Bolivian Revolution

In April 1952 the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement led a popular insurrection that nationalized the tin mines and enfranchised the indigenous majority.

Overview

Mineworkers and urban militias defeated the army in three days of fighting in La Paz, bringing Victor Paz Estenssoro to power. The revolution decreed universal suffrage, ending literacy restrictions that had excluded most Bolivians, nationalized the great tin mines under COMIBOL, and carried out sweeping land reform that broke up the haciendas of the altiplano. Peasant unions became a pillar of the new order and the army was rebuilt under civilian control. The MNR government was overthrown by the military in 1964, and tin decline strained its economic legacy. The revolution nonetheless redefined Bolivian citizenship and laid ground for the indigenous movements that reshaped the country after 2000.