jalq’a regions. They created the cooperative, Inca Pallay-Asociacio´n de Arte Indı´gena (the Inca Pallay Indigenous Art Association), which includes about 400 female weavers who have also received marketing and business training. By following the economic principles of fair trade, they have opened their own stores in the cities of La Paz, Sucre, and Tarabuco, and they market their products directly to the consumers. They have established fair prices for both the weavers and the clients. The textiles from these two regions offer bold colors with animal ﬁgures and geometric patterns. The general goal of the organization is to advise and empower female weavers to generate a better income that can bring tangible improvements to their lives. The program has been so successful that they recently also opened a restaurant, created and participated in a folklore show, and even sell their products on the Internet. There is a difference between utilitarian art (textiles, leather, etc.) and the production of art for the sake of art itself, such as painting and sculpture. While traditional art has existed in Bolivia for over 2,000 years, the contemporary artists engaged in modern painting and sculpture represent a vibrant

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addition to the national art scene. In addition, Bolivia has also become an important player in the fashion industry of South America. All these types of artistic media are well represented throughout the country VISUAL ARTS (PAINTING, SCULPTURE, AND FASHION DESIGN) There are outstanding artistic facilities in Bolivia that promote and exhibit the richness of talented artists. A large collection of art is displayed inside museums, churches, and cultural institutions. One of the salient venues is the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Academy of Fine Arts) in La Paz, which trains creative talent on painting, sculpture, and music. Other venues include the Museo de Arte Contempora´neo in La Paz, the Museo Arqueolo´gico in Cochabamba, the Museo de San Francisco in Potosı´, and the Casa de la Cultura in Santa Cruz. Painting The Colonial and Religious Inﬂuence

Most of the recognized paintings in Bolivia were created during the Spanish colonial period beginning in the 1500s. Initially, most of the paintings were based on religious motifs. Melchor Pe´rez de Holguı´n (1660–1732) is the most recognized Bolivian artist of the period based on his religious themes in the late 1600s. His unique style of painting went through stages of grayish images when he was young. Then they reﬂected bright colors during his 30s, when he tried to highlight the importance of a soul. Toward the latter stages of his life, Holguı´n’s work ﬁnally became deﬁned when he painted religious ﬁgures with noticeable cheekbones, eagle-like noses, and expressive eyes; these religious ﬁgures were always looking upwards towards the heavens. One of his most recognized oil paintings is La adoracio´n del nin˜o (Worshipping Baby Jesus), which displays people surrounding and praying around an image of baby Jesus. Holguı´n became the main founder of a unique style of religious painting that became known as the Potosı´ School in the 18th century. This new style was mostly based on the use of human ﬁgures, but still displayed mostly religious themes. It was also heavily inﬂuenced by other Spanish artists like Francisco de Herrera y Velarde and Francisco Lo´pez y Castro. Currently, La Casa de la Moneda (National Mint), located in Potosı´, holds the largest national collection of Holguin’s paintings, and they remain under lock and key; they are rarely open to the public, except on special occasions, on national holidays, or at the benevolence of the museum tour guides. Throughout the 1700s and 1800s, the Catholic Church trained mestizo and indigenous artisans. So, during this period, the mestizo baroque style of painting developed in Bolivia, which mixed native and Spanish styles. While

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it was based on the Potosı´ School of painting, it continued to evolve and morph to go beyond religious themes and incorporate representations of Bolivian landscapes and regional celebrations. Contemporary Painters

The founders of contemporary art in Bolivia are Cecilio Guzma´n de Rojas and Arturo Borda. Guzma´n was trained in Spain. Upon returning to Bolivia in the 1920s, he favored the illustration of native people as well as images from Machu Pichu in the Andes. His work reveals a deﬁnite inﬂuence by the cubism style of painting. Borda focused mostly on the calm nature of Andean landscapes, such as multiple images of Mount Illimani near La Paz.2 Contemporary painters in Bolivia often allude to the images of indigenous gods like Pachamama (Earth Goddess) and the Sun God. In the 21st century, Mamani Mamani is an extremely popular Bolivian painter who has a lot of success in national expositions, and he has also been invited for speciﬁc showings in Europe, Asia, and North America. He uses bright colors and a contemporary style that reveals inﬂuences of cubism and magical realism. His paintings usually portray indigenous rituals, a speciﬁc view of Aymara religion, and a deep spiritual connection with Pachamama, or Earth Goddess.3 A fellow painter, Ricardo Usnayo Quispe, has clearly been inﬂuenced by Mamani’s work. He uses similar bright colors and a hint of cubist style to honor indigenous gods and religions. In July 2010, he displayed a unique exhibition titled Homenaje a Pachamama (Homage to the Earth Goddess) at the Museo Costumbrista in La Paz. It consisted of 20 oil paintings highlighting the essential items related to Pachamama, such as the sun, ﬂowers, agriculture, and iconic representations of the Earth Goddess. Most modern Bolivian painters also have knowledge of the regional indigenous cultures, but they are more likely to have been inﬂuenced by European techniques and artistic movements developed in other Latin American nations like Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico. The city of Santa Cruz has emerged as an artistic hub with a comprehensive annual program. It offers an incredible richness of contemporary art and the ﬁnancial support of the local government to make it available to the public. A notable example was the 2010 exhibit at the venue Manzana 1, which takes its name from being the ﬁrst block (manzana) from the city center of Santa Cruz. This is a cultural organization that invites artists for an exhibit that could potentially beneﬁt the communities they represent. It occupies a colonial historical building that is very visible and accessible to the public, which makes it ideal for the display of visual arts. As an example of their recent work, in July 2010, they held an exhibit simply titled Hombres (Men), which gathered seven painters and

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Modern painting by Ricardo Unsayo Quise. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

photographers: Galo Coca, Oscar Barbery, Rodrigo Bellot, Eduardo Rivera, Julio Gonza´lez, Alfredo Muller, and Roberto Velca´rcel. They portrayed men from several different perspectives that were provocative, disturbing, erotic, aesthetic, and stereotypical. It was greatly attended by audiences of multiple age groups. This speciﬁc collection of oil paintings on canvas certainly generated heated debate and controversy. Contemporary Sculpture

The cities of Santa Cruz and Sucre have also established themselves as venues for artistic expositions for modern Bolivian sculptors. Perhaps the most recognized sculpture in Santa Cruz is not inside a museum but placed in the middle of a trafﬁc rotunda. It is called La Madre India (The Indian

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Sculpture of La Madre India in Santa Cruz. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

Mother), located in the southern part of town. The artist David Paz Ramos was commissioned in 1978 to build this structure that is roughly 24 feet (8 m) tall in order to make it highly visible in a public area. It vividly displays an indigenous woman covering and protecting her scared child. The body movement and the facial expressions clearly express the child’s agony and the mother’s comforting position with her arms around her child. Santa Cruz also offers an incredible richness of contemporary art, which is also ﬁnanced by private institutions in order to make artistic exhibits more available to the public. A salient example is the recent 2010 presentation of artist Ramiro Cucaracha at the Centro Cultural Simo´n I. Patin˜o in Santa Cruz. His work included the display of original drawings, wooden sculptures, and bronze statues. Since the Patin˜o center has a well-respected reputation as an artistic venue, it allows artists to reach wider audiences that they

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Sculpture Cabeza Indı´gena by Reynaldo Urioste. (Courtesy of Javier A. Galva´n)

could potentially cover on their own. Cucaracha’s exhibit in 2010 had a major message: to highlight how migrations from Europe and Africa inﬂuenced Latin American cultures. His work was extremely successful, and plans called for it to be expanded to the other Patin˜o centers in La Paz and Cochabamba. The colonial building of the Casa de la Libertad (Freedom’s House) in downtown Sucre houses one of the most impressive historical museums in the nation. However, it has recently started to accommodate temporary exhibits of modern Bolivian art, especially contemporary sculpture. In February 2010, it hosted an exhibit of modern sculpture by several Bolivian artists working in multiple media like wood, metal, bronze, stone, and leather. Three of the most remarkable artists in the series include Reynaldo Urioste (1944–2002), Francine Secretan (1988–), and Marcelo Callau (1946–2004). Urioste works mostly with metal statues of human ﬁgures that also blend in geometric shapes. Secretan often focuses on human-size sculptures that incorporate wood, polished metal, rope, and black stone. Callau is most comfortable when creating human torso sculptures made with polished wood; they highlight the female ﬁgure, but are usually hollow inside.

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FASHION DESIGN Fashion design and beauty-related products are serious business in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, which has emerged as an economic powerhouse for the marketing aspect of these industries. Santa Cruz has also become one of the main capital cities for the modeling industry in South America. The fashion world has created a special synergy that attracts talented fashion designers, modeling agencies, photographers, tailors, jewelry makers, cosmetic ﬁrms, seamstresses, and boutique operators. Bolivia Moda is the largest and most well-known fashion event in Bolivia, and it competes with rival fashion shows organized in Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia. The Bolivia Moda event is put together every May by Pablo Manzoni, the most famous fashion photographer in the country; he is also the owner of the most recognized modeling agency in Bolivia called Las Magnı´ﬁcas. By the middle of May, most Bolivian fashion designers release their annual collection for this fair, which is based mostly on women’s dresses for formal events. Some of the most recognized names in the local industry of fashion design are Liliana Castellanos, Kery Gutie´rrez, Erika Weise, Alejandra Moreno, and Marcelo Rojas. Since winter takes place in Bolivia from May through August, several regional clothing stores (like Zap, Almanza, Gloria, Metro´polis, Lolita, Hipermaxi, and Losiuko) also reveal their winter collection at the same time. Fashion is intrinsically related to hair styling and design. So, the city of Santa Cruz also organizes Expobelleza in May. It is a national convention in which hairdressing experts present new techniques, demonstrate their products, organize hairstyling contests, and offer specialized seminars. It also includes considerable space for displaying beauty, personal spa, and hairstyling products at the convention center. Overall, it is used as a professional development activity for many experts in the ﬁeld, who also try to develop further business connections to the fashion industry. While Bolivia Moda is intended to support and highlight the creative talent of national fashion designers, the city of Santa Cruz also organizes the International Fashion Week, which is administered by Chocho Parada and Sergio Morinigo. Parada is a talented event organizer who focuses on large musical projects and adds his special touch to this fashion event. Morinigo, on the other hand, is an Argentinean fashion designer and a talented producer of large-scale modeling events. They both oversee the participation of international brands and their designers who come to Bolivia to display their latest collections, such as Lacoste, Polo Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Lolita, and Jennifer Lo´pez. This event is more inclusive in clothing styles; it incorporates both formal wear, as well as casual and relaxed

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garments. Other designers from abroad have recently (since 2000) joined the Bolivian fashion festivals to offer exclusive designs as a way to penetrate the South American market. These fashion events also incorporate jewelry designs, and they always enroll the participation of talented Bolivian models, such as Paola Parada, who won the title of 2010 Bolivia Miss Tropic. In addition, cosmetics and jewelry designers also release their products to coincide with these national and international events. For example, the Bolivian company Yanbal hosts a beauty competition to select its main model every year. In 2010, Yovana O’Brian (a well-known fashion model) won the competition to become the “Rostro Yanbal” or the public image to display the store’s new collections of cosmetics and jewelry. That same year, Marı´a Rene´ Salazar was selected as the 2010 fashion model for the clothing and jewelry line Promociones Gloria. Another jewelry company that also employs famous models to launch its annual collection during this time is Joyerı´a Don˜a Perla, which promotes imported jewelry styles from China and Thailand. As expected, these events are also popular with regional politicians, the chamber of commerce who sees the potential tax beneﬁts for the region, and journalists who cover the stories for the different media formats. These events showcase the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra as an urban center that fosters creative talent in fashion, painting exhibits, sculpture collections, theater seminars, and cinema festivals. NOTES 1. Vivien Lougheed, Adventure Guide to Bolivia (Edison, NJ: Hunter Publishing, 2004), 23. 2. Robert Pateman, Cultures of the World: Bolivia (New York: Time Books, 1995), 89. 3. Ximena A. Linares Valdez, “De cerca con Mamani Mamani,” Check-In Bolivia: Traveler Information Journal 2, no. 7 (2010): 6–7.

Glossary

Altiplano (High Plane area): A leveled stretch of land located in between the Andes Mountains; it stretches from La Paz area down to the Argentinean and Chilean borders. Alto Peru´ (Upper Peru): The name of the Bolivian highlands during the Spanish colonial administration. Part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, it also used the name of Charcas. Anticucho: Pieces of beef heart grilled in a skewer. Arawi: A hybrid of Quechua and Aymara literary style that combined music and poetry; it is often referred to as sung poetry. Aymara: Indigenous language; also a reference to indigenous people. Bombı´n: A bowler hat used by indigenous women in the Bolivian highlands. Campesinos: Small-scale subsistence farmers. Charango: A 10-string instrument similar to a small guitar, traditionally made in parts of Bolivia using an armadillo’s shell. Charque de llama: Jerky made from llama meat. Chicha: Fermented corn beer. Cholitas: Aymara indigenous women who move to the city, but still wear their traditional dress. Chullo/chulla: Wool woven hats worn by men; they have a pointed top and lowhanging ﬂaps that cover the ears. Chun˜o: Specially prepared freeze-dried potatoes.

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Cocaleros: Coca leaf growers. CONACINE: Consejo Nacional del Cine (National Film Council). Cordillera: Mountain range. Costumbrista: A literary and artistic movement that draws on the Quechua and Aymara traditions and that enriches Bolivian culture and Latin American heritage. Criollos: People of European heritage but born in the Americas. Crucen˜os: People from Santa Cruz. Diablada: A festive dance featuring devil-like creatures; it is part of the annual Carnaval de Oruro. Dı´a del Mar (The Day of the Sea): On March 23, Bolivians celebrate, remember, and honor the War of the Paciﬁc against Chile, in which Bolivia lost territory and access to the Paciﬁc coast. Hechicerı´a: Traditional witchcraft. Indigenismo: A social, literary, and intellectual movement that highlighted the virtues of the indigenous cultures throughout Latin America. Inti: The god of the sun, and the most powerful god in the Inca pantheon. Law 1088: The Coca and Controlled Substance Law is intended to reduce cocaine production and to provide alternative crops to farmers. It also created a separate legal and judicial framework to prosecute drug trafﬁckers. Mate: Hot tea based on herbs such as coca leaves, chamomile, lemon grass, etc. Matrona: Midwife. Mestizos: People of mixed heritage (European and indigenous). Modernismo: A new literary movement started by poet Ruben Darı´o in Nicaragua in 1888, which aimed to break away from the Spanish mold and to produce original Latin American literature. Mude´jar: Moorish inﬂuence, especially in architecture. Pacen˜os: Inhabitants of the city of La Paz. Pachamama: Goddess of Mother Earth and fertility. Pen˜as: Local nightclubs that feature traditional Andean music. Pongaje: A feudal-like system of owning land and organizing peasants. Pueblos originarios: A new term used in the 2009 Bolivian constitution to make reference to the indigenous groups of the nation. Quechua: Indigenous language of the highlands of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru; the language of the former Inca Empire. Quena: Typical Andean musical instrument made like single-reed ﬂutes. Radios Mineras: Radio stations organized by mining workers. Salten˜as: Midmorning snacks in the shape of empanadas (turnovers) ﬁlled with meat, egg, and cheese.

GLOSSARY

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Soroche: High-altitude sickness. Surazo: Cold winds that come from northern Argentina. Vicun˜a: A relative of the llama and alpaca animals, but smaller in size. Viernes de soltero: An urban tradition in which men go out every Friday night, even if they are married. Villa Imperial: A name applied to the city of Potosı´ during the Spanish colonial period. It made reference to the imperial city because so much silver was extracted from the site and eventually shipped to Europe. Wiphala: A square ﬂag representing the native peoples of the central Andes in Bolivia. It uses the seven colors of the rainbow in a series of stripes and/or squares. Yatiri: A local witch doctor and spiritual guide. Zampon˜a: A musical instrument similar to a ﬂute but made from deep wooden pipes.

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WEB SITES Bolivia Cato´lica. http://www.boliviacatolica.blogspot.com. Bolivian Music includes an actual collection of music from traditional Andean composers to folklore dances and contemporary rock bands. http://www.bolivian .com/musica/index.html. Bolivian Musical Instruments offers a comprehensive collection of Bolivia’s musical variety, its instruments, native dances, and accomplished musicians. http:// www.libreriaboliviana.com (accessed December 9, 2010). Bolivia Web includes introductory links related to art, tourism, and culture. http:// www.boliviaweb.com. Casa Nacional de La Moneda, the site for Bolivia’s national mint, provides the history about the silver glory days of Potosı´. It also highlights the art and historical museum collections housed in one of the largest buildings ever erected by the Spaniards in the entire Western Hemisphere. http://www .casanacionaldemoneda.org.bo (accessed December 9, 2010).

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CIA World Factbook, “Bolivia.” https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world -factbook/geos/bl.html (accessed February 10, 2010). CONACINE is the federal agency housed under the Ministry of Education and Cultures. Their Web site is a useful resource to ﬁnd detailed information on modern ﬁlms and the history of Bolivian cinematography. It explains the services they provide for domestic and international ﬁlming crews, and the possible ﬁnancing that they offer to projects shot and developed in Bolivia. http://www.conacine.net. Culture Survival is an online journal with outstanding articles on cultures in danger of extinction. It includes articles that discuss the struggles and valuable advances on making sure the Quechua language survives and even thrives. http:// www.culturalsurvival.org (accessed December 9, 2010). Encuentro is a cultural magazine useful as a reference source for current events throughout the nation. http://www.bolivianet.com/cultura/encuentro/ index.htm (accessed December 9, 2010). Ernesto Cavour, the ofﬁcial Web site, narrates the work of this accomplished musician; it focuses on the history of Bolivian music. http://www.ernestocavour .com. Especial de 1963 offers a detailed analysis of the proud moment of the 1963 soccer championship of the Copa America. http://www.bolivia.com/Especiales/ campeones63/index.html (accessed December 9, 2010). Federacio´n Boliviana de Tenis (FBT). http://www.fbtenis.org.bo. Fiesta Nacional del Charango is the ofﬁcial site for the Feria y Festival Nacional e Internacional Del Charango, which is Bolivia’s most recognized musical instrument. http://www.charangoaiquile.com. Folklore Music and Dance includes an actual collection of music from traditional Andean composers to folklore dances, and contemporary rock bands. http:// www.bolivian.com/musica/index.html. FromBolivia is a resourceful Web site that offers a wealth of information related to Bolivian cinema, including a useful chronology, historical data, interviews with salient actors, directors, and writers, as well as up-to-date information on new ﬁlm releases. http://www.frombolivia.com. Fundacio´n Simo´n I. Patin˜o is a portal that is constantly updated on the activities and projects organized by this organization founded by a wealthy Bolivian mining entrepreneur in 1958. The foundation promotes and funds artistic exhibitions, reading and literacy programs, and educational opportunities for Bolivians through its network of centers based in La Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz. In addition, it offers scholarships for Bolivian students (especially women) to study abroad in the foundation’s own centers and educational institutions in Geneva, Switzerland. http://portal.fundacionpatino.org. Futboliviano offers up to date information and statistics on national fu´tbol teams and matches. http://www.Futboliviano.com. Inca Pallay Associacio´n de Arte Indı´gena offers detailed information on the textile creations of two indigenous groups in Bolivia. It also reﬂects the entrepreneurial

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spirit of female weavers, and it offers potential customers the opportunity to purchase original Bolivian textiles online. http://www.incapallay.org. Instituto Nacional de Estadı´stica de Bolivia (Bolivian National Institute of Statistics) provides comprehensive data (in Spanish) since the 2001 census and onto the most recent additions to 2010. It is constantly updated with relevant data and national statistics on demographic issues, economic data (export, imports, etc.), and social parameters such as education, language, poverty rates, and health care information. http://www.ine.gob.bo. La Revista Digital de Arte y Cultura offers a detail analysis of contemporary ﬁlm, theater, and cultural activities in the country. It also includes articles related to controversial topics in the arts as well as personal interviews with people who work behind the scenes, such as directors, technical personnel, and scouts for locations. http://www.palabrasmas.org. Librerı´a Boliviana is a comprehensive repository of literary material related to Bolivian poets, novelists, journalists, and playwrights. It offers biographies, literary chronologies, and links to Bolivian cinema and theater. http://www.libreriaboliviana .com. Loterı´a Nacional de Beneﬁciencia y Salubridad (National Lottery of Health and Social Assistance). http://www.lonabol.gov.bo. Lucha Libre Boliviana—Bolivia’s Wrestling Information. http://luchalibrebol .blogspot.com. Mount Climbing and Trekking provides technical information, weather conditions, and advanced technical information for mountain climbing in Bolivia. http:// www.boliviamountains.com/climbing. Mujeres Creando is a nonproﬁt organization functioning as an activist advocate for women’s rights and education in Bolivia. http://www.mujerescreando.com. Museo Nacional de Arte de Bolivia provides online access to a historical perspective of the museum, its permanent collections, visiting exhibits and research opportunities. http://www.mna.org.bo. Museum of Broadcasting Communications. http://www.museum.tv. Ofﬁcial Web site for the Presidential Ofﬁce of Bolivia: http://www.presidencia .gob.bo. Orquesta Sinfo´nica Nacional de Bolivia is the ofﬁcial site of the Orquesta Sinfo´nica Nacional de Bolivia based in La Paz. http://sinfonicabolivia.org (accessed December 9, 2010). Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) country report on Bolivia, 2009, offers detailed and updated information (up to 2009) on the health practices of Bolivia and places them in a comparison format with other Latin American nations. http://www.paho.org/English/DD/AIS/cp_068.htm. Press Reference offers updated summaries of information regarding communication networks and history of the press in multiple countries around the world. http://www.pressreference.com. Sistema Nacional de Radios de los Pueblos Originarios offers a narrative and statistical report on the development of this radio network to address the needs of

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indigenous groups, rural areas, and isolated communities. http://www .presidencia.gob.bo/documentos/sistema%20nacional%20de%20radios.pdf. Trazos is a literary journal showcasing emerging Bolivian authors and poets. http:// www.bolivianet.com/trazos/index.htm. World Health Organization. Country Health Proﬁle: Bolivia. August 13, 2010. http:// www.who.int/gho/countries/bol.pdf (accessed December 9, 2010).

NEWSPAPERS Cambio (national), http://www.cambio.bo El Deber (Santa Cruz), http://www.eldeber.com.bo El Dı´a (Santa Cruz), http://www.eldia.com.bo El Potosı´ (Potosı´), http://www.elpotosi.net La Prensa (national), http://www.laprensa.com.bo La Razo´n (national), http://www.la-razon.com

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Index

Abortion, 35–36, 58 Abusharar, Mahmud Amer, 33 Afro-Bolivians, demographics of, 9, 11 Agazzi, Paolo, 117–18 Agriculture: coca, xxi, xxii, 24–25; geography impacting, 4; pre-Columbian, 14, 15 Aguilera, Rolando, 46 Aguirre, Nataniel, 79, 81 Alcohol, 34, 56, 65 Alfaro, Oscar, 86 All Saints Day celebrations, 30–31 Almagro, Diego de, xvii, 16 Altiplano, geography of, 4, 5–6 Altitude, 3, 4, 5–6, 46–47, 48, 70 Alto Peru´, xvii–xviii, 16–17 Amautu (wise man), 38, 40 Amazon Basin, geography of, 4 Amerindians. See Indigenous people Andes Mountains, 5, 48 Antezana Quiroga, Sebastia´n, 89 Architecture, xx, 15, 141, 142–48 Arguedes, Alcides, xix, 81 Arts: architecture as, xx, 15, 141,

142–48; fashion design as, 141–42, 157–58; overview of, 125–26, 141–42; painting as, 141, 152–54; performing, xviii, xix, xxi, xxii, 55–56, 76, 84–86, 125–40; sculpture as, 154–56; textiles as, 15, 141, 149–52; visual, 141–42, 152–58 Atlantic Ocean, Bolivian access to, 4 Autonomı´as y Decentralizacio´n, xxiii Avaroa, Eduardo, 72 Ayacucho, Battle of, 18 Aymara people: dances of, 132; demographics of, 9–10; education of, 66–67; literature of/about, 76, 77–78, 82–84, 89–90; marriage of, 60; media contact with, 96, 102–3; religion of, 28, 29–30, 37; theater of, 135. See also Indigenous people Azul Azul, 131–32 Ballivian y Rojas, Vincente, 78 Banzer Sua´rez, Hugo, 23–24, 116, 117 Barbery Sua´rez, Oscar, 137

174

INDEX

Barrientos Ortun˜o, Rene´, 23 Barrios de Chungara, Domitila, 57 Basketball, 43–44 Beni River, 4 Bertonio, Ludovico, 77 Bolı´var, Simo´n, xviii, 1, 18 Bolivia: altitude in, 3, 4, 5–6, 46–47, 48, 70; art of (see Arts); capital cities of, 1–2, 3, 108 (see also La Paz, Bolivia; Sucre, Bolivia); chronology of events in, xvii–xxiii; cinema of (see Cinema); climate of, 3, 4, 5; constitution of (see Constitutions); customs and lifestyle in (see Social customs and lifestyle); departments of, 2; economy of (see Economy); education in (see Education); festivals and celebrations in (see Festivals and celebrations); ﬂag of, xviii, xxiii; geography of, 2–9; government of (see Government); health in (see Health); history of (see History); languages of (see Languages); literature of (see Literature); maps of, ii, 21; media in (see Media); military of (see Military); name of, xviii, 1; national anthem of, xviii; national identity in, 11–12, 111, 120; people of (see People); population of, 4, 9; poverty in, 12–14, 20, 34, 69, 117–18; religion in (see Religion); territorial losses of (see Territorial losses); tourism in, 97–98 Bolivian Conservatorio Nacional de Mu´sica, xix, 130 Bolivian Gas War (2003), 25 Bolivian National Revolution (1952): educational changes from, 66; history of, xx, 22–23; performing arts inﬂuenced by, 125, 136; political radio during, 101–2; religious changes from, 32 Borda, Arturo, 153 Botelho, Rau´l, 83

Brazil, territorial loss to, xix Broadcasting media, xix, xxiii, 91–93, 98–105 Bustamante, Richardo Jose´, 78–79 Cable television, 92, 105 Caceres, Artemis, 75 Caldero´n, Carlos, 141, 148 Caldero´n, Javier, 130 Callau, Marcelo, 156 Camacho, Diego, 50 Capital cities, 1–2, 3, 108. See also La Paz, Bolivia; Sucre, Bolivia Carnivals/carnavales. See Festivals and celebrations Casa de la Libertad (House of Freedom), 18, 19, 146, 156 Casa Nacional de la Moneda (National Mint), 146–47, 152 Casinos, 53–55 Castillo, Luis, 112 Catholicism. See Roman Catholicism Cavour, Ernesto, 127–29 Celebrations. See Festivals and celebrations Cellular telephones, 92 Ce´spedes, Augusto, 82 Chaco region: food in, 63; geography of, 5; petroleum reserves in, xix, 5, 6, 20–21 Chaco War (1932–1935), xix, 5, 20–21, 81, 82, 99 Charango (stringed instrument), xx, 126, 127–29 Charcas, xvii–xviii, 16–17 Cha´vez, Hugo, 26 Che Guevara, Ernesto, xx, xxi, 23 Children: birth of, 13, 36, 58–59, 70; education of (see Education); hair-cutting ceremony for, 61; literacy of, 13, 87; literature for, 86–87; mortality rates of, 13, 69, 70; number of, in families, 57, 60; quincean˜era celebration for, 61;

INDEX rites of passage for, 60–61; social customs and lifestyle related to, 58–59 Chile, War of the Paciﬁc with, xix, 9, 20, 72, 81, 83, 117 Chronology of Bolivian events, xvii–xxiii Chuquisaca, Bolivia, xviii, 18, 133. See also Sucre, Bolivia Cinema: 21st century, 120–22; awards for, xx, 112, 115, 117, 119, 120; background of, xxi, 112; contemporary, 118–20; economic reality of, 112, 118, 122–23; during military regimes, 116–18; overview of, 111; religion in, 36, 120; silent period of, xix, 112–13; technological and cultural advance in, 113–16 Climate, 3, 4, 5 Clothing: fashion design of, 141–42, 157–58; social customs and lifestyle related to, 61–62, 63; textiles and, 15, 141, 149–52 Coca and Controlled Substance Law (Law 1088 [1988]), xxi, 24 Cocaine: addiction to, 71, 137; coca plant eradication movements, xxi, xxii, 24–25; trafﬁcking of, xxi, 24, 137 Coca plants, xvii, xxi, xxii, 24–25, 34 Cochabamba, Bolivia: cinema in, 122; food in, 65; media in, 92, 95, 103, 104; music in, 55–56, 131; nightlife in, 55–56, 131; sports in, 45, 50; theater in, 136–37, 138; visual arts in, 152 Cochabamba Water Protests (2000), xxii, 25 Consejo Nacional del Cine (CONACINE), xxi, 118, 123 Constitutions: of 1826, xviii, 18, 19; of 1831, 19; of 1834, 19; of 1952, xx; of 1967, 32; of 2006, 57; of 2009, xxii–xxiii, 1, 11, 39–40, 91, 93–94,

175

106; Bolivian names in, 1; freedom of the press under, 91, 93–94, 106; religion addressed in, 32, 39–40; voting rights under, xx Cordillera Occidental Mountains, 5 Cordillera Real Mountains, 5, 48 Criollos (Spanish-ancestry people), 10–11 Cucaracha, Ramiro, 155–56 Dance, 125, 132–34 Darı´o, Ruben, 79, 80 Day of the Dead celebrations, 31 Day of the Sea celebrations, xx, 72 Death penalty, 35 Declaration of independence, 18 Departments, names and capitals of, 2 Devil/devils: celebration based on, 40–41, 73–74, 133–34; religious views of, 37–38 Diablada de Oruro celebration, 40–41, 73–74, 133–34 Dı´a de la Independencia (Independence Day), 72 Dı´a del Mar (Day of the Sea), xx, 72 Dı´a de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), 31 Dı´a de Todos los Santos (All Saints Day), 30–31 Dı´az Villamil, Antonio, 84–85 Domestic violence, 58 Drugs: addiction to, 71, 137; coca eradication, xxi, xxii, 24–25; trafﬁcking increase, xxi, 24, 137 Economy: cinema impacted by, 112, 118, 122–23; military rule impacting, 23–24; nationalism/ protectionism impacting, 23; poverty and, 12–14, 20, 34, 69, 117–18; theater attendance impacted by, 139 Education: artistic, 152; musical, 130; national system of, 23, 66–68; poverty impacting, 12–13;

176

INDEX

reform of educational system, 67; religious-based, xviii, 18; social customs and lifestyle related to, 57, 66–68. See also Literacy Eguino, Antonio, 117 El Alto, Bolivia: gambling in, 54; geography of, 4; media in, 92; sports in, 51 Electronic media, 91, 92, 105–6 Employment issues. See Labor issues Entertainment: cinema as, xix, xx, xxi, 36, 111–23; dance as, 125, 132–34; literature as, xix, xx, xxii, xxiii, 75–90, 97–98, 137–39; music as, xviii, xix, xx, xxi, 55–56, 125–26, 126–32; nightlife, 55–56, 131; sports as, 5, 43–52; theater as, xxii, 55, 76, 84–86, 134–40. See also Arts Environmental issues, xxi, 5–6 Ernst, Rau´l, 113 Ethnicity, 10, 11–12. See also speciﬁc ethnic groups European-ancestry people, demographics of, 9, 10–11 Families, 58–59. See also Children; Marriage Farmers, poverty of, 12–13. See also Agriculture; Rural people Fashion design, 141–42, 157–58 Fernanda A´lvarez, Marı´a, 49 Festivals and celebrations: alcohol consumed during, 34; All Saints Day celebrations, 30–31; Day of the Dead celebrations, 30; Day of the Sea celebrations, xx, 72; Diablada de Oruro celebration, 40–41, 73–74, 133–34; Festival Internacional de Teatro de La Paz, 138–39; Fiesta del Charango, xx, 128–29; Independence Day, 72; International Festival of Baroque Music, 131; performing arts included in, 125, 132–34; quincean˜era celebrations, 61;

religious basis of, 30–31, 40–41, 71, 73, 134; social customs and lifestyle related to, 71–74 Fiesta del Charango, xx, 128–29 Films. See Cinema Flag, national, xviii, xxiii Flores, Ce´sar D., 44 Folk music, xxi, 55–56, 125–26, 126–29, 131 Fondo de Fomento Cinematogra´ﬁco (FFC), 118–19, 122–23 Food and drink, 62–66. See also Alcohol Franz Tamayo Short Story Competition, xx, 89 Frayre Ricardo, Jaimes, 80, 84 Freedom of the press/expression, 91, 93–94, 106–9 Friday nights, 56 Fu´tbol (soccer), 43, 44–47 Gambling, 52–55 Garcı´a, Mara Lucy, xxii, 57, 88 Garcı´a Meza, Luis, xxi, 104 Garcilazo de la Vega, “El Inca,” 78, 135 Geography, 2–9. See also Altitude Glaciers, 5–6 Global warming, xxi, 5–6 Gonza´lez, Johnny and Cynthia, 134 Gonza´lez Go´mez-Acebo, Daniel, 135 Government: church and state relationship, 29, 31–32; cinema involvement of, 113, 115–16, 118–19, 122–23; constitutions of (see Constitutions); democratic, 24–26; educational system under (see Education); health care reform by, 13, 70–71; independent (see Independence); Iranian political ties with, xxiii, 33–34; media involvement of, xxii, 93, 96, 99, 101–3, 104, 105, 106–9; military control of, xx, xxi, xxii, 23–24, 116–18; national revolution

INDEX impacting, xx, 22–23; taxes by, 15, 17, 144; theater involvement of, 137. See also speciﬁc presidents by name Guarachi, Bernard, 48 Guaranı´ people, xxiii, 66–67, 135. See also Indigenous people Gueliler Tejada, Lydia, xx, 57 Guellar, Lidia, 24 Guerra Villalba, Jorge, 117 Guzma´n de Rojas, Cecilio, 153 Guzma´n Martı´nez, Augusto, 82 Hair-cutting ceremony, 61 Hair style/design, 157 Handel, David, 130 Hare Krishna, 32 Hasbu´n, Rodrigo, 90 Hats, 62, 63, 150 Health: childbirth and, 13, 36, 58–59, 70; health care reform, 13, 70–71; life expectancy and, 13; mortality rates, 13, 36, 58, 69, 70; national lottery proceeds toward, 53, 55; poverty impacting, 13, 69; social customs and lifestyle related to, 68–71; vaccinations and, 70 History (see also topics below for additional information): Bolivian National Revolution, xx, 22–23; democracy and indigenous activism, 24–26 (see also Political activism); independence era, xviii, 18–22; literary historical chronicles, 78; military control, xx, xxi, xxii, 23–24; overview of, 1, 14–26; preColumbian civilizations, xvii, 14–16; Spanish colonial period, 16–18 Holidays, 71–74. See also Festivals and celebrations Huallapa, Diego, xvii, 17 ICB (Instituto Cinematogra´ﬁco Boliviano), xx, 115–16 Ignacio de Sanjine´s, Jose´, xviii

177

Inca Empire: architecture of, 15, 142, 143–44; artistic inﬂuence of, 141; cinema about, 115; history of, xvii, 15–16; literary traditions of, 75, 76; religion in, 28–29, 38; road system of, 15, 142, 143–44; theater of, 135 Independence: church and state after, 31–32; declaration of, 18; history of, xviii, 18–22; Independence Day celebrations, 72; postindependence literature, 78–81 Indigenous people: cinema addressing, 111, 113, 115, 116, 117–18, 119, 122; dance reﬂecting, 132–34; demographics of, 9–10; education of, 66–67, 68; folk music of, xxi, 55–56, 125–26, 126–29, 131; health of, 13; languages of, 9, 26 n.6; literacy of, 13; literature of/about, xix, xxiii, 75, 76–78, 82–84, 89–90; marriage of, 60; media contact with, 92–93, 96, 102–3; military service of, 20–21; performing arts reﬂecting, xxi, 55–56, 125, 126–29, 131, 132–34, 135; political activism of, xix, 13–14, 21–22, 24–26, 34; poverty of, 12–13, 20, 117–18; pre-Columbian, xvii, 14–16, 28–29, 38, 75, 76–77, 115, 135, 142–44; rebellions against Spain by, xviii, 17–18; religion of, 28–29, 29–31, 37–39, 40–41; silver mining by, xvii–xviii, 6, 17; textiles of, 15, 141, 149–52; traditional clothing of, 61–62, 63; visual arts of, 142, 153, 154–55; voting rights for, 22. See also speciﬁc groups by name Instituto Cinematogra´ﬁco Boliviano (ICB), xx, 115–16 International Festival of Baroque Music, 131 International Monetary Fund, 25 Internet, 91, 92, 105–6 Iran, political ties to, xxiii, 33–34

178

INDEX

Islam, 33–34 Israel, diplomatic relations with, 34 Jairas, Los, 127 Jesuit priests: expulsion of, 17, 31; Jesuit University of, xviii, 18; literature by, 77–78; media involvement of, 99; power and inﬂuence of, 31 Jewelry design, 158 Judaism, 33–34 Judicial system, 35, 36 Kallawaya people, 135. See also Indigenous people Kjarkas, Los, 129 Knitting, 150 Kyoto Convention, xxi Labor issues: labor taxes, 15, 17, 144; minimum wage increase, xxii; mining-related, xix, 17, 37, 100; radio communication by labor unions, 100–101; women in labor force, 57–58; working conditions, 17, 20, 37, 82 Lake Titicaca: geography of, 6, 8–9; navy training on, 9, 72; preColumbian civilizations near (see Pre-Columbian civilizations) Land Reform Act (1996), 57 Languages: children’s exposure to, 59; cinema in, 122; educational issues with, 66–67; folk music use of, 127; literature in various, xxiii, 76, 77–78, 83–84, 89–90; media use of, 92–93, 96, 102–3; ofﬁcial, 9, 26 n.6, 127 La Paz (La Ciudad de Nuestra Sen˜ora de La Paz), Bolivia: architecture of, 142, 144, 146, 147–48; as capital city, 2, 108; cinema in, 113, 117, 122; festivals and celebrations in, 133, 138–39; food in, 63, 65; founding of, 17; gambling in, 52;

geography of, 4; media in, 92, 94–95, 99, 104; Museum of Musical Instruments in, 127–28; music in, xix, 55–56, 127–28, 130, 131; nightlife in, 55–56, 131; sports in, 44–45, 47, 50, 51; textiles from, 151; theater in, xxii, 85, 86, 136, 138–39; visual arts in, 152, 153 Lara, Jesu´s, 76, 82–83 Legislation: Autonomı´as y Decentralizacio´n, xxiii; Coca and Controlled Substance Law (Law 1088/1988), xxi, 24; Land Reform Act (1996), 57; Law 1674, 58; Law 2029, xxii; La Ley General del Cine (Law 1302), xxi, 118 Lenix, 54 La Ley General del Cine (Law 1302), xxi, 118 Life expectancy, 13. See also Mortality rates Lifestyle. See Social customs and lifestyle Literacy: children’s, 13, 87; literacy rates, 13, 57, 66, 68; voting rights and, xx, 22 Literature: children’s, 86–87; contemporary topics of, 83–84; female writers of, xxii, 79, 87–88; indigenous-oriented, xix, xxiii, 75, 76–78, 82–84, 89–90; literary awards and competitions, xx, xxiii, 82, 83, 87, 89–90; literary media publications, 97–98; modernist, 79–81; modern literary trends, 81–83; overview of, 75; postindependence, 78–81; pre-Columbian, 75, 76–77; Spanish colonial, 77–78; theatrical/ dramatic, 76, 84–85, 137–39 Lithium reservoir, 7–8 Loayza, Marcos, 119 Los Jairas. See Jairas, Los Los Kjarkas. See Kjarkas, Los

INDEX Loterı´a Nacional de Beneﬁciencia y Salubridad (LONABOL), 52–53, 54, 55 Lotex, S. A., 53–54 Lowlands, geography of, 4–5 Loza, Remedios, xxi Luque, Hernando de, 16 Madeira River, 4 Madre de Dios River, 4 La Madre India (the Indian Mother), 154–55 Magazines, 92, 96–98 Maidana, Velasco, 113 Mamani, Mamani, 142, 153 Mamore River, 4 Manzoni, Pablo, 157 Maps of Bolivia, ii, 21 Ma´rquez, Mela, 119 Marriage, 59–60 Martı´nez, Mario, 49–50 Martı´nez Arzans y Vela, Nicola´s de, 78 MAS (Movimiento Al Socialismo), xxii, 25–26, 36. See also Morales, Evo McDonalds, 65 Media: background of, 91–93; broadcasting, xix, xxiii, 91–93, 98–105; electronic, 91, 92, 105–6; freedom of the press/expression for, 91, 93–94, 106–9; legal and constitutional issues with, 93–94; overview of, 91; print, xix, xxii, 92, 94–98; professional organizations related to, 93, 94 Medinaceli, Carlos, 83, 98 Men: clothing of, 62, 63; families of (see Children; Families; Marriage); Friday nights out for, 56 Menacho, Ce´sar, 44 Me´rida, Carlos, 119 Mesa, Carlos, 14 Mestizos: cinema portrayal of, 115; demographics of, 9, 11; mestizo-style

179

art/architecture, 146, 152; self-identiﬁcation as, 10 Mier Rivas, Adolfo, 137 Military: government military regimes, xx, xxi, xxii, 23–24, 116–18; indigenous people in, 20–21; navy, 9, 72. See also speciﬁc wars Mining/minerals: elitism of mining entrepreneurs, 20, 22; labor issues with, xix, 17, 37, 100; lithium, 7–8; miners’ radio transmissions, 100–101; nationalization of mines, 22; religious practices of miners, 37–38; silver, xvii–xviii, 6, 17; tin, xix, xxi, 6 Mita´ (labor taxes), 15, 17, 144 MNR. See Movimiento Nacional Revolucionario (MNR) Monroy, Ricardo, 50 Morales, Evo: election of, xxii, 6–7, 26, 71, 109; gambling response of, 54, 55; health initiatives of, 13, 71; Iranian political ties with, 33–34; labor policies of, xxii; land seizure by, xxiii, 7; media involvement of, 96, 102–3, 105, 106, 108–9; nationalization of petroleum/gas industry by, 6–7; ocean access goals of, 20; political activism of, 25; political strategies of, 25–26; religious practices of, 40 Moreno, Gabriel Rene´, 79 Morinigo, Sergio, 157 Mortality rates, 13, 36, 58, 69, 70 Mountain sports, 5, 44, 47–49 Movies. See Cinema Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS), xxii, 25–26, 36. See also Morales, Evo Movimiento Nacional Revolucionario (MNR): founding of, 22; governance under, xx, 22–23, 24–25, 101, 115; media usage by, 101; national revolution by, 22 (see also Bolivian National Revolution [1952])

180

INDEX

Museum of Musical Instruments, 127–28 Music, xviii, xix, xx, xxi, 55–56, 125–26, 126–32 National anthem, xviii National ﬂag, xviii, xxiii National identity, 11–12, 111, 120 National revolution. See Bolivian National Revolution (1952) Natural gas, 6–7, 25. See also Petroleum Navy, 9, 72 Nevado Sajama, 5 Newspapers, xix, xxii, 92, 94–96 Nightlife, 55–56, 131 O’Brian, Yovana, 158 Ocean access, xix, xx, 4, 9, 20, 72, 81, 83, 117 Ohara, Maricarmen, 86, 87 Oil. See Petroleum Orquesta Sinfo´nica Nacional, xix, 130 Oruro, Bolivia: Diablada de Oruro celebration in, 40–41, 73–74, 133–34; media in, 95 Otera, Gustavo Adolfo, 82 Pachamama (Mother Earth goddess), 28, 31, 37, 39, 133, 153 Pacheco Balanza, Ma´ximo Andre´s, 89 Paciﬁc Ocean, Bolivian access to, xix, xx, 9, 20, 72, 81, 83, 117 Painting, 141, 152–54 Parada, Chocho, 157 Parada, Paola, 158 Paraguay, Chaco War with, xix, 5, 20–21, 81, 82, 99 Paraguay River, 4 Paredo, Ne´stor, 115–16 Pasos Kanki, Vicente, 78 Patin˜o, Simon I., 20. See also Simo´n Patin˜o Center and Foundation Paz Estenssoro, Victor, 22–23 Paz Ramos, David, 155

Paz Zamora, Jaime, 24 Peccioti, Bernardino, xix, 98 Pen˜as (music nightclubs), 55–56, 131 People: Pre-Columbian civilizations; Rural people; Urban people; Men; Women: customs and lifestyle of (see Social customs and lifestyle); education of (see Education); ethnic identity of, 10, 11–12; geographic dispersion of, 4, 9; health of (see Health); national identity of, 11–12, 111, 120; overview of, 9–14; political activism of (see Political activism); population of, 4, 9; social issues impacting (see Social issues); voting rights of, xx, 22, 58. See also Indigenous people Pe´rez, Alraro, 89 Pe´rez de Holguı´n, Melchor, 152 Pe´rez Gacha, Juan Carlos, 44 Performing arts: dance as, 125, 132–34; music as, xviii, xix, xx, xxi, 55–56, 125–26, 126–32; overview of, 125–26; theater as, xxii, 55, 76, 84–86, 134–40 Perrı´n Pando, Alberto, 115 Peru, xviii, 19–20. See also Upper Peru (Alto Peru´) Petroleum: Bolivian Gas War over, 25; Chaco region, xix, 5, 6, 20–21; nationalization of industry, 7. See also Natural gas Pin˜era, Sebastia´n, 20 Pizarro, Francisco, 16 Pizarro, Gonzalo, 16 Political activism: history of, 24–26; indigenous, xix, 13–14, 21–22, 24–26, 34; military rule leading to, 23–24; privatization and coca eradication sparking, 25; religious support for, 34. See also Bolivian National Revolution (1952) Population, 4, 9 Posnansky, Arturo, 113

INDEX Potosı´, Bolivia: architecture of, 144, 146, 148; fu´tbol events in, 45; literature written about, 78, 83; media in, 92, 98; silver mining near, xvii–xviii, 6, 17; textiles from, 151; visual arts in, 152 Poverty: cinema portrayal of, 117–18; education and, 12–13; health and, 13, 69; impact of, 12–14; independence leading to continued, 20; religious stances on, 34 Pre-Columbian civilizations: architecture of, 15, 142–44; cinema about, 115; history of, xvii, 14–16; literary traditions of, 75, 76–77; religion of, 28–29, 38; theater of, 135 Premio Nacional de Novela de Bolivia, 89 Press. See Media Print media, xix, xxii, 92, 94–98 Protestantism, 32–33, 34–36 Pujol, Daniel, 138 Quakers, 32–33 Quechua people: dances of, 132; demographics of, 9–10; education of, 66–67, 68; Inca heritage of, 15; literature of/about, 76, 77–78, 82–84; marriage of, 60; media contact with, 96, 102–3; religion of, 28, 29–30, 37; theater of, 135. See also Indigenous people Quincean˜era celebration, 61 Racquet sports, 44, 49–51 Radio broadcasting, xix, xxiii, 91, 93, 98–103 Red de Microcines in Bolivia, 123 Religion: artistic representation of, 141, 152–53; church and state relationship, 29, 31–32; cinema portraying, 36, 120; constitutions addressing, 32, 39–40; festivals and celebrations based on, 30–31, 40–41,

181

71, 73, 134; indigenous, 28–29, 29–31, 37–39, 40–41; Islam, 33–34; Judaism, 33–34; literature based on, 76, 77–78; media promotion of, 95, 99; overview of, 27; pre-Columbian, 28–29, 38; Protestantism, 32–33, 34–36; religious-based education, xviii, 18; rites of passage related to, 60, 61; Roman Catholicism (see Roman Catholicism); social issues addressed by, 33, 34–36; superstition and, 30, 37–39; theater reﬂecting, 135–36 Restaurants, 64–65 Reyes Ortiz, Fe´lix, 136 Rites of passage, 60–61 Road systems, 15, 143–44 Roca, Augusto, 115 Roman Catholicism: artistic inﬂuence of, 152–53; Bolivian practice of, xviii, 27, 29–31; media use by Catholic Church, 95, 99; rites of passage related to, 60, 61; social issue stances of, 34–36; superstition and, 30, 37–39; theater reﬂecting, 135–36. See also Jesuit priests Ruiz, Jorge, 115, 117 Rural people: education of, 12–13, 23, 66–67; health of, 13; judicial system among, 35; marriage of, 59–60; nightlife of, 55; poverty of, 12–13; religion of, 31 Saavedra, Karmen, 138–39 Sabja, Yazmine, 50–51 Salar de Uyuni, 7–8 Salazar, Marı´a Rene´, 158 Salmo´n, Rau´l, 136 Salt ﬂats, 7–8 Sambarino, Pedro, 112–13 Sa´nchez de Lozada, Gonzalo, xxii, 24–25 Sanjine´s, Jorge, 115–16, 119 San Martı´n, Jose´ de, 18

182

INDEX

Santa Cruz, Andre´s de, 19 Santa Cruz, Bolivia: architecture of, 142, 148; cinema in, 119, 120, 122; festivals and celebrations in, 133; food in, 63, 64, 65; gambling in, 53, 54; media in, 92, 95, 104; music in, 55–56, 131; nightlife in, 55–56, 131; sports in, 45, 46, 47, 49–50, 51; theater in, 136–37, 138, 139; visual arts in, 141, 152, 153–58 Santo Toma´s, Domingo de, 77 Sculpture, 154–56 Secreton, Francine, 142, 156 Seventh-day Adventists, 32 Shooting sports, 44 Siles, Hernando, 99 Silver mining, xvii–xviii, 6, 17 Simo´n Patin˜o Center and Foundation, 87, 88, 155–56 Sistema Educativo Antidrogas y de Mobilizacio´n Social (SEAMOS), 137 Skiing, 5, 44 Soccer, 43, 44–47 Social customs and lifestyle (see also topics below for additional information): clothing, 61–62, 63; education, 57, 66–68; family and children, 58–59; food and drink, 62–66; gambling, 52–55; health, 68–71; holidays and festivals, 71–74; marriage, 59–60; nightlife, 55–56; overview of, 43; rites of passage, 60–61; sports, 43–52; women, 57–58 Social issues: literature addressing, 82–83; media focus on, 97; national lottery proceeds toward, 52–53, 55; poverty as, 12–14, 20, 34, 69, 117–18; religious groups addressing, 33, 34–36 Spanish-ancestry people, 10–11. See also Mestizos Spanish colonialism: architecture of, 144–47; artistic inﬂuence of, 141,

152–53; cinema portrayal of, 113, 119; dances reﬂecting, 133; festival play enacting, 41, 73, 134; history of, xvii–xviii, 16–18; literature during, 77–78; music introduced during, 129–30, 131; rebellions against, xviii, 17, 18; religion introduced during, xviii, 29–30 (see also Roman Catholicism); textile industry during, 150; theater inﬂuenced by, 135–36 Sports: basketball, 43–44; fu´tbol (soccer), 43, 44–47; international competitions, 44, 45–47, 49–50; mountain sports, 5, 44, 47–49; racquet sports, 44, 49–51; shooting sports, 44; skiing, 5, 44; social customs and lifestyle related to, 43–52; volleyball, 44; wrestling, 44, 51–52 Sua´rez, Gasto´n, 84, 85 Sucre, Bolivia: architecture of, 144, 145–46, 148; as capital city, 1–2, 3; Casa de la Libertad (House of Freedom) in, 18, 19, 146, 156; cinema in, 114, 122; education in, xviii, 67–68; media in, 94, 103; music in, 130; name of, 2, 18; nightlife in, 55–56; Spanish colonial administration in, 16; textiles from, 151; theater in, 85; visual arts in, 154, 156. See also Chuquisaca, Bolivia Sucre Alcala´, Antonio Jose´ de, xviii, 2, 18, 32 Superstition, 30, 37–39 Tahuichi Soccer Academy, 46, 47 Tamayo, Franz, 80. See also Franz Tamayo Short Story Competition Taxes, labor, 15, 17, 144 Tejiendo Arte (the Art of Weaving), 151 Telecommunications, 92 Television, 91–92, 104–5 Tennis/racquet sports, 44, 49–51

INDEX Territorial losses: map of, 21; to Brazil, xix; to Chile, during War of the Paciﬁc, xix, 9, 20, 72, 81, 83, 117; to Paraguay, during Chaco War, xix, 5, 20–21, 81, 82 Textile industry, 15, 141, 149–52 Theater, xxii, 55, 76, 84–86, 134–40. See also Cinema Tin mining, xix, xxi, 6 Titicaca, Lake. See Lake Titicaca Tiwanaku (Tihuanaco) people, xvii, 14–15, 75, 142–43 Torrez, Juan Jose´, 116 To´rrez Ma´rquez, Federico, xxiii, 89–90 Tourism, media promoting, 97–98 Tupac Amaru II, xviii, 17 United States: Bolivian foreign aid from, xxii, 23; diplomatic relations with, xxii; drug trafﬁcking issues with, xxi, xxii, 24; infant mortality rates in, 13, 69; Islamic opposition to, 33–34; life expectancy in, 13 Upper Peru (Alto Peru´), xvii–xviii, 16–17 Urban people: architecture for, 147–48; cinema for, 122; education of, 66; marriage of, 59–60; nightlife of, 55–56; poverty of, 12; quincean˜era celebrations of, 61; religion of, 31. See also speciﬁc cities by name Urioste, Reynaldo, 156 Usnayo Quispe, Ricardo, 153, 154 Vaccinations, 70 Valdivia, Juan Carlos, 119 Vallejo, Gaby, 86, 87 Villaroel Arana, Rau´l, 140

183

Villarroel, Gualberto, 22 Visual arts: fashion design as, 141–42, 157–58; overview of, 141–42; painting as, 141, 152–54; sculpture as, 154–56 Volcanoes, 5 Volleyball, 44 Voting rights, xx, 22, 58 War of El Acre (1900), 81 War of El Chaco (1932–1935), xix, 5, 20–21, 81, 82, 99 War of the Paciﬁc (1879), xix, 9, 20, 72, 81, 83, 117 Wasson, Kenneth, 115 Weaving, 141, 149–51 Witchcraft Market, 38–39 Women: abortions for, 35–36, 58; education/literacy of, 13, 57, 66; employment of, 57–58; families of (see Children; Families; Marriage); Friday nights out for, 56; health of, 13, 36, 58–59, 70; literature by, xxii, 79, 87–88; mortality rates of, 36, 58; poverty of, 12–13; as president, xx, 24, 57; social customs and lifestyle of, 57–58; traditional clothing of, 61–62; violence against, 58; voting rights for, 22, 58; wrestling by, 51–52 World Bank, 67 World Health Organization (WHO), 68, 70 Wrestling, 44, 51–52 Yanahuaya, Marcelino, 115–16 Yatiri (witch doctor), 28, 38, 39 Yungas, geography of, 4 Zamudio, Adela, 79

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About the Author JAVIER A. GALVA´N is a professor of Spanish and Latin American history at Santa Ana College in California. Dr. Galva´n’s interest in the Western Hemisphere has allowed him to explore most of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. His academic interests are varied, and he has published articles, books, and encyclopedia entries on different topics related to Cuba, Argentina, Spain, Portugal, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Chile, and Jamaica. He also wrote the book Culture and Customs of Puerto Rico for this Greenwood series. He considers himself to be a social historian, and he is a ﬁrm believer of interdisciplinary education as part of a lifelong learning process. At a personal level, he enjoys riding motorcycles, watching foreign ﬁlms, and reading on a wide range of topics from science to novels and poetry.

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