ABSTRACT
Bolivian indigenous majorities empowered themselves in the early 1950s with the revolution of 1952, but the white leadership was soon coopted by more conservative forces, including the armed forces, which came to dominate politics in the 1960s and 1970s. The Chaco, a deserted area the size of Colorado, was believed to contain important oil deposits, and the boundary lines within the Chaco between Paraguay and Bolivia were contested. With the weakening of the traditional parties after the Chaco War, several new political parties appeared. In one of the great ironies of Bolivian history, Victor Paz Estenssoro took the first major steps toward undermining the social compact that he had galvanized during the revolution of 1952. In Bolivia 12,000 hectares of coca is planted legally in the Yungas region north of La Paz, to satisfy the local demand generated by indigenous groups who have consumed coca leaves for centuries.
