Ideology and Social Change in Latin America by Nash June;Corradi Juan;Spalding Hobart;

Author:Nash, June;Corradi, Juan;Spalding, Hobart;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group

a) A Departmental Federation

The establishment of linkages between peasants, politicians, party and governmental organizations at various levels is best seen through a description of various activities which took place in Sipe Sipe, subcapital of the Quillacollo province in the Lower Valley. This town had served for more than a decade prior to 1952 as a focus of contact and agitation among peasant leaders of the lower Valley and neighboring highland provinces of Ayopaya and Tapacari which culminated in a large-scale rebellion in the latter two provinces in 1947 (Dandier 1971: Chapter 3).

When a new mayor was installed in Sipe Sipe shortly after the April Revolution, he established contact with campesinos and some of the pre-1952 leaders in the region. As assistant mayor, he named Sinforoso Rivas, who is described by campesinos as a sharp, cunning valluno, very capable as a business and political operator, literate, and equally fluent in Spanish and Quechua. Son of an hacienda tenant (colono), he worked in the mines in his early twenties, where he rapidly rose through various positions beyond what most men of his social background achieved (employee in the company store and payroll office). There he became involved in the mining labor union movement and closely acquainted with Lechin and other mine leaders. Because of political involvement, Rivas and many others were fired en masse in 1946 after the overthrow of the Villaroel regime. He returned to the Lower Valley, started a prosperous business which involved influential contacts in the mines and the Lower Valley, and also became a provincial representative of the judiciary (corregidor).

As soon as Rivas became assistant mayor in April 1952, he promoted himself to higher authorities. In an interview with Minister Lechín in La Paz, Rivas discussed the agrarian problems of his area, stressed the necessity to organize campesinos and offered his services. The Minister promptly replied that the best place Rivas could serve the revolution was in the lower Valley and promised him full personal and official backing. After these critical negotiations, Sipe Sipe became an intense center of rural mobilization. The rapid establishment of an effective network which included the neighboring highlands was considerably facilitated by the organizational groundwork there which had developed a decade earlier and the availability of campesinos with considerable expense.21

These organizational efforts achieved formal recognition through the founding of the Departmental Campesino Federation on August 6, 1952, in Sipe Sipe. Headed by Rivas, the Federation was formally associated with the COB and designed to have formal jurisdiction over all campesino organizations in the Department. This association offered campesinos an important mechanism to articulate their demands. On the other hand, to the Ministry of Campesino Affairs and other governmental organizations, the Federation became an important nexus to channel resources, organize the countryside and delegate formal authority. Nevertheless, the Federation did not control all rural agents, leaders or followings in the Department nor was Rivas accepted by all as their highest leader. Simultaneously, a rival domain was emerging in the Upper Valley under the leadership of José Rojas.

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