Crisis in Bolivia | Bolivia: “The government is not changing course”

The industrial agricultural sector from Santa Cruz is export-oriented, the small farmers sell locally, like here at the market in Santa Cruz. Photo: IMAGO/Depositphotos Bolivia is in a serious economic and political crisis. What are the main causes for this?

Sadly, this crisis comes as no surprise. Bolivia has been experiencing the end of the natural gas boom for a decade, which had previously sustained the economy and a socially focused policy model - but it has failed to build timely economic alternatives. We see the consequences today: a chronic budget deficit, a lack of foreign currency, runaway inflation and fuel shortages. But instead of changing course, the current government is relying even more heavily on extractivism, especially on export-oriented agricultural industry and gold mining.

Bolivian agribusiness - particularly soy, cattle farming and sugar cane - is closely linked to President Rodrigo Paz. What role does it play in his government?

Unlike the gold sector, the agricultural industry here is strongly linked to one region - the department of Santa Cruz in the lowlands - and strives for political reach through it. Representatives of the agricultural sector from Santa Cruz now even sit in the cabinet - for example, Óscar Mario Justiniano, now Minister of Agriculture and the Environment, was formerly president of the influential agro-industry association CAO. Agribusiness is no longer just an ally of the government, but part of it itself.

The agricultural industry and the left-wing government of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) publicly portrayed themselves as opponents for years - but in fact they were also closely intertwined. How did this arrangement work?

The MAS needed an enemy that it could portray as right-wing extremist; the agricultural industry profiled itself as an opponent to the government. In fact, the agricultural sector even put money into the election campaign of MAS President Evo Morales at the end of the 2000s. Politicians and entrepreneurs who insulted each other on television were often involved in the same companies. At the same time, the agricultural industry benefited from a MAS policy that weakened environmental protections and gave free land to "interculturales" - communities resettled in Santa Cruz - which was later often bought up by agribusinesses.

Her book "Santa Cruz $.A." documents how the Bolivian state distributed land for political reasons instead of making economic sense. How specifically?

The land reform of 1953 was intended to break up large landholdings and distribute them to the population - this worked in the highlands, but had practically no effect in the lowlands. In Santa Cruz, for example, in the years that followed, 39 families with connections to local elites or the military regime received a total of more than 600,000 hectares of public land - worth the equivalent of up to $2.6 billion today. But land alone is worthless without capital to cultivate it - that's why cheap loans were added, and if these weren't paid back, the state stepped in. Such privileges, not entrepreneurial achievement, often accounted for the current wealth and influence of the agroelites.

Stasiek Czaplicki is a Bolivian environmental economist and data journalist. His focus is on extractivism and political ecology; he is co-author of the volume of essays “Santa Cruz $.A.” about the agricultural industry in the Bolivian lowlands.  

Santa Cruz has been portraying itself as an opponent of the central state for decades. Is there real resistance behind it - or does it serve its own elites?

In the past there were even concrete plans to secede the eastern lowlands - this rhetoric has now softened to calls for more autonomy or federalism. Santa Cruz is now also much more diverse than the image of its agroelites suggests, from indigenous peoples to Mennonites to migrants from the highlands. However, anyone who criticizes Santa Cruz based on this diversity, for example about the development model and the deforestation of the rainforest, is often not answered substantively but rather denied affiliation. This is possible because the agricultural industry also controls the most important media.

The agricultural industry in Santa Cruz is now presenting itself as a model of success and savior of the Bolivian economy. How realistic is that – and what consequences does it have?

The promise of prosperity through extractivism has been seen many times in Bolivia and other Latin American countries - but in the end there has always been only destruction. In the past 22 years, Santa Cruz has only exported more than it imported in a single year. The region's growth has always depended on foreign currency from gas and mining - its own agricultural exports have never been able to cover this need. At the same time, 70 percent of Bolivia's deforestation occurs in Santa Cruz, exactly where the agricultural industry is centered - a model that we can no longer afford in the face of the climate crisis. And even economic success would not be a promise of prosperity: Potosí still exports the most of all departments, especially mineral ores, and is still one of the poorest regions in Bolivia. Wealth at the top does not translate into prosperity for all.

The “nd.Genossenschaft” belongs to those who read and write it. With your contribution, you ensure that our journalism remains accessible to everyone - without any media company, billionaire or paywall.

→ report independently and critically → focus on overlooked topics → give marginalized voices a platform → counter misinformation → initiate and further develop left-wing debates

You can make the difference with “Voluntary Pay” or a cooperative share. You help keep this newspaper alive. So that nd remains.