Join Steven and Dustin as they go on a deep dive into contemporary Venezuela with Dr. Alejandro Velasco.  Alejandro talks about the country’s political crisis, including the increasingly fractured state of the opposition.  They also discuss U.S. and international efforts to isolate the Maduro government, the ways that COVID has affected Venezuela, and the state of the country’s oil industry.  Be sure to stick around for the episode’s postscript covering the recent United Nations report on political repression and state-directed violence in Venezuela.

Historias 105 - Alejandro Velasco On Contemporary Venezuela

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Rafael Archondo and Isabel Siles’ Sobre un barril de pólvora, is a comprehensive review of the former president’s life, Hernan Siles Zuazo (1913-1996).  He was one of the founding members of the nationalist revolutionary party (MNR) in 1942. He was elected two times as president (1956-1960 and 1982-1985), and his role was vital to consolidate revolutionary achievements like Agrarian Reform or social participation and pluralistic democracy.

The authors highlight Siles Zuazo’s commitment to human rights and civil liberties. During his tenure, power was peacefully transferred to the next elected president.  Siles was a kind of tragic hero because of his conviction in using peaceful means in political struggles.

Rafael Archondo on Hernan Siles Zuazo

Dr. Sarah Hines explores residents of Cochabamba struggle for access to water that is linked to broader historical processes such as the dispossession and dismantling of indigenous communities in the 19th century, the Bolivian revolution of 1952, and the dictatorships of the 1960s and 1970s.

Her book argues that the Cochabambinos defeated privatization in the Water War in 2000 because they defended something they had fought for and won decades earlier, especially in the context of the 1952 revolution.

Sarah Hines on water, citizenship, and revolution

Dr. Nicole Pacino is an associate professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Nicole has studied the effects of the policies of the 1952 Revolution on rural health, particularly on indigenous women. Her work shows how maternity was a central axis of the nationalist policies of the MNR that strived to create/consolidate the nation.

Nicole Pacino on revolutionary public health

Elizabeth Shesko argues that conscription evolved into a pact between the state and society. It was not only imposed from above but also embraced from below because it provided a space for Bolivians across divides of education, ethnicity, and social class to negotiate their relationships with each other and the state.

Shesko contends that state formation built around military service has been characterized in Bolivia by multiple layers of negotiation and accommodation. The resulting nation-state was and is still hierarchical and divided by profound differences, but it never was simply an assimilatory project. It instead reflected a dialectical process to define the state and its relationships.

Elizabeth Shesko on conscription in Bolivia

Kevin Young traces the history of Bolivian struggles over mineral and hydrocarbon resources, highlighting the complex legacies of Bolivia’s 1952 revolution.

His work also revolves around the various economic projects that party officials, political party leaders, activists, urban factory workers, university students, and mine workers proposed to address a key question for Bolivians: How to overcome economic dependency and underdevelopment?

To make sense of these debates, Young uses the term resource nationalism, which he will explain in detail in this interview.

Kevin Young on resource nationalism in Bolivia

Historias - the SECOLAS podcast

Historias 105 - Alejandro Velasco On Contemporary Venezuela

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