The Revolutionary Left Front ( es, Frente Revolucionario de Izquierda, abbreviated FRI) is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

in Bolivia, founded in 1978.

Foundation

FRI was formed at a national conference of leftwing forces, held in La Paz April 23, 1978. The meeting was organized by an initiative committee (led by Dr. Guido Perales Aguilar as permanent secretary). The founding of FRI in April 1978 was a formalization of an already existing informal cooperation between different political groups. FRI was composed of the Communist Party of Bolivia (Marxist–Leninist) (PCB(ML)),

Revolutionary Party of the Nationalist Left The Revolutionary Party of the Nationalist Left (, PRIN) was a left-wing political party in Bolivia. It was founded in 1963 by the labor leader Juan Lechín Oquendo and by Mario Torres Calleja and Edwin Moller in lesser roles. The PRIN seceded fr ...

(PRIN), Revolutionary Party of the Workers of Bolivia (PRTB), POR-Combate, Vanguardia Comunista del POR (the latter two were

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...

groups) and an independent grouping led by Manuel Morales Dávila. POR-Masas.
F
'Crespo Rodas, Alfonso.
Lydia: una mujer en la historia
'. La Paz: Plural Ed, 1999. p. 121 POR-Masas was blocked from joining FRI. Óscar Zamora Medinaceli was the founding chairman of FRI,''Directorio: 1997 - 2002''. La Paz: Centro de Investigación del Congreso Nacional (CICON), 2002. p. 50 and politically FRI was under the control of PCB(ML).

Lidia Gueiler Tejada Lidia Gueiler Tejada (28 August 1921 – 9 May 2011) was a Bolivian politician who served as the 56th president of Bolivia on an interim basis from 1979 to 1980. She was Bolivia's first female Head of State, and the second female republican He ...

was the vice president of FRI. The declaration of principles of FRI reads that "FRI is the political instrument of the masses, which enables the accumulation of forces in order to defeat the dictatorship, impose democratic freedoms and achieve national liberation."

1978 and 1979 elections

The presidential candidate of FRI in the 1978 elections was Casiano Amurrio. Amurrio obtained 23,459 votes (1.2% of the national vote). In the parliamentary elections the FRI obtained the same result. PRIN left FRI ahead of the 1979 elections, and joined UDP. Morales Dávila also broke away from FRI. FRI became little more than the public facade of PCB(ML), as other factions had deserted it. The group sought to merge with UDP, but failed. In the 1979 elections FRI was part of a larger coalition, the Democratic Alliance (along with 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 ...

, the

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 ...

and Wálter Guevara's PRA). Lidia Gueiler was the vice-presidential candidate of the alliance. The FRI won 5 seats.

Later period

In the parliamentary elections of 1980 and 1985, it ran in alliance with the conservative MNR winning each time three seats. In 1989 and 1993 elections, FRI was part of the Patriotic Accord (the electoral pact between

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 ...

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 ...

and the Revolutionary Left Movement) winning four and two seats respectively. In 1997 it won one seat on a list of the MIR. On October 6, 2018, Carlos de Mesa Gisbert announced on his YouTube channel, that he would run for president under the Revolutionary Left Front party, almost one year before the

2019 Bolivian general election General elections were held in Bolivia on 20 October 2019. Voters elected all 130 members of the Chamber of Deputies and 36 senators and cast ballots for a joint slate of president and vice president. The Bolivian constitution allows the Pres ...

. In the 2020 election, FRI once again supported Mesa and elected three Deputies, returning to Parliament.

Municipal and regional politics

During the 1990s, the intervention in municipal politics of the party was generally limited to the

Tarija Tarija or San Bernardo de la Frontera de Tarixa is a city in southern Bolivia. Founded in 1574, Tarija is the largest city and capital and municipality within the Tarija Department, with an airport ( Capitán Oriel Lea Plaza Airport, (TJA)) off ...

and

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 ...

departments. The FRI chairman Zamora Medinaceli was mayor of

in 1987–1989, 1994–1996 and 1996–1997. In the 1991 municipal elections, the party got 20,179 votes (1.55% of the nationwide vote), whilst in the 1993 municipal election it obtained 25,099 votes (2.24%). In the 1991 municipal elections, the party had the highest percentage of female candidates in the major cities amongst all contesting parties (8 out of 36 candidates, 22.2%).

Latin American Social Sciences Institute The Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences ( es, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, pt, Faculdade Latino-Americana de Ciências Sociais or FLACSO) is a graduate-only university and inter-governmental autonomous organization for La ...

.
PARTIDOS POLÍTICOS
' ('Political Parties'), part of the study
Mujeres Latinoamericanas en Cifras
' ('Latin American Women in Numbers'), published in 1994. In 1993 eleven out of 52 FRI candidates were women. In the 1995 municipal elections, the vote of the party reached 53,540 (3.12%). The party won 27 municipal council seats (out of 1585 in all of Bolivia). The party won 17 municipal council seats (out of a total of 1,700 in all of Bolivia) in the 1999 municipal elections. The party supported the candidature of for governor of Tarija in the 2010 elections.CEDIB.
La Ley Anticorrupción bloqueará candidaturas (El País 11/02/2010)
'

References

{{Bolivian political parties 1978 establishments in Bolivia Political parties established in 1978 Political parties in Bolivia Revolutionary Nationalist Movement breakaway groups Social democratic parties in South America Socialist parties in Bolivia