The Bolivian Socialist Falange ( es, Falange Socialista Boliviana) is a
Bolivian political party established in 1937. It is a
far-right[John, S (2006) ''Permanent Revolution on the Altiplano: Bolivian Trotskyism, 1928-2005'', p. 445] party drawing inspiration from
fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
. It was the country's second-largest party between approximately 1954 and 1974. After that, its followers have tended to gravitate toward the government-endorsed military candidacy of General
Juan Pereda
Juan Pereda Asbún (17 June 1931 – 25 November 2012) was a Bolivians, Bolivian military general who served as the ''de facto'' 52nd president of Bolivia in 1978. Although he ruled for only four months, his ascent to the presidency ...
(1978) and, especially, toward the
ADN party of former dictator
Hugo Banzer
Hugo Banzer Suárez (; 10 May 1926 – 5 May 2002) was a Bolivian politician and military officer who served as the 51st president of Bolivia. He held the Bolivian presidency twice: from 1971 to 1978 in a military dictatorship; and then a ...
.
Foundation and early development
Founded in
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
by a group of exiles (chief among whom was
Óscar Únzaga
Óscar Únzaga de la Vega (19 April 1916 – 19 April 1959) was a Bolivian political figure and rebel. Most significantly, he founded the Bolivian Socialist Falange (FSB) movement in 1937, and ran for President
President most commonly ref ...
de la Vega), the FSB initially drew its inspiration from Spanish
falangism
Falangism ( es, falangismo) was the political ideology of two political parties in Spain that were known as the Falange, namely first the Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FE de las JONS) and afterwards the Fal ...
.
Indeed, in those early years it came close to espousing a
Fascist agenda, in the style of Spain's
Francisco Franco and Italy's
Benito Mussolini. It was reformist, however, in that it advocated major transformations to the existing (largely
oligarchic
Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...
) social and political order. This brought it more into the sphere of other revolutionary movements such as the
Revolutionary Nationalist Movement
The Revolutionary Nationalist Movement ( es, Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario , MNR) is a centre-right conservative political party in Bolivia and was the leading force behind the Bolivian National Revolution from 1952 to 1964. It influenc ...
(MNR) of
Víctor Paz Estenssoro
Ángel Víctor Paz Estenssoro (2 October 1907 – 7 June 2001) was a Bolivian politician who served as the 45th president of Bolivia for three nonconsecutive and four total terms from 1952 to 1956, 1960 to 1964 and 1985 to 1989. He ran for pr ...
, which would come to power after unleashing the
1952 Revolution. In fact, FSB was at first brought into the MNR coalition at the outbreak of that massive revolt, but backed out at the last moment. A rather minor movement during the 1940s, the "Falange" began to attract major support from former landowners and other members of the
Bolivian elite after the triumph of the 1952 Revolution, becoming the ruling MNR's main opposition party.
FSB's growing popularity coincided, in particular, with a period of high inflation in the country under the presidency of
Hernán Siles Zuazo
Hernán Siles Zuazo (21 March 1914 – 6 August 1996) was a Bolivian politician who served as the 46th president of Bolivia twice nonconsecutively from 1956 to 1960 and from 1982 to 1985. He also briefly served as interim president in April 195 ...
(1956–1960), and included many well-to-do university students.
[Laqueur, p. 286.] The movement was based on a cell system and so became stronger in some specific areas, notably in
La Paz and
Santa Cruz, although attempts to win over the peasantry in
Cochabamba
Cochabamba ( ay, Quchapampa; qu, Quchapampa) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and the fourth largest city in Bolivia, with a population of 630 ...
proved fruitless and damaged the party's growth.
[Bernard, p. 128.]
As well as political activity the FSB was also involved in several minor insurrections against the government, culminating in an uprising in April 1959 during which the FSB briefly held part of the capital La Paz. This was suppressed by the army, with fifty dying in the fighting—including Unzaga, whose death was officially ruled as suicide.
Ideology
Ideologically, the party's stance evolved from an adherence to Spanish falangism to a more moderate form of statism. Perhaps inspired by the efforts of the ruling MNR at perpetuating itself in power in the manner of Mexico's
Institutional Revolutionary Party
The Institutional Revolutionary Party ( es, Partido Revolucionario Institucional, ; abbr. PRI) is a political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 and held uninterrupted power in the country for 71 years, from 1929 to 2000, first as the Nati ...
party, FSB, too, sought the creation of a strong
one-party state
A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...
, with the
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
and the
Church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
held up as the two great pillars of Bolivian society.
In the 1950s the Falange adopted a strong
anti-communist stance, with its leaders being particularly critical of Cuba's
Fidel Castro following his emergence. Alongside this, however, FSB portrayed itself as being nationalist and anti-imperialist.
During the 1950s it also sought to emphasise a strong
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
identity.
Nazi German
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
war criminal
Klaus Barbie
Nikolaus "Klaus" Barbie (25 October 1913 – 25 September 1991) was a German operative of the SS and SD who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortured prisoners—primar ...
settled in La Paz in 1951 and shortly afterwards witnessed a march by FSB members. Barbie claimed that the sight of the uniformed, armband-wearing militants giving the
Roman salute
The Roman salute, alternatively called the Fascist salute, is a gesture in which the right arm is fully extended, facing forward, with palm down and fingers touching. In some versions, the arm is raised upward at an angle; in others, it is held ...
made him feel at home and he soon sought out leading members of the party and became close to them.
Electoral performance
The party supported the candidacy of the war hero General
Bernardino Bilbao Rioja
Bernardino Bilbao Rioja (20 May 1895 in Arampampa – 13 May 1983 in La Paz) was a Bolivian officer who served during the Chaco War (1932–35). He pioneered the use of air forces in combat (the first to be used in this capacity in Sout ...
in the 1951 Presidential elections. Bilbao secured a respectable 11% of the vote, and he would later return as a candidate. In those elections, anti-system parties such as the MNR and FSB had won a combined majority, but the MNR were prevented from taking office by military intervention on behalf of the oligarchy, leading to the 1952 Revolution. With the collapse of Bolivia's traditional parties, the FSB found itself as the leading opposition force in the country. Óscar Únzaga, however, remained the party's undisputed leader, and it was he who led FSB's 1956 presidential ticket. He garnered 15% of the vote in an election that many considered suspect due to massive state support for the government-endorsed candidate, Hernán Siles Zuazo. FSB lost momentum after the 1959 assassination of Únzaga.
The party was at this point strongly suppressed politically, and new parties began to appeal to similar sections of society. The party's vote share fell to 8% in the
1960 elections partly as a result.
[ Nohlen, D (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II'', p133 ]
Later development
Following the death of Únzaga, the mainstream of the FSB came under the leadership of
Mario Gutiérrez. the party's candidate in the 1960 elections. Following the return of the military to power in the aftermath of the
1964 coup d'état, it was the MNR's turn to be repressed, and FSB's fortunes seemed to be on the rise again. The FSB now sought to ally itself with an emerging
Christian democratic tendency and focused its attentions on organising in the
Santa Cruz Department
Santa Cruz () is the largest of the nine constituent departments of Bolivia, occupying about one-third (33.74%) of the country's territory. With an area of , it is slightly smaller than Japan or the US state of Montana. It is located in the e ...
.
[Gunson et al, ''The Dictionary of Contemporary Politics of South America'', p. 39] As aprt of the
Christian Democratic Community it endorsed General Bernardino Bilbao Rioja's candidacy in the
1966 Presidential election although René Barrientos of the ruling faction won easily.
[ With Congress closed in 1969 the FSB descended into in-fighting, with a leftist FSB-Izquierda (FBSI) splitting off in 1970.]
Bolivia did not have another election until the late 1970s. With its leadership back in the hands of Mario Gutiérrez, FSB supported (as did the MNR) the 1971 military coup that brought to power General Hugo Banzer
Hugo Banzer Suárez (; 10 May 1926 – 5 May 2002) was a Bolivian politician and military officer who served as the 51st president of Bolivia. He held the Bolivian presidency twice: from 1971 to 1978 in a military dictatorship; and then a ...
. Indeed, Gutiérrez served Banzer as his Minister of Foreign Relations for many years. At this point FSB shifted its position somewhat, becoming more of a pro-military conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
party. The party was excluded from government in 1974, however, when Banzer decided to establish a purely military regime without political parties. The FBSI, meanwhile, which had opposed Banzer's coup, was repressed by the new government.
The FSB's ranks were further diluted when various factions split off from it in the aftermath of the Banzer dictatorship and the electoral upheavals of the 1978-80 period. Carlos Valverde Barberry eventually emerged as leader and was presidential candidate in 1980, but results were poor. Factionalism again dogged the movement and much of it was absorbed into the conservative Nationalist Democratic Action
Nationalist Democratic Action ( es, Acción Democrática Nacionalista) is a right-wing political party in Bolivia led by Óscar Daza Márquez. ADN was founded on March 23, 1979 by the military dictator Hugo Banzer after he stepped down from po ...
(founded by Banzer himself). The rump FSB again came to adopt more left-wing rhetoric as a party of opposition although it was eliminated from Congress at the 1989 election
The following elections occurred in the year 1989.
Africa
* 1989 Beninese parliamentary election
* 1989 Botswana general election
* 1989 Equatorial Guinean presidential election
* 1989 People's Republic of the Congo parliamentary election
* 19 ...
and gained no seats at the 1993 election.[
The FSB have returned to politics sporadically since then, and in 2002 Johnny Fernández's failed bid for the Presidency was jointly endorsed by ]Solidarity Civic Unity
Solidarity Civic Unity ( es, Unidad Cívica Solidaridad, UCS) is a political party in Bolivia. The party was founded on 15 August 1989 by Max Fernández, and is currently led by his son, Johnny Fernández.
UCS was part of the "Megacoalition" tha ...
and the FSB.[ In the 2014 Presidential election they endorsed the candidacy of ]Christian Democratic Party
__NOTOC__
Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...
representative Jorge Quiroga
Jorge Fernando Quiroga Ramírez (born 5 May 1960), often referred to as Tuto, is a Bolivian industrial engineer and politician who served as the 62nd president of Bolivia from 2001 to 2002. A former member of Nationalist Democratic Action, he ...
.
See also
*Falangism in Latin America
Falangism in Latin America has been a feature of political life since the 1930s as movements looked to the national syndicalist clerical fascism of the Spanish state and sought to apply it to other Spanish-speaking countries. From the mid-1930s, ...
Bibliography
*Bernard, Jean-Pierre, "Bolivia", in J-P Bernard, S Cerqueira, H Neira, H Graillot, L F Manigat & P Gilhodès. 1973. ''Guide to the Political Parties of South America'', Penguin Books, 1973
* Laqueur, Walter. 1976. ''Fascism: A Reader's Guide'', Penguin Books, 1976
* Linklater, Magnus, Hilton, Isabel and Ascherson, Neal, ''The Fourth Reich: Klaus Barbie and the Neo-Fascist Connection'', Hodder & Stoughton, 1984
References
{{Authority control
1937 establishments in Bolivia
Anti-communist parties
Bolivian nationalism
Conservative parties in Bolivia
Falangist parties
Far-right politics in Bolivia
Nationalist parties in Bolivia
Political parties established in 1937
Political parties in Bolivia
Statism