Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (Bolivia) Collection

Period  (1928-) 1940-1998
Total size   903 microfiches
Consultation Not restricted

History

Founded in 1941 the MNR became the most important of Bolivia's populist political parties; backed by a group of young military reformers the MNR came to power by a coup d'état in 1943; Gualberto Villarroel became president; a counter-revolution in 1946 ended MNR rule; after years of suppression and the obstruction by the military of the electoral victory of the MNR in 1951, a successful revolt in 1952 brought the MNR again to power; Víctor Paz Estenssoro became president; in 1964 the MNR lost its power to military governments, which included the dictatorship of Hugo Banzer Suárez from 1971 to 1978; at the beginning of the 1980s the MNR was deeply factionalized between a left tendency led by Hernán Siles Zuazo and a more conservative tendency led by Paz Estenssoro; in 1985 Paz Estenssoro became president; his deflationary new economic policy ended the nation's hyperinflation; an alliance with the Acción Democrática Nacionalista (ADN) of former President Banzer Suárez guaranteed a parliamentary majority for some time; in 1989 this `pact for democracy' broke up; the MNR won the subsequent elections but lost the presidency.

Content

Documents of the MNR selected by the Centre pour la Sauvegarde de la Mémoire Populaire (CESAME) in Paris consisting of some correspondence 1952, 1986-1992; foundation charter 1941; pamphlets, copies of periodicals, leaflets, reports, posters and other printed documents of the MNR on the national revolutionary movement, on the counter-revolution of July 1946 and the power of the Bolivian oligarchy, on the revolution of April 1952 and its commemorations (1962-1992), on the government programs of the MNR, on the economic and social reforms, including the nationalization of the mines and agricultural reforms 1952-1997, on the position of Hernán Siles Zuazo in 1979, on the modernization of the MNR and on the election campaigns in the 1980s and 1990s; printed speeches by Víctor Paz Estenssoro 1953-1989; copies of periodicals 1954-1996; press clippings 1948-1992.

Annual reports of ministries 1993-1997; correspondence by José Fellman Velarde 1962-1964; files on the Indians' movement 1945, the confinement of MNR militants 1948-1950, agricultural reforms 1953-1956, economic policy 1954 and other subjects; documents relating to the 3rd congress 'Indigenista interamericano' 1951, the Comisiíon de Minería 1952-1965, the Confederaciíon de Trabajadores Campesinos 1953-1959, the 2nd Congress of the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) 1956-1957 and the Comisiíon de Petroleo 1956-1963; texts of speeches by ñuflo Chávez Ortíz, including his interruptions in parliament 1954-1960; appeals of the MNR 1960, 1962; reports on the Bolivian constitution 1956, drugs traffic 1958-1961, the railways 1961, the mining congress in 1961 and other subjects; pamphlets, clippings and other printed documents 1940-1950, 1954-1964, 1970, 1998.

Processing information

List made by Ed Kool in 1999

Location of originals

Originals at the Centre pour la Sauvegarde de la Mémoire Populaire (CESAME) in Paris.