The new republic

Until 1952 less than 10% of Bolivia's population were able to participate in the country's elections, but the economic and social transformation of Bolivia has been accomplished by the remaining 90% of the population, the exploited, the uneducated and the illiterate. These people, the majority, are capable of playing a role in history beyond the imagination of even the most astute members of the oligarchy. A generation ago 80% of the population were still illiterate (above all the peasantry and the working class), and an even higher proportion never really used written sources of information. Consequently, bourgeois and petty-bourgeois reformers adopted the slogan ‘Literacy will liberate the Indian’, but until 1952 the school system was tailored to the requirements of the landlord régime and of a few capitalist employers. Even now education is monopolised by a minority, and the means to satisfy even the most basic necessities of life are beyond the reach of the masses. The overwhelming majority of the population, consisting of peasants, workers, artisans, and state functionaries, are poorly fed, inadequately clothed, and unprotected from the ravages of disease.

Since the time of the Inca Empire the Altiplano region (which for practical purposes was really all that Bolivia consisted of in the nineteenth century) lacked any contact with the sea other than the coast near Arica, now in Chilean hands.