Bolivia's Land Reform:
CHAVEZ, NUFLO
An agrarian revolution BOLIVIA'S LAND REFORM By Nuflo Chavez THE ROOTS of agrarian unrest in Bolivia go back to the Spanish Conquest. The Conquistadores orig?inally enslaved the Indian, and the...
...The In?dian was a serf on the huge lati-fundio, and the power of the land?lord or "gamonal" was buttressed by local authorities, secular and re?ligious...
...under all circumstances, corporate farms are limited to 1000 to 5000 acres, depending on loca?tion...
...Under special circumstances, land can be taken from the last type of farm if it is absolutely needed to provide local peasants with some holding...
...The man in charge of that reform is the author of this article, Minister of Peasant Affairs Nuflo Chavez...
...Judges, mayors, sub-prefects, and even notaries had the right to "fine" the peasants and obtain potatoes, eggs, chickens, sheep, or domestic labor service...
...What we have sought in the Bo?livian land reform is to overcome this feudal economy, in which land?lords derive their income solely on the basis of land ownership...
...The State also respects the land held by farm cooperatives and the ancient Indian communities...
...The Conquistadores orig?inally enslaved the Indian, and the nineteenth-century wars of independ?ence, largely waged by merchants eager to break Spain's trade mon?opolies, did little to change the In?dian's status...
...He sketches here the new law's chief features...
...By freeing the 80 per cent of our people who had been subject to semi-feudal domination, our reform will also increase the market for consumers' goods and pave the way for future industry...
...The Indian (70 per cent of Bolivians are Indian or mestizo) became a tenant farmer, obligated for service at ridiculously low wages and perpetually in debt to the land?lord for high-priced food and al?cohol...
...Before 1952, therefore, Bolivia's land system was semi-feudal and technically very backward...
...The Agrarian Reform Law of August 2. 1953 empowers the state to take over the latifundio for dis?tribution among the peasants??-either as individual holdings or through the Indian communities...
...In order not to have his land expro?priated under the reform, a landlord must (1) abolish forced labor and pay wages to his workers, and (2) derive the larger part of his income from the work of himself and his family and or his investment in capi?tal equipment...
...A profound social revolution has been in progress in Bolivia since April 1952...
...The gamonal made no capital investment in the land, but relied for his income on the sheer facts of ownership and free Indian labor...
...3) progressive farmers who work their land themselves and have invested some capital, and (4) corporate farms using modern methods which have a sizable capital investment...
...ignorance, red tape, debt and force served to turn most of the Indian lands over to big landlords...
...2) the medium proprietor (200-1500 acres) in many sections...
...Our agrarian reform not only protects the peasant and restores his dignity, but also, we believe, will stimulate technical development and mechanization...
...More intensive use of the soil is bound to result...
...One of the most significant reforms in?stituted by the government of Victor Paz Estenssoro has been an agrarian reform designed to give Bolivia's Indian majority a stake in her national life...
...Our Agrarian Reform Law re?spects and protects (1) the small proprietor with less than 200 acres in most sections of the country...
...It is essentially a nationalist movement, which has sought to bring Bolivia's social and economic systems up to date...
...Farmers employ?ing wage-workers will have to seek mechanization and efficiency in order to make a profit...
...Thus Bolivia will at last be able to enter the modern era with all of her citizens participating in the fruits of their labor...
...Our agrarian reform also has abolished forced labor and estab?lished a minimum wage for all farm workers...
...Collective wage contracts are being made general throughout the countryside, and agricultural workers' unions have been estab?lished, with the right to strike firmly recognized...
...We view the Indian community both as a means of avoiding excessive fragmentation of arable soil and as the basis of cooperative utilization of modern im?plements and machinery...
...A special Agrarian La?bor Court has been set up to handle farm labor disputes...
...In 1874, the surviving Indian communities were declared private property...
Vol. 37 • December 1954 • No. 52
