Institute for the Study of the Americas

The majority of the materials held here date from the period between 1964 and 1982 when Bolivia, barring a brief period at the end of the 1970s, was under military rule. Despite the expansion of the mining sector and a period of economic growth lasting to the mid-1970s a succession of military leaders continued to use repressive tactics against opposition parties and unions, and following an economic downturn the human rights situation worsened, culminating in the cocaine cartel-financed presidency of General Luis García Meza (1980-1982) in which both paramilitary groups and tactics of arbitrary arrest, detention and torture were used to cow the opposition. This collection includes materials from unions (and union federations such as the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB)), political parties and internal and external human rights pressure groups, as well as government proclamations and pronouncements (mostly regarding the mining industry). There are also reports from groups working with indigenous peoples, as well as material produced by the Roman Catholic Church. The reaction of these organisations to the transition to civilian rule after 1982 and the country's consequent economic problems are also represented in the collection.