Hacienda system and agrarian reform in highland Bolivia, a re-evaluation

The Cochabamba and yungas regions are both noteworthy for the degree to which their rural populations economically and politically participate in national affairs. In both areas the hacienda system, in adaptation to local conditions, provided a base for this participation prior to agrarian reform. There was significantly less rigidity in the old social hierarchy than in Sucre-Tarija or on the altiplano. In combination with this was a strong pattern of participation by peasants in marketing and trade, and through local syndicates (Cochabamba) or community office structures (yungas), in hacienda administration itself. In these areas, then, the agrarian reform program found a rather beneficial foundation already established under the old social order. The altiplano ranks next with an expansion of marketing and the establishment of locally effective syndicate organizations. In this case, the hacienda system provided a base conductive to post-reform development in that it incorporated the ecological necessity of trade and marketing and provided a foundation for successful syndicates in its use of the free community office structure. In contrast to that of Cochabamba or the yungas however, the altiplano hacienda system was subsistence oriented in its production, and thus did not involve peasants as actively in external economic and social contexts. This would account for the internal focus and consequent lesser national participation of post-reform altiplano communities.