Land Holdings

Productivity is linked to land holdings, which present longstanding problems for peasants. Like Chagas’ disease, the issue is environmentally and historically complex, with no easy solution. Presently, small‑scale production has become even smaller because land holdings are being divided into smaller plots, going from the minifundio to the surcofundio (furrow farm). After the agrarian reform of 1954, many land holdings went from the latifundio (hacienda) to plots of several acres, allotted to each peasant family who worked as peons on the hacienda. These three‑acre plots then gradually decreased as the land was subdivided to provide for offspring of the landholders. In the eastern lowlands of Bolivia there still exist pre‑agrarian reform conditions of pongeaje (peonage), where native peoples have to work for free for owners of large land estates. Until 1960, Chiquitano Indians were held as slaves in some lowland areas.

In contrast, members of free communities continued to hold land in common, and every year leaders allotted parcels to households according to their needs. This long‑existing pattern of communal land distribution has never been very popular with Western reformists, many of whom equated it with communism and socialism. Eventually the passage of Las Leyes de Participación Popular in 1994 required that members of free communities register their land as private property, with the provision that, if they don’t, this land will revert to the municipalities to be sold. This created a traumatic situation for many peasants who were unsure of how to divide the land and under which families to register it. Certain communities refused to declare their land as private property and are vigorously fighting confiscation. Pablo Regalsky, director of CENDA, has supported their endeavors with notable success. Peasant unions have united in this endeavor, which has solidified Aymara and Quechua Indians throughout Bolivia in a common cause. As a result, peasants have entered the political arena with notable success, electing an Aymara speaker as vice‑president in 1994. Since his victory, however, he has done little to assist them.

According to the agrarian reform laws of 1954, members of free communities and individual peasant property owners are not required to pay taxes if they work the land. Individuals with large land holdings are required to pay taxes if the land is productive. To avoid paying taxes, some large land owners leave land fallow, although, also according to the same laws, unworked land should be distributed to the neighboring peasants. Rarely, if ever, has this happened with large tracts of fertile land lying fallow, however. Now, in fact, some of these landlords are selling the land to private corporations. After these corporations begin to farm, they gradually take over more land, inducing neighboring peasants to sell their land and then work as farm workers on the larger farms.

A strong indigenous peasant movement has arisen in Bolivia affecting land tenure and productivity. Beginning in 1982 indigenous peoples participated in the making of a law that was finally passed in 1996 INRA (Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria ) which guarantees the sovereignty of indigenous people and their land holdings. Foreigners are not permitted to enter their land without permission. Many tribes in eastern Bolivia occupy regions east of the Andes that include vast plains and tropical forests. Parts of this land have been altered from tropical hardwood forests to grassy savannahs for cattle raising. Thousands of acres of forests were cleared to farm soy beans which were never grown, leaving dusty flatlands.

Theoretically, the new laws protect native peoples, who are proven caretakers of the forest preserves; however, one problem is that many Bolivian people have not been socially trained to understand these laws. They also have few means to enforce them, as is also the case with Bolivia’s environmental laws. Organizations would do well to teach Bolivians about their laws and help them use modern technology to enforce the laws. Lowland tribes have been given laptop computers to help them communicate with networks of environmentally concerned groups that can help them survive against miners and loggers.

Another favorable aspect of Las Leyes de Participación Popular of 1994 is that it provides government recognition of territorial units as municipalities. Previously, the government strongly favored urban areas, now it has decentralized in favor of regionalization. There currently are 380 municipalities, and these municipalities provide increased flexibility in regard to addressing cultural and social factors, climatic and agricultural conditions, soil conditions, and community problems. Most importantly, federal funds are now being distributed to the municipalities for agricultural and community development.