By Nieves Zúñiga, reviewed by Pamela Cartagena, general director of the Centro de Investigación y Promoción del Campesinado (CIPCA). This is a translated version of the country profile originally written in Spanish.
With its 1,098,581 km2 of surface area[1], Bolivia is known as a country of two very marked contrasts. On the one hand, there is the altiplano, in the west, dominated by the Andes and the valleys, and where La Paz, the seat of government, is located. It represents 37% of the national territory and where 72% of the population lives. In the highlands, there are two main indigenous groups; Aymara and Quechua, which form the majority of the population (between 70% and 80%). On the other hand, are the lowlands, in the east (known as Oriente), with the Amazon and rainforest dominating the landscape, and with the city of Santa Cruz as the centre of the Bolivian economy.
The 2009 Constitution took the recognition of collective land rights to a higher level by recognizing the right to self-determination of "indigenous native peasant peoples" and their right to autonomy (Art. 2). This implies speaking not only of indigenous land but also of indigenous territory.
Patacamaya, Bolivia, photo by Mariano Mantel, 2016, CC BY-NC 2.0 license
In the past, the lowlands were sparsely populated and generally ignored by the political class in La Paz, until their fertile lands were "colonized" by migrants from the highlands in times of economic crisis. The Bohan Plan of 1952 was aimed at the economic development of the Oriente and involved the construction of roads and economic development based on natural resources. Over time, policies were developed in search of integration, sovereignty and economic interests generating different types of settlements in the east. In the lowlands, the native indigenous population are the minority (less than 40%) but very diverse, with 34 groups. The differences between the Collas (people of the highlands) and the Cambas (people of the east) have shaped the rural landscape. In the highlands, smallholdings and family agriculture predominate, while in the lowlands, industrial agriculture and large estates have prevailed.
Despite these two contrasts, east and west, Bolivia is one of the 16 megadiverse countries on the planet, given its diverse eco-regions. Currently, national regulations and planning recognize five macro regions in the country: altiplano, valleys, chaco, tropical plains and the amazon.
As in many Latin American countries, the history of land governance in Bolivia in the first half of the 20th century can be summarized in the concentration of land in a few hands (landowners) and in large estates. But, the evolution of the land situation in the country, closely connected to the demands of the indigenous population, reached unprecedented levels in the region, culminating in the transformation of Bolivia into a plurinational state in 2009 with 36 recognized nations.
The process of re-founding the state was led by Evo Morales, the Andean country's first president of indigenous origin, and leader of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) the party in government since 2006. Morales adopted the demands of peasants and indigenous people in his political agenda to counteract the demands for autonomy of the Media Luna (the name given to the departments of Santa Cruz, Pando and Beni in the east), whose political leaders defended the interests of landowners and industrial agriculture.
But far from a simplified scenario in which a homogeneous indigenous population opposes an oligarchic class, what characterizes the Bolivian case is the great diversity and sometimes opposing demands coming from various identity groups claiming their rights to both land and territory, and thus to autonomy and self-determination as peoples, especially in the lowlands. Among these groups are; the indigenous people of the altiplano (some of them called campesinos, while others recognize themselves as the originals, especially in the ayllus - the original social community of the Andean region), the indigenous people of the lowlands, the coca growers, and the colonists (later called intercultural). The history and circumstances of each group and the government's responses to their demands have shaped the complex land situation in Bolivia.
Historical context
To understand land governance in Bolivia, it is necessary to look at the development of a complex web of rural identities that developed after the National Revolution of 1952. In 1950, there was extreme inequality in land distribution. There was a feudal labor system that perpetuated Indians as free serfs, and a lack of modernization of the agricultural industry. The National Revolution brought about the transition from a feudal economy to an economy under state control, the inclusion of the Indian masses in the voting population, the creation of a new bourgeoisie ready to industrialize the country, the care and development of the Eastern Lands and the Agrarian Reform, among other changes[2].
The Agrarian Reform of 1953 consisted of the confiscation of land from the haciendas, the abolition of working conditions under the control of the hacienda owners, and the distribution of land to the Indians through their unions and communities, with the proviso that such land could not be sold individually[3]. One of the tasks of the newly created Ministry of Indigenous and Peasant Affairs was to organize a network of peasant unions and encourage the formation of cooperatives[4]. This allowed the government to have control over the peasantry, now a large part of the electorate, by directing their own form of organization as peasants. This process mainly affected the indigenous population of the highlands. Until then, the eastern lands were somewhat ignored by the authorities, and the lowland indigenous people were kept out of these transformations.
In 1985, the crisis in the mining sector led to the mass dismissal of mining workers, many of them of Quechua origin, victims of neoliberal policies. Some of these miners migrated to the Chapare region to become coca growers, and others migrated to the Oriente to occupy State lands, becoming colonists. Later, some of these settlers would identify themselves as intercultural, in line with the decolonizing discourse promoted by Evo Morales, leader of the coca growers, the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), and president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. In the 1980s, the coca growers' movement emerged in response to the fight against drug trafficking, waged by the Bolivian government with the intervention of the United States, to defend the coca plant as part of Andean culture. Both the cocaleros and the inter-culturalists saw themselves as owners of the process of change that the MAS government later brought about.
Meanwhile, in the East and the Amazon, the indigenous peoples, who since the 1990s had advanced in land regulation and titling, managed to title many community lands of origin (TCOs) under the modality of collective property. However, in many areas of the country where there were strategic economic interests, for example, in relation to hydrocarbons, minerals, etc., they had to face two main problems. They are; an unjust distribution of land (since many TCOs only managed to title 20% of their demand, as in the Bolivian Chaco), and the alteration of their ways of life due to the extractive activities of the natural resources on their lands[5]. In relation to the first aspect, the challenge for indigenous peoples was twofold: on the one hand, the Agrarian Reform of 1953 was not applied in the same way in the lowlands, where a land tenure system characterized by large extensions of land in the hands of few people was maintained; on the other hand, there was the migration of "settlers", peasants and former miners from the highlands with indigenous origins who, motivated by colonization policies, relocated to the East to work the lands provided by the government.
So far 87% of the land has been cleared and the government plans to complete the 13% by 2023[6], although, as shown throughout the text, the process is not without tensions and conflicts.
These different rural identities are deeply attached to the land. Although at times they have been united in the same demand, at other times their conflicting interests have led to conflicts between them.
Land legislation
In 2009, the process of re-founding the State carried out by the government of Evo Morales resulted in a new Constitution[7]. The focus given in the new Constitution to return sovereignty to the people (as opposed to the oligarchs and multinationals) and to the "peoples", in a State defined as plurinational, had a direct impact on land governance.
The 2009 Constitution took the recognition of collective land rights to a higher level by recognizing the right to self-determination of "indigenous native peasant peoples" and their right to autonomy (Art. 2). This implies speaking not only of indigenous land but also of indigenous territory[8]. In practice, this means that the indigenous native peasant autonomies are empowered to make decisions in their territory regarding the construction of irrigation systems or roads, and the promotion of agriculture and livestock, among other aspects (Art. 304). However, the decision-making capacity of the indigenous native peasant autonomies, like the rest of the autonomies in Bolivia, is limited by a system of competences present in the Constitution. These competences were later developed in the Framework Law on Autonomy and Decentralization of 2010, consisting of four types of competences: privative, exclusive, shared and concurrent[9].
On the other hand, according to article 394 of the Constitution, the State recognizes, protects and guarantees the communal or collective property of the native intercultural communities and peasant communities. Collective property is declared indivisible, imprescriptible, un-seizable, inalienable and irreversible and is not subject to payment of agrarian property taxes.
Another change was to prioritize the social economic function of land. In its Article 56, the Constitution recognizes the right of every person to individual or collective private property as long as it fulfils a social function. The Social Economic Function (FES) of land is defined as the sustainable use of land in the development of productive activities, in accordance with its capacity for greater use, for the benefit of society, the collective interest and its owner (Art. 397). This concept was already introduced in the agrarian reform of 1953 to support the distribution of land among family farmers[10]. In its Art. 315, the State recognizes the ownership of land to legal persons legally constituted in the national territory as long as it is used for the fulfilment of the purpose of creation of the economic agent, the generation of employment and the production and commercialization of goods or services.
The importance of the collective sense of the land and its FES was also highlighted in the modification of the INRA Agrarian Reform Law No. 1715 of 1996 by Law No. 3545 of 2006 on Communal Re-conduction of the Agrarian Reform[11]. The INRA Law already recognized communal property and created the "Community Land of Origin". Among the modifications brought about by Law 3545 were the verification and establishment of FES boundaries. The latter could only be verified in the field every two years[12] and now includes the areas actually used, rest areas (rotation), legal conservation easements, and growth projections. The growth projection for the average property is 50% and for agricultural enterprises, 30%[13]. In 2015, through Law 740, the FES verification time was increased from two to five years[14], which could potentially benefit the livestock and landowning sectors.
Land tenure issues
In Bolivia, the main forms of land tenure are ownership and leasehold. The types of ownership are then categorized into; state land, individual ownership and communal land. Ownership can be acquired by inheritance, transferred by the State or by purchase[15]. There are four categories of land ownership: residence, small family farms of up to 50 hectares, medium-sized farms producing for the market and agricultural enterprises[16]. The Bolivian Constitution of 2009 classifies individual agricultural property into small, medium and entrepreneurial, based on area, production and development (Art. 394). Private property is guaranteed as long as its use is not detrimental to the collective interest.
Collectively owned lands can be community lands of origin (TCO) for indigenous people or communal properties in the case of peasants. According to the INRA Law, none of them can be reverted, alienated, encumbered, seized or acquired by prescription. The distribution and redistribution for individual and family use and exploitation within the collectively titled communal lands of origin and communal lands shall be governed by the rules of the community according to its norms and customs[17]. In the highlands, collective social organization is the dominant tenure system. Although individual ownership also exists which has led to the division and sale of land within the communities themselves. In the lowlands there are community systems, legally recognized collective property, managed through agreements[18].
The cadastre and land registry system in Bolivia is decentralized. It is made up of; the rural cadastral registry under the responsibility of INRA, the urban cadastral registry under the responsibility of the Cadastre Unit, the local registries under the responsibility of the municipal governments and the Property Rights Registry[19]. No updated data have been found for the online registry.
The current land registration and distribution is the result of a land titling process initiated 25 years ago. At the beginning, the process focused mainly on the dissolution of the large estates in the East and on responding to the indigenous demands of the TCOs. Since 2006, sanitation has reached every corner of the country. During Morales' presidency, the government handed over more than one million land titles, a significant increase compared to the 25,457 titles handed over by previous neoliberal governments[20]. By May 2021, 87% of the land had been regularized and redistributed[21].
Land use trends
In 2020, Bolivia's forest area occupied 46.9% of the territory, showing a progressive reduction with respect to the 53.36% of forest area in 1990[22]. If in the 1990s the main reason for deforestation was industrial agriculture, especially soybean cultivation, later it was mainly due to the expansion of cattle ranching[23]. Bolivian lowland forests have also suffered from fires and from the traditional practice of "chaquear" or burning the land to stimulate greater seasonal production. The problems associated with this practice is that in times of drought and wind they turn into forest fires because preventive measures are not taken due to lack of resources. Between 2001 and 2020, an average of 3.7 million hectares burned annually in Bolivia[24]. In 2019, that figure increased to 6.4 million ha[25].
In 2018, the cultivated agricultural area in Bolivia was 3,856,000 hectares[26], which represents an increase from 2,308,000 hectares in 2004[27]. Economically, the agricultural sector in Bolivia contributed 10.6% of GDP from 2006 to 2019. The alternation of agricultural policies aimed at supporting farmers or supporting consumers by changing prices in recent years has helped boost the sector with the highest growth (6.6%) since 2017[28].
Bolivian farmers prepare the soil for planting quinoa, photo by Bioversity International, Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Despite this growth, employment figures in agriculture have declined from 30% in 2017 to 26% in 2019 due to migration to urban areas and the economic attractiveness of commercial and manufacturing activities[29]. However, in the rural world, the activity that generates the most employment continues to be agriculture livestock forestry. Another characteristic of the agricultural sector in Bolivia is that although the productivity gap between Bolivia and other countries in the region has narrowed in recent decades due to the inclusion of technology, especially in soybean production, it is still lower. For example, Bolivian soybean yields were 75% of the regional average[30].
The agricultural sector is divided into; non-industrial agriculture, industrial agriculture, livestock, coca cultivation and forestry. Industrial agriculture consists of extensive soybean, sunflower and sugar cane production. Extensive agriculture is mainly developed in Santa Cruz, the department with the largest extension of agricultural land in Bolivia with 70.5%. Non-industrial agriculture is the subsector that contributed the most to GDP from 2006 to 2019 with an increase in 2013 from 45.6% to 52%[31].
According to the 2015 Agricultural Survey, 2,697,341 ha were used for agricultural purposes in the 2014-2015 summer season[32]. At that time the crops that used the largest areas were oilseeds and industrial crops with 45.16% of which 84% was soybeans, cereals with 28.92% of which 41% was corn, tubers and roots with 8.14% of which 80% was potatoes, and fruits with 6.10%[33].
Livestock activities focus in order of size, on cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and camelids (llamas and alpacas). In 2015, there were 8.9 million cattle, 7.4 million sheep and 2.1 million goats. Most of the cattle (74.7%) were in the lowlands (Santa Cruz, Beni)[34]. In 2019, the number of cows reached 9.7 million. In 2019, the chicken population was 226.8 million and was mainly located in Santa Cruz and Cochabamba[35].
As for the urban area, 69.4% of the Bolivian population lived in cities in 2018. In recent years, the trend in the expansion of the urban area shifted from departmental capitals to intermediate and peripheral cities[36]. Another characteristic of Bolivian urban growth is that it owes more to investments and real estate speculation than to housing for living[37].
Land investments
In the 1990s, investments in Bolivia were largely devoted to the extraction of natural resources such as natural gas, oil and minerals. However, as part of the change in the socio-economic model that took place after 2005, policies sought to avoid the privatization of resources by strengthening state management of national wealth. This change sought to eliminate the paradox of being a country rich in natural resources (49% of Bolivian territory contains natural gas and oil) but with high levels of poverty (in 2004, 62.7% of the Bolivian population lived below the poverty line)[38].
Thus, the hydrocarbon industry was nationalized and became the property of the Bolivian State, and contracts with multinationals were renegotiated to limit them to production[39]. This decision was legally backed by Decree No. 28701 on the Nationalization of the Chaco Hydrocarbon Heroes in May 2006[40]. Article 357 of the Political Constitution of the State establishes that natural resources are the property of the Bolivian people and no foreign or national person or company can register them on the stock market or use them as a means of financial operations. Only the State can register and record the reserves. For example, only the State can trade with hydrocarbon resources because they are inalienable and imprescriptible property of the Bolivian people (Art. 359). The nationalized mining groups, their industrial plants and smelters belong to the patrimony of the Bolivian people and cannot be transferred or awarded to private companies (Art. 372).
The government has numerous policies and initiatives to support farmers through the Ministry of Rural Development and Land (MDRT), the Ministry of Productive Development and Plural Economy (MDPEP) and the Ministry of Environment and Water (MMAA). For example, IPDSA prioritizes small and medium-sized producers in its projects, as well as family and community agriculture with programmes such as the National Potato Plan, the National Vegetable Plan and the National Tomato Plan. Some of the programs seek to support organizations and alliances of small producers such as PAR and DETI in the framework of Organized Enterprises for Self-Managed Rural Development (EMPODERAR); others seek to increase the resilience of communities and small producers to climate change such as ACCESOS in the framework of the Agriculture Adaptation Program (ASAP); or support small producers with infrastructure and the inclusion of technology such as CRIAR and PICAR[41].
However, although no total figures have been found on the number of farmers benefiting from these programs, some critics consider that the scope of these policies is limited. This position is based on the modest impact that some of these programs aspire to. For example, the National Potato Plan aimed to help 1058 families[42]. In 2021, within the EMPODERAR program, the Frutas de los Valles Project benefited 564 families (of the 3,324 programmed), the Amazonian Fruits Project 141 families (of the 4,230 programmed), and the Cucumber Project 4,230 families (of the 4,230 programmed) and the Cocoa Project to 221 families (of the 4027 programmed)[43]; where the number of small producers is much higher (according to data from the 2013 national agricultural census[44], 575,652 of the 861,608 agricultural production units that have or work plots or land are less than 10 hectares).
Producer support (Estimated Producer Support, EAP) in Bolivia has two modalities. Market Price Support (MPS), which quantifies the difference between farm gate prices and reference prices, and Direct Support (DS). In 2006 and 2008-2012, producer support was negative, meaning that the producer received a lower farm-gate price than the reference price due to policies restricting exports of cereals and other products. After the lifting of the export restriction in 2013, the support became positive again. Export policies also affected market price support by discouraging productions of some products. The most consistent direct support to producers in Bolivia are inputs such as fertilizers, seeds, fodder and animal feed. Other forms of direct support are in the form of fixed capital (construction of ponds, wells and water tanks) and in the form of services (technical, commercial and sanitary assistance)[45].
Lastly, in the spirit of Vivir Bien, Bolivia's policies are aimed at stabilizing the domestic economy in order to achieve food sovereignty. Along these lines, in January 2022, Bolivia invested 254 million dollars in programmes for the production of tubers, livestock, and beekeeping, cotton, fishing and Andean grains to guarantee food security[46].
Land acquisitions
In recent decades, Bolivian government discourse on land has condemned latifundios[47] and land regulations have been designed to prevent large-scale land acquisitions. The 2009 Constitution prohibits latifundia as unproductive land and therefore contrary to the requirement that land serve a social function. In addition, the Constitution establishes a maximum allowable land area of 5000 ha (Art. 398).
Despite these norms, foreign agribusiness has found ways to circumvent them and carry out their activities in the name of regional development. In the Oriente, particularly in Santa Cruz, there are cases of land grabbing associated with the industrial and export agriculture developed in the region and operated by the so-called "trans-Latin" companies (ETL)[48]. Since 1990, the area under cultivation in Santa Cruz expanded from 400,000 ha to two million ha in 2011. At first the main reason was the expansion of soybean cultivation and since 2005, cattle ranching. The expansion of soybean cultivation and cattle ranching activities from Brazil into Bolivia has led to one million hectares being controlled by foreigners, mostly Brazilians, in these areas[49].
One of the explanations for the lax behavior of the Bolivian government with Brazilian investors is the export of gas from Bolivia to Brazil through a 2000 km pipeline that has connected Santa Cruz and Sao Paulo for more than two decades. This is one of the main sources of income for Bolivia[50]. This trade agreement was recently renewed and extended until 2026[51].
Looking to the future, the project to create a corridor connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific by train through Brazil, Bolivia and Peru[52] is likely to facilitate agro-industrial crop and livestock activities.
Land conflicts
While the diversity of indigenous and peasant voices has united in some cases, their competing demands have led to conflicts between the different legally recognized groups and government responses to those demands. These conflicts are highly politicized, making their resolution even more difficult.
A past but very representative case of the complexity of political agendas around land in Bolivia is the conflict around the Isiboro Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS). The park was declared a protected area in 1965 and through the indigenous community land (TCO) in 1990. The fact that it is a National Park and therefore subject to environmental protection by the State, while at the same time an indigenous territory, with the right to indigenous autonomy granted by the 2009 Constitution, means that it is subject to two different types of legislation that sometimes overlap[53]. Within the Park's boundaries live indigenous peoples (Chimán, Mojeño-Trinitario and Yuracaré), as well as peasant settlers of Aymara and Quechua origin. In June 2009, the TIPNIS obtained the definitive collective title of the Isiboro Secure TCO, considering the Chiman, Mojeño and Yuracaré as the legal owners of the territory. Two months later, in August 2009, President Morales and the former president of Brazil, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, signed the construction project for the road that would link the two countries and cross the TIPNIS.
The Park's indigenous communities opposed this decision because the government did not respect their right to be consulted on projects that affect them, in violation of Article 30 of the Constitution. They also argued about the alteration of indigenous community life and the negative consequences that this project would bring to the ecology of the Park, contravening Article 347 on the responsibilities of the State in the protection of the environment. Underlying this argument was also indigenous concern about the expansion of coca settlements in their territory, a conflictive situation that began in the 1980s. The indigenous peoples began a march against this initiative. After several attempts at dialogue between the marchers and the government failed, the government accused the marchers of being supported and manipulated by the United States. The government thus failing to address the indigenous demand and problematizing them as a kind of conspiracy. The government ended up using violence to force the marchers to dissolve the march[54].
In October 2011, the government finally passed Law 180, which declared the TIPNIS an intangible zone and therefore prohibited the construction of the road that crosses the Park[55]. However, this measure would not put an end to the conflict. In December 2011, a march in favour of the road began, led by indigenous communities living in an area called "Polygon 7", which is inside the Park but outside the boundaries of the indigenous territory. They have individual property titles within the National Park, although they do not consider themselves legal owners of the indigenous territory, as the other indigenous communities do. Their leader Gumercindo Pradel used the same argument of consultation to reject the law banning the road, saying that the law had not been consulted with all the communities within the TIPNIS and should therefore be repealed[56]. The counterargument expressed to this demand is that the only ones legitimized for consultation are the communities within the boundaries of the TCO, not only of the Park. This debate raised the question of who should be consulted, putting on the table the question of the ownership of collective rights to indigenous peoples and, consequently, of who are considered indigenous peoples.
The lowlands continue to be the scene of increasingly political and violent land conflicts[57]. In some cases, the conflicts are caused by the settlement of peasants and interculturals on fiscal lands where indigenous communities live who have not yet received a right of ownership. In other cases, the conflicts are due to the fact that the local indigenous communities living on these lands have "expectancy rights", but intercultural people or peasants have priority. In the last eight years there have been more than 1,400 new settlements[58].
A more recent case was provoked by the reactivation in 2021 of the Chepete-El Bala hydroelectric project[59]. The project consists of the construction of dams in Beni that would displace 5,000 indigenous people living on the edge of the Madido National Park and Integrated Management Area and in the Pilón Lajas Biosphere Reserve and Communal Land of Origin. The project began 50 years ago but has been discarded several times due to its economic unfeasibility and high environmental cost. The indigenous population in the area, belonging to six different indigenous peoples, denounced that the implementation of the project would cut off three rivers vital to their existence as peoples - Beni, Tuichi and Quiquibey - and that forced displacement would mean dispossessing them of their territories. The indigenous people are demanding that the consultation be carried out, although some of them have come to an agreement with the state electricity company Ende to carry out feasibility studies for the project[60].
Another conflict took place in 2015 between the indigenous Guaraní Takovo Mora and the YPFB Chaco oil company. On one hand, the indigenous people demanded consultation on the project and, on the other, the oil company and the government argued that consultation was not necessary because, although the oil estate is located within the indigenous people's Communal Land of Origin, the location of the wells is on private land. The Center for Research and Information Bolivia (Cedib) pointed out that hydrocarbon exploration with zero environmental impact is not possible, regardless of the technology used, and that the opening of trenches and detonations for seismic exploration and drilling break the ecosystem and affect both the environment and the indigenous territories[61]. Indigenous protests were curtailed through the use of violence, raids and gassing of the community[62].
Women's land rights
The INRA law explicitly commits to gender equality in land distribution, administration, tenure and use, regardless of women's social status (Art. 3)[63]. Despite the expressions of gender equality in the law, such equality is not always reflected in reality. According to some studies, one reason is women rarely inherit land and their land rights tend to be less secure because they often lack identity documents or are in unregistered relationships, which prevents them from exercising their legal rights[64]. Land titling data also indicate that men have control over larger and more productive landholdings than women[65].
In addition, there is insufficient clarity about women's land rights in collective territories and communal lands[66]. According to some studies, in customary law there are still preferences for men in terms of access to and management of natural resources[67]. For example, land inheritance in the highlands and valleys is restricted to men. For example, women do not always participate in land decision-making and some communities provide young men with a chaco or a small plot of land[68]. Although women participate in assemblies, where each family has one vote, and can express their opinions, they cannot vote unless they are heads of households[69]. On the other hand, in the lowlands, collective land ownership makes women invisible, which does prevent women from taking a particularly active role in defending the land in cases of conflict[70].
In Bolivia, the State has the obligation to promote policies aimed at eliminating all forms of discrimination against women in land access, tenure and inheritance, as established in the 2009 Constitution (Art. 402). The Constitution also establishes that fiscal land will be endowed in accordance with sustainable rural development policies and the right of women to access, distribute and redistribute land, without discrimination based on marital status or marital union (Art. 395).
Timeline - milestones in land governance
1953 - Agrarian Reform
The Agrarian Reform consisted of the dissolution of the large estates, the elimination of the feudal labor regime in the countryside and the redistribution of land among the indigenous population.
1980s - Migration of population to the Oriente
The crisis in the mining sector forced the migration of miners to the valleys and lands of the Oriente. As a result, new identities were created around the land: the cocaleros and the colonists or settlers (later called intercultural).
1990 - March for Territory and Dignity
Thousands of indigenous people and peasants from the lowlands of the Oriente undertook this march to denounce the social exclusion and territorial dispossession caused by extractive companies to indigenous peoples.
1991 - March for Sovereignty and Dignity
The coca growers' movement initiated this march against militarization and forced eradication of the coca plant. To defend their right to cultivate, the coca growers created an ethnic discourse about the sacred value of the coca plant for indigenous peoples and in Bolivian culture and made clear the distinction between the coca plant and cocaine. Behind this claim was also criticism of the government of the time for losing its sovereignty and allowing a foreign power - the United States - to intervene against Bolivian culture.
1996 - March for Land and Territory. INRA Law
Indigenous people and peasants marched against the INRA Law with regard to the commercialization of land, and the limited role given to civil society through the National Agrarian Commission, among other aspects. The government managed to stop the march by promising to incorporate indigenous demands into the law. The INRA Law was approved in 1996 and recognized the right of indigenous peoples to their original communal lands.
2002 - March for Popular Sovereignty, Territory and Natural Resources
Indigenous people and peasants from the lowlands, and other social movements from other regions that joined them later, marched with demands related to the agrarian question. But, in this case, there was a broader national demand: to hold a Constituent Assembly and the establishment of a new contract between the state and civil society.
2000s - The Gas and Water Wars
In 2000, the privatization of water distribution in Cochabamba in favor of the U.S. company Bechtel provoked the so-called Water Wars. Intense social protests against this project led to its cancellation and the nationalization of water. In 2003, the Gas War, caused by the Bolivian population's opposition to the government's plan to export natural gas to the United States at a very small profit for Bolivia compared to the profits made by the multinationals involved in the business, precipitated the end of the presidency of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada.
2005 - Election of Evo Morales president
In December, the first president of indigenous origin was elected president of Bolivia: Evo Morales. A coca growers' leader, Morales had a political discourse based on "decolonizing" the state from the elite and foreign influence, particularly from the United States, and returning power to the people. He became the standard-bearer of peasant and indigenous demands.
2006-2007 - Refounding of the State
The Morales government initiated a process of re-founding the State through a Constituent Assembly with the active participation of indigenous peoples. The INRA Law was updated by Law 3545 to emphasize the community character of agrarian reform.
2009 - New Constitution
The new Constitution defines Bolivia as a plurinational State made up of 36 nations, and recognizes indigenous symbols and languages as official representatives of the Bolivian State.
Where to go next?
Suggestions from the author to learn more
Bolivia being one of the few countries that has legally recognized indigenous autonomies, we recommend reading IDEA's report Indigenous Autonomies in the Highlands which includes tools and in-depth analysis to support the implementation of such recognition. Rural women in Bolivia are active in claiming their land rights.
Gender equality has been achieved on paper, but there are gaps in actual practice. To learn more about the situation of rural women in Bolivia compared to other Latin American countries, we recommend two reports. One is Tierra de mujeres. Reflections on rural women's access to land in Latin America, from 2011, which addresses the cases of Bolivia and Guatemala. The other is the more recent Rural women: between dispossession and persistence, from 2021, by the International Land Coalition. In addition to Bolivia, the study includes the cases of Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador.
Agriculture is one of the main sectors of the Bolivian economy. For a comprehensive overview and analysis of agricultural policies we recommend the recent Agricultural Policy Analysis in Bolivia published in 2021 and prepared by the Inter-American Development Bank. The report covers the period 2006-2018.
Bolivia adhered to the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) in 2012. For an analysis of the implementation of the Guidelines in 2014 we recommend the report Responsible Governance of Tenure. Applicability in Bolivia and Peru of the 'Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security' by Tierra and CEPES.
References
[1] National Statistics Institute (INE)
[2] Klein, H. S. (2011). A Concise History of Bolivia. Cambridge University Press.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Alexander, R. J. (1958). The Bolivian National Revolution. Rutgers University Press.
[5] An example of this is when, in 1987, the Bolivian government authorized some companies to intervene in the Caimanes Forest to cut down trees, ignoring the territory's title as a protected reserve and displacing its indigenous inhabitants. This provoked the organization of indigenous communities to reclaim their land rights, a movement that preceded the March for Territory and Dignity in 1990. Patzi, F. (2007). Insurgency and submission. Movimientos sociales e indígenas. 1983-2007. Ediciones Yachaywasi.
[6] Vice-Ministry of Communication. "INRA plans to clear and title 100,000 hectares of land in 2021".
[7] Constitution of Bolivia (2009).
[8] In the specialized literature, territory refers to the geographical perimeter that has meaning for the people who inhabit it, combining the symbolic, economic, social and cultural factors that have historically shaped their cultural and ethnic identity. FAO. Indigenous communities and territories and their role in land administration. Tool for designing, monitoring and evaluating land administration programmes in Latin America.
[9] Citizenship Bolivia. Competence Catalogue of the Autonomous Territorial Entities (ETAs) of Bolivia.
[10] Carmen Diana Deere, et. al. (2011). Women's Land. Reflections on rural women's access to land in Latin America. Fundación Tierra. International Land Coalition.
[11] Law No. 3545 on Community Redirection of Agrarian Reform (2006).
[12] Supreme Decree No. 29215.
[13] National Institute of Agrarian Reform. Agrarian Regulation in the Era of Community Redirection.
[14] Plurinational Legislative Assembly (2015). Law No. 740 on the Extension of the Period for Verification of the Social Economic Function.
[15] FAO. Bolivia. Gender and Land Rights Database.
[16] USAID (2011). Property Rights and Resource Governance Bolivia.
[17] National Institute of Agrarian Reform. Agrarian Regulation in the Era of Community Redirection.
[18] FAO. Bolivia. Gender and Land Rights Database.
[19] USAID (2011). Property Rights and Resource Governance Bolivia.
[20] National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA). "Government delivers more than 2 thousand agrarian titles for anniversary of Santa Cruz". September 23, 2018.
[21] Juan Pablo Chumacero Ruiz. (2021). "What happens to land distribution after saneamiento?" Fundación Tierra.
[22] World Bank.
[23] Robert Müller et.a. (2014). 'Proximate causes of recent deforestation (2000-2010) in the Bolivian lowlands and modelling of future scenarios'. Ecology in Bolivia, 49 (1).
[24] Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN) and WCS (2021). Forest fires in Bolivia. Analysis of impacts of forest fires on conservation values in Bolivia 2020.
[25] Judit Alonso (2019). Bolivia, between deforestation and soil degradation. DW.
[26] National Institute of Statistics (INE). (2020). Agriculture and Livestock. Boletín Sectorial No. 1.
[27] UDAPE. (2015). Sectoral Diagnostics. Agropecuario.
[28] Ibid.
[29] Andrea Alcaraz Rivero et. al. (2020). Análisis de Políticas Agropecuarias en Bolivia. BID.
[30] Ibid.
[31] Ibid.
[32] National Institute of Statistics (2017). Agricultural Survey 2015.
[33] Ibid.
[34] Ibid.
[35] Andrea Alcaraz Rivero et. al. (2020). Análisis de Políticas Agropecuarias en Bolivia. BID.
[36] Ministry of Public Works, Services and Housing (2020). Cities Policy.
[37] Ibid.
[38] UNDP (2004). 2004 Human Development Report.
[39] Mabel Azcui (2006). "Morales bets on negotiating with Spain and the multinational as "partners", but not as "owners". El País.
[40] Nationalization of hydrocarbons "Héroes del Chaco" Decree No. 28701. May 1, 2006.
[41] Andrea Alcaraz Rivero et. al. (2020). Análisis de Políticas Agropecuarias en Bolivia. BID.
[42] Los Tiempos (2017). "Inauguran en Bolivia el programa de producción nacional de la papa". Potatopro.
[43] Ministry of Rural Development and Lands. Empower Program. Public Hearing of Accountability Final 2021.
[44] National Institute of Statistics (INE). (2015). Bolivia Agricultural Census 2013.
[45] Andrea Alcaraz Rivero et. al. (2020). Análisis de Políticas Agropecuarias en Bolivia. BID.
[46] Prensa Latina (2022). "Bolivia reinforces food security with investments".
[47] EL País. (2006). "Evo Morales declares war on unproductive large estates in Bolivia".
[48] Miguel Urioste (2013). "The Great Soy Expansion: Brazilian land grabs in Eastern Bolivia". Food First.
[49] Ibid.
[50] Peter Law and Nelson de Franco (1998). International Gas Trade - The Bolivia-Brazil Gas Pipeline'. Viewpoint. World Bank.
[51] Daniel Ramos (2020). Bolivia extends gas deal with Brazil's Petrobras to 2026'. Reuters.
[52] MAFEX (2018). Bi-Oceanic Railway Corridor: Linking the Atlantic and Pacific by train.
[53] Roca, J. Indigenous identity discourses and the state within the TIPNIS conflict in Amazonian Bolivia: flourishing identities from the 1990s to Evo Morales' hegemony. Paper presented at the Latin American Studies Association Congress 2013, May 30 - June 1, 2013. Washington, DC [unpublished].
[54] Pabo Villegas (2011). "Evo Morales violently represses indigenous march demanding their constitutional rights". CEDIB.
[55] Law for the Protection of the Indigenous Territory and Isiboro Sécure National Park - Tipnis No. 180.
[56] Kenner, D. (2012). "Interviews: Bolivian indigenous leaders from CONISUR and CIDOB on TIPNIS conflict". Bolivia diary.
[57] EFE. "Land conflict in Bolivia becomes more political and violent". La Paz, December 11, 2021.
[58] Ibid.
[59] Iván Paredes Tamayo. (2021). "Bolivia: fear in six indigenous peoples over reactivation of Chepete-El Bala hydroelectric project". Mongabay.
[60] Ibid.
[61] Ejatlas. Takovo Mora, Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
[62] Ombudsman's Office (2016). Informe Defensorial sobre la Violación de Derechos Humanos de la Capitanía Takovo Mora, Perteneciente al Pueblo Indígena Guaraní. La Paz.
[63] National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA). Agrarian Legislation. In the Era of Community Reconduction.
[64] Ibid.
[65] Land. (2014). Responsible governance of land tenure. Tierra. CEPES.
[66] Carmen Diana Deer et al. (2011). Rural women's land. Reflections on rural women's access to land in Latin America. Fundación Tierra, International Land Coalition.
[67] Ibid.
[68] USAID (2011). Property Rights and Resource Governance Bolivia.
[69] Carmen Diana Deer et al. (2011). Rural women's land. Reflections on rural women's access to land in Latin America. Fundación Tierra, International Land Coalition.
[70] Rocío Corrales (2022). "10 Bolivian women leading the fight for the defence of Mother Earth".