Mass grassroots politics in Bolivia has found highly contentious forms of action that were nonetheless distinct from a conventional military conflict. Its longer history, marked by indigenous uprisings, labor militancy, and frequent military rule has been described in terms of blood, fire, dynamite, and massacres. The social movement traditions that have resulted include proclamations of fearlessness (even protesting high schoolers shout, \u201cRifle, machine gun, we will not be silenced!\u201d) and vows to carry struggles \u201cuntil the final consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
The database enumerates individual deaths in Bolivian political conflict since 1982, the end of military rule in the country. It is compiled by a research team based on multiple sources, including media reports, governmental, intergovernmental, and private human rights reports, and use of the research literature on political conflict. The dataset now includes nearly all of the deaths identified by a Permanent Assembly of Human Rights-Bolivia (APDHB) study of deaths from 1988 to 2003, and a study of the coca conflict from 1982 to 2005 (Navarro Miranda 2006; Llorenti 2009; Salazar Ortu\u00f1o 2008). Unlike prior compilations by human rights organizations, however, this database includes a variety of qualitative variables designed to understand how and why the deaths occurred and what policies and patterns underpin them.<\/p>\n
We designed the database to both catalog the lethal consequences of participation in social movements and political activism, and to assess responsibility, accountability, and impunity for violent deaths. All deaths are significant as signs of the price that has been paid to seek social change. Some deaths are also significant as elements of repression or violence for which someone might ultimately be held accountable. Rather than begin by asking, \u201cIs this death someone\u2019s fault?,\u201d we are coding each death according to multiple factors that enable us to extract different subsets of the overall database for different purposes. We estimate there were between 580 to 620 deaths associated with Bolivian political conflict from October 1982 until December 2019. As of August 2021, the project had identified\u00a0574<\/strong>\u00a0to\u00a0589<\/strong>\u00a0of these deaths, including those of\u00a0546 <\/strong>named individuals. The database is maintained as a Google Docs spreadsheet, which can be queried by R scripts, and whose reports can be generated internally or exported for further manual coding. (Bold numbers<\/strong>\u00a0in this paragraph were updated automatically using R scripts on September 6, 2021.)<\/p>\n Through this process, we have become familiar with reading multiple and conflicting reports, evaluating official denials (we have created a data column for such denials), collecting narrative accounts, coding what we can based on the information, and signaling remaining questions. One thing that we have learned through this process is that making informed judgements, rather than marking all disputed facts with some kind of asterisk, is absolutely foundational to being able to do comparative work. The scale of the dataset for this period is both large enough to identify significant patterns and small enough (unlike the situation in some other Latin American countries) to permit the construction of a database that includes detailed information about every death. Precisely because its coverage is nearly comprehensive, the database offers a systematic sample of cases for quantitative and\/or qualitative analysis, untainted by selection bias. We can say with near certainty that the dataset includes all episodes of political conflict that caused three or more deaths since 1982.<\/p>\n The dataset offers a grounded view on such questions as: What practices and political choices result in some presidencies being far less violent than others? What is the relative importance of different forms of political violence, from repression of protest to guerrilla movements to fratricidal disputes among movements? Which movements have succeeded despite deadly repression? This database will serve as a new tool for social scientists, oral historians, and human rights advocates to use in answering these and other questions.<\/p>\n The situations described in the dataset principally involve the following:<\/p>\n For each death, we record identifying information about the person who died, the individual or group who caused the death, the place and time of the death, the cause and circumstances of the death, whether the death appears to be deliberate or intended, the geographic location, the death\u2019s connection to social movements and social movement campaigns, sources of information available about the death, types of investigation that have been performed, accountability processes, and relationship to the Bolivian state. Analytical variables used so far include: political assassination (a binary yes\/no category); protest domain (aggregating all protest campaigns into a small number of topics such as \u201clabor\u201d and \u201cmunicipal governance\u201d); and denial (a binary yes\/no category indicating whether the perpetrator denied responsibility for the death). In creating database entries, we create brief narrative descriptions of the events involved and\/or quote such descriptions directly from sources of reporting. We also are collecting textual segments of reporting and testimonial narrative relevant to each death.<\/p>\n Included, but excluded from summary calculations:<\/em>\u00a0When aggregating deaths for comparative purposes over time, we will exclude \u201cnon-conflict accidents\u201d: any unintended death that occurs through no deliberate attempt to harm, and outside the context of open physical confrontation. We anticipate that such deaths are unevenly recorded over time (i.e., more frequently noted in recent years) and have no particular bearing on research questions we are exploring. We also exclude incidental deaths (due to indirect effects of blockades, or<\/p>\n Excluded, but recorded:<\/em>\u00a0We are coding and maintaining in a parallel list (currently an extra page in our spreadsheet) verifiable deaths that appear to fall outside of our inclusion criteria (e.g., deaths from criminal activity, deaths before the democratic period, apparently apolitical deaths in police custody), and deaths during highly complex events wih great flux among sources (currently only the 2003 Gas War, but we may add other events to this), when the death is only listed in a single source without verifying details.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There are other politically charged forms of death in Bolivia including\u00a0lynchings and capital punishment in community-based justice<\/em>;\u00a0feminicide and gender-based homicide<\/em>; and\u00a0deaths emerging from politically controversial policies or social failure<\/em>. We can expect that prominent figures in social movements have been the victims of all of these types of violence. Where that has occurred, we will record their deaths separately from the main database and consider highlighting them in our work, but not attempt quantitative comparisons around these kinds of deaths.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Principal investigator Carwil Bjork-James began maintaining a file of violent incidents related to Bolivian protest movements during his doctoral research and fieldwork around 2010. A spreadsheet format, initially with 35 data columns was designed in 2016 and some 290 deaths that occurred after 2000 were at least listed in the database by November 2016.<\/p>\n Our data collection began with published newspaper articles that listed deaths across multiple conflicts (Agencia Noticias Fides<\/em> 2002; Agencia Noticias Fides<\/em> 2003; Delgado and Navia 2008). We reviewed compilations by the human rights organizations such as the Permanent Assembly on Human Rights\u2013Bolivia (Llorenti 2009; Navarro Miranda 1999; 2006), and annual reports by Bolivia\u2019s Defensor\u00eda del Pueblo (Informe Defensorial<\/em>), the United States Department of State (chapters on Bolivia in the Annual Report on Human Rights Practices<\/em>), Human Rights Watch (World Report<\/em> and predecessor reports by Americas Watch), and Amnesty International. We also drew from incident- and topic-specific (e.g., on the drug war) reports by APDH-B, Amnesty International, Andean Commission of Jurists, and the Defensor\u00eda (Defensor\u00eda del Pueblo 2010; Comisi\u00f3n Andina de Juristas 1988). Detailed data and sometimes individual event descriptions on deaths during the Chapare coca eradication were compiled by Fernando Salazar Ortu\u00f1o (Salazar Ortu\u00f1o 2008b; 2008a). We consulted several detailed documents on the exceptional quantity of deaths during the 2003 Water War, including the national prosecutor\u2019s report and two private efforts by human rights advocates (Hacer justicia: argumentos de las victimas en el juicio por la masacre de Septiembre y Octubre de 2003 en Bolivia\u202f: Bracamonte, Delgadillo, Mayta.<\/em> 2011; Ramos Andrade 2004; 2013). Numerous other works of social science scholarship include details on lethal conflicts (e.g., Mamani Ram\u00edrez 2004; Quintana Taborga, Teller\u00eda Escobar, and Atahuchi Quispe 2005; Garc\u00eda Linera 2004; Gianotten 2006).<\/p>\n We have access to numerous news media sources, including to newspapers across the entire study period (though our archival work using these sources is still underway). Bolivian social conflict has been systematically documented from these sources by two remarkable archiving organizations. The now-defunct CEDOIN compiled social movement news into the twice-monthly newsletter Informe R<\/em>, most of whose issues include a brief day-by-day chronology of events related to social movements. So far, we have reviewed issues from 1989 to 1996 for relevant events. The Cochabamba-based CEDIB began compiling a newsclipping collection in the 1970s. Beginning in the late 1990s, this service was produced in digital form in the monthly all-topic 30 D\u00edas<\/em> compilations and annual topical collections. We have searched the latter from 2004 through 2010 using a variety of search words related to death in conflict. During visits to the archives held by the Archivo y Biblioteca Nacionales de Bolivia in Sucre, and more often to the Biblioteca y Archivo Hist\u00f3rico de la Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional in La Paz, we consulted and photographed original newspapers, held chronologically in month or half-month sets for each newspaper.<\/p>\n Our research process was repeated iteratively across different sources. The goal of this research is to fill in data for as many of the study variables as possible (with the exception of variables related to accountability which we postponed to a future phase of the project), to confirm information across multiple sources (focusing on increasing the quality and reliability of sources), and to steadily increase the quality of our descriptions. In addition to keeping track of which categorical variables are known for each death, we evaluate the completeness of our descriptions at four levels: enumerated (a death is recorded but not named), named (we also name the person who died), narrative (we have a brief account of the event), or detailed (we have complied our sources into a detailed account of the death).<\/p>\n For each event that was merely named or enumerated, we performed searches for additional sources using the bibliographic sources we had access to, Internet search engines, and Google Books. Archival visits are used to locate newspaper articles describing events prior to 2010. In the course of these archival visits, the approach was to locate the lethal event and then work forward and backward through the half- or whole-month book, reading all headlines to see if any additional lethal events were mentioned during those timeframes. These searches yielded additional events which were then added to the database.<\/p>\n Agencia Noticias Fides<\/em>. 2002. \u201cHasta la fecha: Banzer y \u2018Tuto\u2019 son responsables de 50 muertes,\u201d January 23, 2002. http:\/\/www.noticiasfides.com\/nacional\/politica\/hasta-la-fecha-banzer-y-tuto-son-responsables-de-50-muertes-59560.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014<\/em>. 2003. \u201cDefensor confirma 59 muertes en conflictos de septiembre y octubre.,\u201d November 7, 2003. http:\/\/www.noticiasfides.com\/nacional\/politica\/defensor-confirma-59-muertes-en-conflictos-de-septiembre-y-octubre-25131.<\/p>\n Comisi\u00f3n Andina de Juristas. 1988. Bolivia: neoliberalismo y derechos humanos.<\/em> Lima, Peru: Comisi\u00f3n Andina de Juristas.<\/p>\n Defensor\u00eda del Pueblo. 2010. \u201cInforme defensorial de los hechos suscitados en Caranavi.\u201d<\/p>\n Delgado, C., and R. Navia. 2008. \u201cDespu\u00e9s de Goni, van M\u00e1s de 50 Muertos.\u201d El Deber<\/em>, October 16, 2008. http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20081016013235\/http:\/\/www.eldeber.com.bo\/2008\/2008-10-12\/vernotaahora.php?id=081011220913.<\/p>\n Garc\u00eda Linera, Alvaro. 2004. Sociolog\u00eda De Los Movimientos Sociales En Bolivia: Estructuras De Movilizaci\u00f3n, Repertorios Culturales Y Acci\u00f3n Pol\u00edtica<\/em>. 1. ed.\u2b1a: DIAKONIA, Accion Ecum\u00e9nica Sueca.<\/p>\n Gianotten, Vera. 2006. CIPCA y Poder Campesino Ind\u00edgena: 35 A\u00f1os de Historia<\/em>. La Paz, Bolivia: CIPCA.<\/p>\n Hacer justicia: argumentos de las victimas en el juicio por la masacre de Septiembre y Octubre de 2003 en Bolivia\u202f: Bracamonte, Delgadillo, Mayta.<\/em> 2011.<\/p>\n Llorenti, Sacha. 2009. La democracia traicionada: derechos humanos, cr\u00edmenes de lesa humanidad e impunidad. Bolivia 1982-2005<\/em>. La Paz (Bolivia): Cervantes.<\/p>\n Mamani Ram\u00edrez, Pablo. 2004. El Rugir de Las Multitudes: La Fuerza de Los Levantamientos Ind\u00edgenas En Bolivia\/Qullasuyu<\/em>. La Paz: Aruwiyiri.<\/p>\n Navarro Miranda, C\u00e9sar. 1999. Bolivia: Estados de sitio en democracia<\/em>. Potosi: Asamblea Permanente de los Derechos Humanos de Potos\u00ed.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014. 2006. Cr\u00edmenes de la democracia neoliberal y movimientos sociales: desde la masacre de Villa Tunari a El Alto<\/em>. La Paz: Fondo Editorial de los Diputados. http:\/\/catalog.hathitrust.org\/api\/volumes\/oclc\/132692880.html.<\/p>\n Quintana Taborga, Juan R, Loreta Teller\u00eda Escobar, and Daniel Atahuchi Quispe. 2005. Polic\u00eda y democracia en Bolivia una pol\u00edtica institucional pendiente<\/em>. La Paz: Programa de Investigaci\u00f3n Estrat\u00e9gica en Bolivia.<\/p>\n Ramos Andrade, Edgar. 2004. Agon\u00eda y rebeli\u00f3n social: 543 motivos de justicia urgente<\/em>. La Paz: Cap\u00edtulo Boliviano de Derechos Humanos, Democraia y Desarrollo.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014. 2013. Agon\u00eda y rebeli\u00f3n social: 543 motivos de justicia urgente<\/em>. 2da ed. La Paz: M\u00e1s claro\u2026 agua Ediciones.<\/p>\n Salazar Ortu\u00f1o, Fernando. 2008a. \u201cConflicto y Negociaci\u00f3n En Pol\u00edticas de Erradicaci\u00f3n de Cultivos de Coca.\u201d In De La Coca al Poder: Pol\u00edticas P\u00fablicas de Sustituci\u00f3n de La Econom\u00eda de La Coca y Pobreza En Bolivia, 1975-2004<\/em>, 137\u2013238. Quito: Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014. 2008b. Kawsachun coca<\/em>. Cochabamba? UMSS, IESE, Instituto de Estudios Sociales y Econ\u00f3micos\u202f: UDESTRO, Unidad de Desarrollo Econ\u00f3mico y Social de Tr\u00f3pico.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A comprehensive database of deaths in Bolivian political conflict during the democratic era, 1982\u2013present Mass grassroots politics in Bolivia has found highly contentious forms of action that were nonetheless distinct from a conventional military conflict. Its longer history, marked by indigenous uprisings, labor militancy, and frequent military rule has been described in terms of blood,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2052,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/cbjorkjames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/cbjorkjames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/cbjorkjames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/cbjorkjames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2052"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/cbjorkjames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/cbjorkjames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/cbjorkjames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions\/98"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/cbjorkjames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/cbjorkjames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/cbjorkjames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Which deaths are we recording<\/h2>\n
Beyond the scope of the project<\/h2>\n
Methodology for data gathering for the database<\/h2>\n
Works Cited<\/h3>\n