U.S. DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE TO RURAL BOLIVIA, 1941-1974: THE SEARCH FOR DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

This study will describe and assess U.S. Government assistance to the Bolivian Government to support Bolivia's rural development for the period 1941 to 1974. It will examine the major programs that evolved from the foreign development policy of the U.S. Government. The development strategy of the U.S. Government was a "trickle down" approach more concerned with developing agricultural production in the Oriente than improving the economic and social circumstances of Bolivia's majority population. This development approach will be described and examined in detail. When describing, explaining, and assessing U.S. Government development assistance efforts, an attempt will be made to examine the different dimensions of U.S. Government policy including the political, economic, and development policies. However, emphasis in the study will be given to the development dimension which deserves more attention by the social scientist examining the history of Bolivia since the Revolution of 1952. This approach will be pronounced since the phenomena to be examined are development programs and projects. Since the focus will be on U.S. Government assistance, the vast majority of the materials reviewed in reconstructing the historical record are U.S. Government documents. Though inspired by the political, economic, and social realities of Bolivia, U.S. development assistance efforts in Bolivia reflect to a great degree the U.S. historical experience from which a U.S. development philosophy evolved. U.S. economic and political foreign policy imperatives are less important influences in shaping the U.S. supported development effort in Bolivia. Subsequent to the 1952 Revolution, the investment pattern is one that had a strong production bias at the expense of promoting economic and social equity for the campesino population. Whereas the 1952 Revolution brought changes that immediately improved the life of the Indian, planned economic development sponsored by the U.S. Government after this revolution could be interpreted as institutionalizing a development philosophy in which growth in the agriculture and mining sectors was the paramount consideration. The striking exceptions to this trickle down approach to development are the projects started in the mid-sixties, which focused on the rural population of the Altiplano and the high valleys of Bolivia.