Origins of the Cuban Revolution Reconsidered by Farber Samuel;

Author:Farber, Samuel;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2006-10-17T04:00:00+00:00

U.S. Policy toward the Bolivian Revolution

When the Bolivian Revolution erupted in April 1952, the U.S. course of action was far from obvious. The MNR leaders were the same people Washington had forced out of the Villaroel administration in the mid-1940s as Nazi sympathizers. The MNR’s ideological influences during the 1930s had included fascism. Then, after World War II, MNR leaders came to be suspected of Communist links, a suspicion encouraged by the Marxist elements of their program and by support from Bolivian Communists in the 1951 elections. The MNR’s proposal to nationalize the tin mines did not exactly endear the party to U.S. officials under the prevailing McCarthyite climate. However, aside from its demand for nationalization and its leftist rhetoric, the MNR program was rather vague and did not contain a specific plan of governmental action, probably because of the party’s political heterogeneity.108

Washington’s immediate reaction to the 1952 revolution was to withhold recognition. Implied in this hostile gesture was a serious threat that the United States would not negotiate tin purchases with the Bolivian revolutionary government. This clearly provided Washington with a great deal of bargaining power. Faced with similar hostile acts, Fidel Castro’s revolutionary government, which had received recognition soon after taking power, frequently and from the beginning responded with loud protests and mass demonstrations denouncing U.S. imperialist policies. The MNR, however, kept a low profile and dedicated itself to calming U.S. fears. The Bolivian party insisted that its administration would be peaceful and would respect international agreements and private property. It pledged that the nationalization of the mines would not be rushed and insisted that the new Bolivian government wanted to reach an agreement with the mine owners. In early May 1952, provisional president Siles Zuazo asserted that the MNR opposed Communism and was independent of Moscow, Washington, and Perón’s Argentina.109 Finally, the United States formally recognized the revolutionary regime on June 2, 1952, a little less than two months after the April revolution. By then, Washington had been reassured that compensation would be paid for expropriated mining properties.110

In addition to diplomatic recognition, the United States provided an aid program to Bolivia after Milton Eisenhower, the president’s brother, visited the country in mid-1953. Eisenhower was impressed by the MNR leaders and became convinced that they were not Communists. U.S. aid was multifaceted and even included an unusual element: budget support to help cover substantial governmental deficits. An important byproduct of this aid program was the development of close personal and political ties between U.S. diplomats and technicians and their Bolivian counterparts as well as the MNR leadership.111 These links would be greatly strengthened when John F. Kennedy assumed office in early 1961: Bolivian President Víctor Paz Estenssoro became a favorite of the Kennedy White House. Here was a democratically elected president whose moderate but generally progressive policies could be held up as an example of Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress in its Latin American propaganda struggle against the Cuban Revolution.

By the early 1960s, however, the Bolivian Revolution was well on its way to becoming domesticated and subject to U.

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