THE HIGHLAND MIGRANT IN LOWLAND BOLIVIA:
REGIONAL MIGRATION AND THE DEPARTMENT OF SANTA CRUZ

By

ALLYN MAC LEAN STEARMAN

A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE COUNCIL OF

THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
1976

IM.

To Mike, Garrett and Erin —
who somehow survived it all.

PREFACE

It IS unreasonable to return to a place and
expect to find it unchanged. Even so, it seems part of
human nature to carry the hope that old hauntings will
appear just as they have been etched in memory. I was
well aware of all this before returning to lowland Bolivia
after a six-years' absence and so perhaps overcompensated
by convincing myself that little would be as it had been.
In fact, both situations proved to be the case. I found
many things unchanged by time: buildings were as I had
remembered them, the warm, outgoing lowlanders were still
very much in evidence, and old friends had aged somewhat
but were nevertheless the same people. But I also
encountered . many alterations in the physical and social
aspects of the Department of Santa Cruz. People were
beginning to move in large numbers to the capital of the
region, the city of Santa Cruz. New roads had been
completed, more land was under cultivation, and perhaps
most unexpectedly, numerous enclaves of highland Bolivians
were now visible throughout the lowlands.

Originally I had planned onre turning to eastern
Bolivia to study the movement of highland migrants through

1 1 1

the agricultural col onies--where they came from and
where they were going. I was quite unprepared, however,
to find that colonization no longer was the only signif-
icant realm of migrant activity but that highlanders
were to be found in e\jery corner of the Santa Cruz area.
It was then that I realized that I had been presented
with a very unique opportuni ty--that of being in a
position to investigate migration on a regional scale
and not as a small facet of a larger process. Thus I
set about the new task of discovering and reporting the
several problems of migration causal i ty, motivations and
strategies, and the patterns and processes involved in
flows of migrants in the Department of Santa Cruz. The
results of that investigation are presented in this
dissertation.

My return to Bolivia in 1975 and subsequent
financial assistance during the preparation of this
dissertation were made possible by a Latin American
Dissertation Fellowship awarded by the Social Science
Research Council. I am especially grateful to Ms.
Marylou Hofmann and Ms. Adele Chodorow of SSRC for
their consistent support while I was inthe field.
Great distances often thwart the best efforts of all,
but both of these very competent individuals always
responded forthwith to my queries and requests. Life in
eastern Bolivia would have been a great deal more
difficult without the assistance of Marylou and Adele.

TV

Arriving in the Field

I returned to Santa Cruz not as I had first
arrived there in 1964. The recent college graduate,
eager for adventure^ footloose with few responsibilities,
out-to-save-the-worl d Peace Corps volunteer was now a
31-year-old married woman with two children, a mortgaged
house, and an employed husband who, as a true Economic
Man, decided at the last minute that it would be much
more rational to return to his job in Florida after
helping to get us settled in Bolivia. Thus we arrived
in Santa Cruz on Christmas Day with 300 pounds of lug-
gage, a three-year-old son and a six-week-old daughter.
As we stood in the blistering heat with two travel-weary
children waiting for a taxi, my only thought was,
PERSEVERE!

We did persevere. Thanks to the efforts and
thoughtful ness of many friends, I was able to find a
suitable house to rent in the city of Santa Cruz, fur-
nish it with basic necessities, and begin a semblance of
normalcy in our lives. Adela Campos and Nelfy Ledn
contributed long hours keeping up with cooking, washing
and child care so that I would be free to do fieldwork.
Father Raymond Cowell, and old friend from the village
where I had worked as a Peace Corps volunteer provided
moral support on dark days, became a surrogate father for
my son on many occasions, and was always available for
emergencies.

While living in the city of Santa Cruz, I also
had the benefit of the friendship of Dr. Daniel Candia,
the Dean of the Department of Humanities at the Uni-
versidad Boliviana Gabriel Rene Moreno. He kindly
provided me with a great deal of background information
and made available office space where I could work
uninterrupted by family. I am also grateful to the
staff at Obras Publicas, especially Guido Ardaya and
Ulrich Reye for providing current statistical data as
well as names of persons who could contribute to my
research.

After six months of city life, both a need to
be in closer contact with the remaining study areas and
a desire to share once again in village life prompted
me to pack up the household and relocate in San Carlos,
my old Peace Corps duty station. This change of resi-
dence would have been impossible without the assistance
of a good friend, Margarita Leon, who found us a vacant
house to rent and also generously offered us the use of
her kerosene refrigerator during our four-month stay in
the vi 1 1 age.

It was wonderful to return to the hinterlands
where life remained much as I had remembered it. My
family and I were warmly welcomed, and many evenings
were spent with friends and neighbors reminiscing about
old times and relating experiences and happenings which

VI

had occurred during my six-year absence. There was a
constant stream of village children in the house, and
both of my offspring never lacked for entertainment.
My son Garrett was immediately accepted into the crowd
of Sancarleno youth who not only offered him unfailing
companionship, but also taught him the rules of survival
in a, strange and often hostile environment.

Acknowledgement is also due the village priest.
Padre Tito Solari, who provided census data which he and
his assistants had collected in the nearby Yapacani
colony.

To all those in San Carlos, then, I express my
most profound gratitude.

General Procedures

Interviews conducted in the city of Santa Cruz
along with preliminary site visits to localities throughout
the region led to the selection of five study areas. These
were chosen according to several criteria including socio-
economic diversity, both rural and urban orientations,
and importance to the current trends in migration patterns
and processes in the department. Eleven months were
spent in conducting the study, apportioned to each site
as follows: (1) the city of Santa Cruz, four months;
(2) the town of Warnes, one month; (3) the city of Montero,
two months; (4) the village of San Carlos and (5) the

VI 1

agricultural colonies of Yapacanf and San Julian studied
simultaneously, four months.

The study began in the city of Santa Cruz.
Quite by accident I had rented a house in the midst of
one of the largest migrant neighborhoods in the city.
Thus participant observation of migrant life as a barrio
resident was possible. I spent an initial three weeks
driving through every residential sector of Santa Cruz,
talking to people and mapping out the areas where high-
landers were residing. Previous familiarity with the
city shortened the chore considerably as did assistance
by friends who knew their city well. Once the location
of the migrant barrios had been ascertained, a prelimi-
nary interview guide was drawn up and tested in the field
After revisions had been made, the guide was then used
as the basis for semi-structured interviews of migrants
living in the highland barrios of the city. This same
guide was employed throughout the study to provide for
comparability of data, with changes or additions being
made as the situation demanded.

From Santa Cruz I next began traveling back and
forth to Warnes, a farming community 30 kilometers north
of the city of Santa Cruz. Warnes provided additional
data on population movement and al so contri buted neces-
sary information relating to rural migrants. My first
point of attack in Warnes was the parish priest and a

small eommunity of Mexican nuns working in the town.
This particular tactic proved useful in other areas as
well, since the town curate, if he has been a local
resident for any length of time, usually is a font of
information. The priest and nuns outlined the recent
history of settlement by highlanders in Warnes and
located the migrant neighborhoods for me on a small map
of the town. I then began interviewing barrio residents
while at the same time learning the spatial relationship
of migrant areas to the rest of the town. Working in
Warnes was relatively painless. The highlanders were for
the most part willing to be questioned, and the lowlanders
welcomed me openly--perhaps because of my obvious
Crucenan dialect.

From Warnes I traveled another 30 kilometers
down the road to Montero, a secondary urban center.
Montero furnished an entirely new set of data and was
probably the single most important locality in providing
major keys to understanding the process of rural migration
in the department. It was an extremely difficult study
site, however. Part of the problem was in my own atti-
tude toward the city. I had never found Montero a very
attractive place nor had I found the residents to be
particularly friendly toward me. My return to Montero
did not alter any of these earlier prejudices. The
highlanders living there seemed to reflect many of the

IX

same characteristics I had complained about with refer-
ence to the lowland populace. They were at best indif-
ferent to my questions and at worst quite hostile. When
I reached a point where I felt that sufficient information
had been obtained, it was with great relief that I began
planning for the next segment of my research, the village
of San Carl OS .

Traveling back and forth from the city of Santa
Cruz to San Carlos would have meant a jaunt of more than
180 kilometers each day, an impossibi 1 ity in terms of
time and expense. The latter problems along with a desire
to return to life in the country contributed to my decision
to move to San Carlos where a study of migrants in the
village could be accomplished simultaneously with that of
the colonists residing in the Yapacanf settlement. Once
again, participant observation was employed along with
use of the interview guide which had been modified for
the new study situations.

It should be noted that all of the research sites
except for the new San Julian colony were known to me
because of my earlier residence in the lowlands. Thus
a comparative base of information was available from a
period when migration of highl anders to Santa Cruz was
in only an initial phase. This previous experience was
of inestimable value in assessing the changes in lowland
social patterns along with the causes and effects of
differential streams of migration in the region.

Preparation of the Data

The large city of Santa Cruz migrant sample was
of sufficient size and diversity to warrant computer
analysis, and I wish to thank Anne Dudasik for her assis-
tance in preparing a program to be run by the Northeast
Regional Data Center at Gainesville. She was also most
helpful in the interpretation of the results obtained
from the computer analysis. Much of the remaining data
were tabulated with the assistance of my husband, Michael
Stearman.

During the preparation of the thesis, Stephen
Dudasik devoted 1 ong and of ten tedious hours to critical
comment and editing of the manuscript. I would also like
to thank my chairman. Dr. William Carter, for his criti-
cal evaluation and editorial assistance.

To my mother-in-law, Leola Meyer, another debt
is owed for her contribution of having typed the first
draft. She sacrificed numerous evenings and weekends to
help me meet deadlines. I would also like to thank
typist Pat Whitehurst, who prepared the final copy of the
thesis, and graphic artists Nancy Faller and Jeff
Whitehurst for their maps and charts.

All translations in the text from Spanish to
English are my own, as are, of course, any errors, over-
sights , or omi ss ions .

xi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

PREFACE iii

ABSTRACT . xiv

CHAPTER

ONE MIGRATION AND THE DEPARTMENT OF SANTA CRUZ:

A THEORETICAL STATEMENT 1

The Myth of the Static Society 4

Strategies and Decision-Making 4

Patterns of Migration 12

The Search for Nomothetic Principles

of Migration 23

The Regional Approach to Migration in

the Department of Santa Cruz 30

TWO THE DEPARTMENT OF SANTA CRUZ 36

THREE MIGRATION TO A PRIMATE CITY: SANTA CRUZ

DE LA SIERRA 75

The City 76

Settlement Zones 79

The Migrant Barrios 86

Settlement Similarities in Highland and

■ Lowland Migrant Barrios 91

The Highland/Lowland Settlement Dichotomy .. 101
The Highland Migrant in the City of

Santa Cruz 120

FOUR WARNES: CANE, COTTON AND CONTRACT

HARVESTING 150

Farmers and Harvesters 152

The Townspeople 169

X i i

Page

The Migrants 177

Sandal ia 194

FIVE MONTERO: AGRICULTURAL CROSSROADS OF

THE NORTH 202

The City 203

Migrant Center of the North 214

Montero's Migrant Barrio 226

The Phenomenon of Multiple Resource

Migration 232

Migrants in Montero 238

SIX SAN CARLOS: THE HIGHLAND MIGRANT IN A

LOWLAND VILLAGE 253

Socioeconomic Structure of the Lowland

Village 257

The Migrants in San Carlos 268

Things to Come 285

SEVEN THE AGRICULTURAL COLONIES 287

Colonization i n Santa Cruz 289

The Yapacant Colony 304

The Yapacant Colonists •••• 312

The San Julian Colony 32 6

The San Julicin Colonists 334

EIGHT MIGRATION AND THE DEPARTMENT OF SANTA CRUZ:

A CONCLUDING STATEMENT ... 346

The Urban-Rural Dichotomy 347

Motivational Factors in Migration 350

Migrant Settlement Patterns 353

Characteristics of Migrants 356

Patterns of Migration in the Department

of Santa Cruz 365

The Process of Migration: Testing the

Lee Hypotheses 375

Migration and the Department of Santa Cruz:

A Flow Model 392

The Impact of Migration on Camba Society ... 399

REFERENCES CITED 405

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 413

XI 1 1

Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate Council

of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

THE HIGHLAND MIGRANT IN LOWLAND BOLIVIA:
REGIONAL MIGRATION AND THE DEPARTMENT OF SANTA CRUZ

By
Allyn Mac Lean Stearman
August, 1976

Chairman: William E. Carter
Major Department: Anthropology

This dissertation treats the phenomenon of migra-
tion in the Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and examines
the movement of highlanders into and within the region
in terms of strategies employed by the migrant unit to
adapt to an ever-changing socioeconomic environment.
Unl i ke previous studies, migration is dealt with both in
the rural and urban spheres and is presented not as a
series of individual, isolated experiences but as a system
of interrelated population streams which manifest dis-
tinctive configurations. Within each stream, numerous
strategies and types of migration emerge as mechanisms
for optimizing resources. The study also tests several
hypotheses concerning migration process and presents a
typology of migration patterns which have been discussed
in the literature but which have not been synthesized for
analysis. A new concept is introduced in this typology:

XT V

multiple resource migration. Lastly, the problems of
acculturation are explored in relation to the social
changes occurring among the migrants, as well as the
dominant lowland populations.

The Department of Santa Cruz has experienced
a long history of relative isolation from the rest of
the nation and the world. A paved highway from the
interior highlands to the lowland region was completed
inl954, and for the first time regular communication
between the two areas was possible. Because of the
existence of vast reaches of unexploited resources in
Santa Cruz as contrasted to the economic, land and popu-
lation pressures in the highlands, the Bolivian govern-
ment launched a series of projects to persuade high-
landers to colonize the eastern territories. Although
several programs were initiated, settlement proceeded
slowly. Then, in the late 1960's, the economy of Santa
Cruz began to expand rapidly as a result of increased
investment in the agricultural and hydrocarbon sectors.
The major crops in the department, sugarcane, cotton and
rice, required a large labor force during the harvest
season, a demand which could not be met by the lowland
population. Consequently, highlanders began migrating
to Santa Cruz to fill the labor gap. The boom atmosphere
of the region also encouraged urban migrants to move to
lowland cities, resulting in major migration flows directed
from the highlands toward Santa Cruz.

XV

The impact of large-scale migration on the
Department of Santa Cruz has been great, and the entire
character of the region i sunder going rapidchange as a
consequence of this accul turati ve process.

XVI

CHAPTER ONE

MIGRATION AND THE DEPARTMENT OF SANTA CRUZ
A THEORETICAL STATEMENT

The Myth of the Static Society

Population movement, or migration, is as old as

the history of humankind itself. The earliest groups of

people were transhumant followers of game and plant foods

which varied by season and locality. Although this epoch

in our cultural evolution lasted longer than any other

and remains the way of life for many of the earth's

inhabitants, it has been forgotten or ignored by those

who maintain that the sedentariness of the agriculturalist

exemplifies normative human behavior. Out of this belief

has been spawned the myth of the so-called "static society"

which, as J. A. Jackson expl ai ns ,

implies by harking back to some pre-
existing rural Utopia, that the natural
condition of man is sedentary, that move-
ment away from the natal place is a
deviant-activity associated with disor-
ganization and a threat to the established
harmony of Gemeinshaft relationships which
are implied by a life lived within a
fixed social framework. (Jackson 1968:3)

Thus migration from one's place of origin and even

population movement itself is viewed as a pathological

response to an untenable life situation. Granted, in a
great many instances this has been the case. The most
well-known migrants in recent history involved tens of
thousands of persons who were forced from their homes
as the result of natural disasters as well as those
created by man. The potato famine of Ireland sent boat-
loads of Irish countrymen to the shores of North America.
Both of the World Wars displaced countless individuals
and brought chaos to their lives. The "La Violencia"
era in modern Colombian history provoked a large-scale
migration of rural folk into the country's urban centers
to escape the bloody consequences of a political feud.
And in 1970, the Peruvian earthquake, perhaps the worst
natural disaster to occur in recorded history of the
western hemisphere, left nearly 500,000 persons homeless.
Many of those from the mountain hinterlands of North-
Central Peru flooded into towns and departmental capitals
to obtain food and shelter, and many have remained there
to the present day.

The magnitude of human suffering and sacrifice
characteristic of such events has led to much of the
negativistic attitude associated wi th migration . But
there is another side to the coin. People leave homes
and farms not only as disaster evacuees or refugees but
also as individuals with positive goals of finding better
opportunities. Many migrants view temporary or permanent

relocation as a means of expanding their access to avail-
able resources. The hunting and gathering peoples as
well as nomadic pastoralists certainly make use of migra-
tion as an adaptive mechanism for resource exploitation.
But there are sedentary peoples as v/ell who have insti-
tutionalized certain patterns of migration. In the Andes,
for example, villages commonly send members on long
trading forays into other regions to obtain goods not
normally available in the home area. Other Andean com-
munities establish colonies in numerous ecological zones
in order to diversify access to agricultural products
(cf. Murra 1972). The myth of the static society, then,
is just that--a myth. Because a population has a history
of sedentism does not necessarily imply that movement
away from the natal place automatically incurs disorgani-
zation and disorientation among the migrant group.

Those who become migrants are often the world's
poor--the peasants of Europe, the campesinos of Latin
America and the tribal peoples of Africa and Asia. A
comment was once made at a symposium dealing with migra-
tion that it is interesting how middle-class Americans
"move" from one place to another while other individuals
in less affluent circumstances "migrate." Although the
semantic differences between these two words are slight,
the use of two discreet terms to describe one activity
is significant. While population "movement" has tended

to be viewed as a commonly occurring social process in
industrialized societies, "migration" in the Third World
is viewed as correlated with social disorganization and
discontinuity. Once again, the belief seems to exist
that movement is normal for those who are members of
highly technological societies but abnormal for those
who are not. The migration of highland Bol i vians into
the lowland department of Santa Cruz further di spel 1 s
this static society conceipt. Migrants frequently exhibit
a lifestyle which includes multiple migrations in the
highlands and lowlands. In many of these cases, migra-
tion is considered an appropriate means of expanding one's
economic resources and is not perceived in negative terms.
In this regard, Anthony Richmond has emphasized that

migration, like other forms of occupa-
tional and social mobility, has become
a functional imperative. . . . It
facilitates the allocation of human re-
sources in a way which is not only more
productive economically but also enables
the individual to optimize his own
material and social satisfactions by
widening a range of opportunity and
choice open to him. (Richmond 1968:245)

Strategies and Decision-Making

Whether rural or urban poor, the migrant fre-
quently has been portrayed in the tradition of Oscar
Lewis' Puerto Rican and Mexican migrant f ami 1 ies , caught
up in the stream of a "culture of poverty" which

inexorably sweeps them uncontrollably through life (Lewis
1965)., One is left with the impression that migrants have
^ery little, if any, power of self-determination. In
spite of Lewis' examples, most migratory activities in-
volve the interplay of definite motives and strategies
which affect the migrant's movement through time and
space. Prospective migrants are presented with, several
alternatives for action, and some choice must be exercised
in order to determine the most advantageous of these in
terms of individual priorities and needs. This choice
is influenced to a large degree by the background and
personal attributes of the migrants. In Huaylas, Peru,
a study of pairs of brothers, one who had migrated and
one who had not, demonstrated that factors such as educa-
tional skills, independence and age determined not only
the likelihood of migration but also affected the selection
of the point of destination (Bradf iel d 1 973) .

In a simi lar manner, highlanders who migrate
to lowland Bolivia are presented with numerous destination
alternatives. The researcher discovered that migrant
background along with the nature of the place of origin
(whether urban or rural) had major influence on the par-
ticular migrant strategy employed. Once in the new environ-
ment, however, additional strategies came into play as
new income or settlement opportunities were presented..
Migration to the Department of Santa Cruz, for example.

may have been based on an original set of operational
plans, but once the initial move from the highlands had
been made, alternatives to permit subsequent migrations
to diversify or expand available resources became incor-
porated into these strategies. A homologous situation has
occurred in Lima, Peru, among the migrant population
arriving from the Peruvian mountain regions. Here,
migrants frequently take up residence in the crowded
inner-city zone where they find assistance in obtaining
jobs and shelter through the activation of kinship net-
works and as the result of contacts made through regional
associations. Living in central Lima is expensive and
uncomfortable, so the migrant frequently will join an
organized group of individual s wi th similar problems
which stages an "invasion" of public or private land on
the outskirts of the city. In this manner a new homesite
is obtained in the barriada at relatively little cost and
the migrant has improved his 1 i ving situation signifi-
cantly (Turner 1970). It is probable that the Peruvian
Serrano (highlander) left his or her place of origin
with the primary intent of migrating to the capital
city of Lima. A subsequent move out of the central slum
of Rimac represents a modification of the original
strategy and evolves out of a new set of circumstances
affecting the decision-making process. Thus migration
strategies tend to be highly flexible mechanisms for

dealing adaptively with a changing physical and social
envi ronment .

The decision itself whether to migrate or not is
often couched in terms of the push or pull factors which
act to influence the migrant. In other words, conditions
such as economic decline, lack of job opportunities,
diminishing resources, poor or nonexistent educational
facilities and isolation may contribute to "pushing" the
migrant from the place of origin. On the other hand,
the point of destination, al so has certain attractions,
or "pull," such as adequate employment, better farmland,
or the activity and excitement of a large urban center.
The concepts of push and pull nevertheless are somewhat
simplistic in their approach to motivation for migration.
Everett Lee has expanded these basic tenets to include
additional factors which may influence the decision-
making process of the migrant.

Lee's scheme of motivational factors includes
(1) those associated with the area of origin, (2) those
associated with the area of destination , (3) the inter-
vening obstacles, and (4) personal factors. The first
three have been put into a schematic diagram (see page 8).
According to Lee,

in every area there are countless fac-
tors which act to hold people to it,
and there are others which tend to
repel them. These are shown in the

Origin

Destination

diagramas+and- signs. Thereare
others, shown as o's, to which people
are essentially indifferent. Further-
more, between every two points there
stands a set of intervening obstacles
which may be slight in some instances
and insurmountable in others. (Lee
1968:286-287)

Kinship ties and social obligations as well as
familiarity with the physical surroundings would be plus
factors to remain in the place of origin while economic
stagnation and a sense of relative deprivation would be
classified as minus characteristics. At the destination
site, a lack of adequate housing facilities would be a
negative point whereas employment opportunities and
educational advantages would fall into the positive realm.
Some elements will have a null effect such as the presence
or absence of schools in either the placeoforigin or
destination when affecting a chi Idless mi grant .

The obstacles between the points of origin and
destination may be represented by such problems as distance

road conditions, and transportation costs, which all
will influence the decision to migrate as well as dic-
tate to a certain extent the migration strategies employed.

Finally, personal factors would include those
migrant attributes such as were studied by Stillman Brad-
field in the Huaylas case to determine the nature and
characteristics of the individual who does decide to leave
the natal place.

Everett Lee's model incorporates the push-pull
aspects of migration theory but has expanded on what in
essence amounted to a somewhat restrictive model based
only on unimodal polarities. Lee has retained the posi-
tive and negative elements of the push-pull approach, but
in addition has included in both polarities plus and minus
factors as well as those which may have no effect on migrant
motivations. Furthermore, the dimensions of intervening
obstacles as well as personal characteristics have also
been appended to the push-pull scheme.

In analyzing migration flows into the Department
of Santa Cruz, Lee's model seems to have particular rele-
vance. For the Bolivian highlander, the lowlands present
positive incentives for relocation as well as negative
aspects which inhibit it. Likewise, the entire highland
area of Bolivia is experiencing grave economic problems
which act as negative factors affecting continued resi-
dence in small rural communities as well as in the urban

10

areas. At the same time, the Bolivian interior is the
center of highland tradition and culture and contains
all that is cherished and dear to the mountain inhabitant-
a strong plus to remain. The intervening obstacles of
distance, roads and transportation expense have also had
an impact on the differential regional flows of migrants
and on highlander settlement patterns throughout the
lowlands. Personal factors such as the nature of the
Bolivian migrant's place of origin, concomitant skills
acquired there and the perception of self have all con-
tributed to the employment of particular strategies in
movement from one locality to another.

Single factor explanations of migratory behavior,
especially those related to economics, commonly are re-
ported as primary incentives for relocation. While per-
ceived deprivation and economic instability at the place
of departure and/or expected opportunities at the destina-
tion locality frequently play a major role in migration
decision-making, other factors have been shown to act in
concert with those of economic origin. As described above
social and psychological components, often somewhat more
difficult to identify, will also enter into motivational
behavior. Stoltman and Ball, in a study of rural-urban
migration in Mexico, have stated

The decision to migrate from one loca-
tion to another certainly represents a
complex of variable impulses in an

11

inferential probability framework.
Migration is predicated upon the
analysis of data available to an in-
dividual in projecting or predicting
his relative well-being (economically,
socially, psychologically, etc.) in
a new place. (Stoltman and Ball
1971:55)

Unfortunately, the above authors have not con-
sidered the same factors as they affect the individual
in his evaluation of the point of departure as well.
Wilkie, however, has generalized motivational problems
to include both polarities, and again stresses the neceS'
sary inclusion of other than economic incentives in
migration motivational analysis.

The economic component, while important,
was found [in Argentina] to be less con-
trolling as a factor in the migration
process than many social scientists have
normally recognized. The economic fac-
tor helps condition the need to migrate,
but whether the final decision to migrate
is made or not reverts in most cases to
the psychological, social, spatial and
environmental perceptions and attitudes
within the family unit. (Wilkie 1968:
109)(emphasissupplied)

Finally, J, Beau jeu-Garni er in commenting about

the emphasis on economic motivations in the decision to

migrate notes Oi^

It seems , however, difficult to accept'
such a categorical assertion, for psycho-
logical factors play a considerable and
often vital part, and in any case, even
in a decision urged by precise economic
facts, one finds also some other aspects,
of which the subject was perhaps barely
conscious, but which played its part in
the final moment of choice. (Beaujeu-
Garnier 1966:212)

12

Patterns of Migration

The process of migration may be analyzed in terms
of its range of possible dimensions based on factors such
as degree of temporal ity , di rection of flow, time sequence,
and the nature of the departure and arrival points. Thus
an initial typology of migration patterns would include

1. Single-phase migration

2. Temporary or seasonal migration
.3. Stepmigration

4. Sequential migration

5 . C h a i n m i g r a t i 0 n

6. Multiple resource migration

In each case, the nature of the place of origin and
the place of destination wi 1 T be articulated with the
migration pattern. The categories "rural" and "urban"
in their four combinations commonly are used as origin
and destination descriptors. A single-phase migration,
for example, might entail a rural-urban move, an urban-
rural move, a rural-rural move, or an urban-urban move.
It is also important to note that each migration pattern
is not mutually exclusive. Seasonal migration could in-
clude step and chain migration strategies as well. This
latter case might be exemplified by the migrant unit
(i. e., an individual, family, or group) which leaves
the place of origin on a seasonal basis, but each season

13

the migrants choose points of destination which progres-
sively are closer to either the rural or urban end of
the flow direction continuum. Other individuals might
be encouraged by the migrant unit to make the trip as
well, thereby contributing to the process of chain migra-
tion.

Scott Whiteford and Richard N. Adams (1973) have
described a somewhat simi 1 ar si tuation among Bolivian
migrants working in Argentina. Several seasonal migra-
tions are made from Bolivia each year by the migrant unit,
usually in conjunction with a progression toward more
urban involvement. At some point the decision is made to
remain in Argentina, family members may be sent for, and
the process of working toward stable urban Argentine
residence commences. According to Whiteford and Adams,

In most cases, the rural-urban prole-
tariat experience is transitory, aban-
doning work in the zaf ra [sugarcane
harvest] and either joining the urban
proletariat or becoming a self-employed
urban ite. This decision is usually not
made until themigrant and his family
feel they are established in the urban
environment. (Whiteford and Adams 1973:
11)

Although temporary migration has been included

in the typology of migration patterns, the category

"permanent migration" has not. Permanent migration is

a contradiction in terms and is as ludicrous as the sign

advertising "permanent mobile homes." Migration implies

14

movement, not stability. Permanent residence may occur
as the resul t or purpose of migration but cannot properly
be considered as pertaining to the actual migration pro-
cess. In the next several pages, each of the six migra-
tion patterns will be defined and discussed in relation
to its relevance to current trends in population movement.

1. Single Phase Migration is defined as the movement
of the migratory unit from the place of origin to
the place of destination in a single operation.

A great many contemporary as well as historical
migration studies encompass this type of movement. The
most prevalent today, of course, is the rural-urban migra-
tion phenomenon occurring throughout the world.

John C. Caldwell (1969), in a report on rural-
urban migration in Ghana, concentrated on singl e-phase
migration from rural hamlets to the country's urban
centers. Caldwell's analysis included information
gathered from a survey of rural persons intending to
migrate as well as from a similar sample of the more
commonly studied de facto urban migrants. In Peru,
Mangin (1967) reported that three-quarters of the popu-
lation of a Lima migrant neighborhood selected for study
had followed the pattern of moving directly from the
place of origin to the coastal primate city.

The occurrence of urban-rural, single-phase
migration has been cited much less frequently than its

15

rural-urban counterpart. One such case, however, has been

described by Morton D. Winsberg (1968; 1969), As the

result of increasing anti-Semitic activities in eastern

Europe, Jewish organizations and philanthropists arranged

for the purchase of farmland in a sparsely-settled area

of Argentina. The site would serve as a refuge for

European Jews fleeing religious and political persecution.

Several agricultural colonies were established including

the one studied by Winsberg, Entre Rfos. The majority

of the European Jews who arrived in Entre Rios came

directly from urban ghetto situations. Because the

colonies existed in a marginal environment, out-migration

to the Argentine cities was common. According to Winsberg,

mostcolonists never developed a strong
attachment to rural life, and many re-
tained urban skills acquired in Europe.
In addition, most had more affluent
relatives or friends in the cities who
were willing to help them establish
themselves if they chose to move there.
(Winsberg 1968:427)

It is interesting that the urbanite often seems to find

adjustment to the rural milieu extremely incompatible

with a previous lifestyle, while the rural-urban migrant

is seeking to alter old patterns to conform to the urban

way of life. It might be hypothesized, then, that "reverse"

adaptation generally is more difficult and less desirable

for the urban dweller than it is for the rural inhabitant.

This would also seem to be in keeping with the

16

Whi teford-Adams proposition that "migrants seek situa^
tions that permit participation in higher degrees of
organization as circumstances permit" (Whiteford and
Adams 1973:1).

2. Temporary or Seasonal Migration is defined as move-
ment by the migratory unit from the place of origin
to the destination with the intent that residence
wi 1 1 be transitory.

Young individuals commonly migrate with the idea
that relocation is only a trial period. Because these
persons often have little to risk, migration is viewed
more as an adventure than as a definitive commitment.
If success in the form of employment and shelter is
achieved, the temporary migration strategy may evolve
into one which includes permanent residence as a possible
alternative. Other types of temporary migration may occur
as the result of duty in the armed services, visiting, or
satisfying educational needs.

If temporary migration is tied to a specific
time sequence or cycle, it is then said to be seasonal .
The greatest incidence of seasonal migration occurs in
conjunction with crop harvests which require large amounts
of short-term labor. In this- case, the migrants' movements
are ruled by the demands of an external time schedule.
In discussing migration patterns in Guatemala, Bryan
Roberts states

17

Though Indians are likely to migrate
to supplement their subsistence agri-
culture, their migration is likely to
be short-term and circulatory, involving
return to their home village. This is,
in fact, one outstanding trait of Guate-
mala's internal migrations. Indian
migrations are usually for a period of
three to four months when workers leave
for the coffee or other cash-crop har-
vests on the coast and return to culti-
vate their land for the rest of the
year. (Roberts 1973:61 )

Seasonal migration also may depend upon internal

schedul es , whereby the migrant determines the proper time

to leave the place of origin. For example, fallow seasons

or slack periods on a family farm may become satisfactory

interims to migrate to another rural area or even to an

urban center in search of temporary wage labor. In some

areas, external and internal demands on the migrants'

time do not conflict, so that the fallow period in the

place of origin coincides with the harvest season at the

place of destination. Much ofthe seasonal migration

occurring in eastern Bolivia operates in this manner.

The commercial crops of sugarcane and cotton are harvested

in the lowlands during the dry season when fields lay

fallow in the highlands.

3. Step Migration is defined as the progressive movement
by the migratory unit toward a specified settlement
situation.

Step migration frequently is associated with
rural-urban movement, not necessarily out of any innate

compatibility of the two, but simply because the rural-
urban flow presently is predominant in most areas. In
rural-urban step migration the migrant often seeks inter-
mediate "steps" along the rural-urban continuum which
afford a gradual adjustment to the urban environment.
From the rural homestead, the migratory unit may progress
to a nearby town or provincial capi tal . Finally, a move
to a large metropolitan area climaxes the process. Rural-
urban step migration has been described by researchers
such as Whiteford (1972), Ghersi and Dobyns (1963),
Orellana (1973) and Pool (1968).

Step migration nevertheless may also involve
movement from the urban end of the continuum to the
rural, or from a less rural place to one which is per-
ceived as evenmore remote. Perhaps the best-known
examples of rural-rural step migration involve the open-
ing of frontier lands and/or col onies . Road access-
ibility to new agricultural areas often encourages step-
migration or the progressive movement by migrants into
wilderness areas through the acquisition of land in
stages along the route. Individual risk-taking is re-
duced in that migrants are gradually introduced to a
new social and natural environment and at the same time
do not experience a sudden separation from supportative
networks. Settlement of certain frontier areas of Bolivia
(Cusack 1967; Henkel 1 971 ) , Venezuel a and Colombia

19

{Crist and Nissley 1973), and Brazil (Margolis 1973)
was accomplished in this manner.

Step migration may in addition involve economic
progression in terms of monetary gain and greater prestige.
Many North American fami 1 ies become locked into a two-year
moving cycle in which the male spouse, often engaged in
corporate enterprise, is transferred from one locality
to another in order to accrue promotions and concomitant
salary increases. A member of the military also may be
involved in step migration. In this instance the steps
from one duty station to another may bring advancement
in rank along with rising income increments. In many
societies today, upward mobility may imply spatial mobility
as wel 1 .

4. Sequential Migration occurs when the migratory unit,
moves from one locality to another, but not in a
geographic, economic, or status step progression.

Among the industrialized nations, horizontal

mobility of the working classes is contributing to the

formation of a. migrant group which Anthony Richmond terms

the "transilient type."

That is to say, they are part of a
highly mobile and skilled labor force
ready to move from one urban industrial
center to another, wherever their par-
ticular education and occupational skills
are in demand, irrespective of political
or cultural boundaries. (Richmond
1968:244)

20

The phenomenon of migrating from city to city
or even from rural hamlet to rural hamlet has been en-
countered in nonindustrial i zed nations as well. In the
Bolivian case, inter-urban migration is a common occur-
rence and may be attributed in great part to economic
pressures and employment instability. Reported cases
of interrural migration, however, are relatively rare.
Stephen Brush, in his paper, "Peru's Invisible Migrants:
A Case Study of Inter-Andean Migration" (Brush 1974),
alludes to the existence of this process among the Andean
rural vi 1 lages , haciendas, and indigenous communities.
Brush ascribes interrural migration in two Andean areas
to regional economic differences. As will be discussed
in later chapters of the present study, sequential move-
ment from one rural situation to another is prevalent
in lowland Bolivia and may be viewed as a direct conse-
quence of the demands of shifting agriculture.

5. Chain Migration occurs when the migratory unit

and/or other communication networks become direct
or indirect instruments in influencing the migra-
tion of additional individuals.

Unless it is theresult of some natural or social
catastrophe which creates a population of sudden evacuees,
migration normally builds gradually to a crescendo over
a period of time. Although one may speak abstractly of
population flows and waves, a major factor influencing

21

these rates and volumes of migration is the individual.
Someone must make the initial move to start the momentum.
If this hypothetical argonaut (more probably a number of
them) attains relative success in the new surroundings,
a beachhead has been established and the way is cleared
for additional migration.

Chai n mi gration may occur as the result of first-
hand contact with the migrants th.emselves, either through
return trips by the latter to the place of origin or
through visits by family and friends to the migrants'
place of destination. Chain migration may also occur
as the consequence of a secondary flow of information
whereby news of the migrants' exploits and attainments
reaches the point of origin by means of informal communica-
tion networks. More formal networks may play an important
role in chain migration, such as the effect of radio,
newspapers, and television in precipitating population
movement. The news media are often inadvertent seducers
of rural folk who, by their almost daily exposure to
commercial propaganda extolling the virtues of innumer-
able goods and services available in the city, are made
aware of the popularized benefits of urban life. In the
case of Peru, Doughty reports

There are many small town [radio]
stations but most of these can scarcely
be heard a few blocks from their trans-
mitters. Instead, several very power-
ful stations in Lima serve the country

22

at large. The national government runs
its own strong station ,• and recently, has
moved to acquire considerable control
over all other stations. It is neverthe-
less, difficult to estimate just what the
impact of radio is, especially in rural
areas, but we assume it is significant
in whetting the appetites of people for
things they do not have. In this sense,
the radio is an urban tool, an instrument
in provoking the potential migrant.
(Doughty 1972:38)

6. Multiple Resource Migration occurs when the migrant
unit establishes colonies, or archipelagos, in two
or more areas for the purpose of simultaneously
exploiting different environmental or economic niches

To the researcher's knowledge, this final category
of migration pattern has not appeared previously in the
literature. John Murra (1972) discusses a precedent to
multiple resource migration in his study of vertical
archipelagos in the Andes. He does not, however, relate
his findings to migration patterns per se, but to the
concept of zonal ecological adaptive strategies. Since
the phenomenon of multiple resource migrati on wi 1 1 be
explained in a later chapter, a brief account of this
pattern will suffice for the present. In Santa Cruz,
many rural migrants are engaging in multiple moves but
are not abandoning the previous settlement sites.
Instead, properties are acquired and maintained by the
migrant unit for the purpose of exploiting simultaneously
several economic niches. This particular pattern offers
the migrant greater diversity, and therefore, security of
capital resources.

23

The Search for Nomothetic Principles of Migration

If one were to cite the most pervasive character-
istic of migration studies, it would have to be that they
are primarily descriptive in nature. Although social
scientists may discuss at length specific patterns and
processes of population movement, very few have attempted
to formulate a set of general principles concerning the
act of migration or to test those which have been gen-
erated.

Perhaps the first to endeavor to place migration
process in a theoretical framework was E. G. Ravenstein
in a paper presented to the Royal Statistical Society
of Great Britain on March 17, 1885 (Ravenstein 1885).
Based on data from the British census of 1881, the paper
was entitled "Laws of Migration . " A subsequent study
under the same title was completed by Ravenstein in 1889
in which he included data from more than 20 nations
(Ravenstein 1889). Ravenstein's Laws of Migration, taken
from both the 1885 and 1889 treatises, are summarized
below.

(1) Migration and distance:

(a) The great body of our migrants
only proceed a short distance;
migrants enumerated in a certain
centerofabsorptionwill...
grow less (as distance from the
center increases).

24

(b) Migrants proceeding long dis-
tances general ly go by pref-
erence to one of the great cen-
ters of commerce and industry.

(2) Migration by stages:

(a) There takes place consequently

a universal shifting or displace-
ment of the population, which
produces "currents of migration,"
setting in the direction of the
great centers of commerce and
industry which absorb the migrants

(b) The inhabitants of the country
immediately surrounding a town
of rapid growth flock into it;
the gaps thus left in the rural
population are filled up by
migrants from more remote dis-
tricts, until the attractive
force of one of our rapidly
growing cities makes its influ-
ence felt, step by step, to the
most remote corner of the kingdom.

(c) The process of dispersion is the
inverse of that of absorption, and
exhibits similar features.

(3) Stream and Counterstream :

Each main current of migration produces
a compensating countercurrent .

(4) Urban-rural differences in propensity
to migrate:

The natives of towns are less migratory
than those of the rural parts of the
country.

(5) Predominance of females among short-
distancemi grants:

Females appear to predominate among
short-journey migrants.

2 5

(6) Technology and Migration:

Does migration increase? I believe so!
Wherever I was able to make a comparison
I found that an increase in the means
of locomotion and a development of manu-
factures and commerce have led to an in-
crease of migration.

(7) Dominance of the economic motive:

Bad or oppressive laws, heavy taxation,
an unattractive climate, uncongenial
social surroundings, and even compul-
sion (slave trade, transportation), all
have produced and are still producing
currents of migration, but none of
these currents can compare in volume
with that which arises from the desire
inherent in most men to "better" them-
selves in material respects.
(From Lee 1968:283)

In spite of the obvious errors, overstatements,
and omissions in Ravenstein's "Laws," they remained until
the mid-20th century the sole contribution to the search
for nomothetic principles of migration. The late 19th
and early 20th centuries witnessed the emergence of a
group of social scientists who eschewed all attempts
at general theory-building. These individuals repre-
sented a backlash to the prevailing concepts of "social
Darwinism" which had permeated the scientific community
as a result of the impact of evolutionary theory. In
anthropology, the trend away from the formulation of
"grand schemes" was led by Franz Boas who assiduously
avoided theoretical generalizations regarding cultural
phenomena. Boas became known in.stead for his prolific.

26

collecting of field data, and together with many of his

students, was labeled an "historical particul ari st . "

Marvin Harris has stated

it is true that the strategy of his-
torical particularism required an
almost total suspension of the normal
dialectic between fact and theory.
The causal processes, the trends, the
long-range parallels were buried by an
avalanche of negative cases. (Harris
1968:251)

This aversion of theory-building extended to other
disciplines as well, prompting Rupert B. Vance, president
of the Population Association of America, to publish an
article entitled "Is Theory for Demographers?" in which
as late as 1953 he decries the detrimental effects of
the pervasive fear of generating a body of theoretical
premises.

During the 1930's and 40's, several significant
migration studies were conducted in which some preliminary
theoretical constructs were advanced, but these propo-
sitions were not universally valid because of a very
circumscribed data base. Thus, just as is still prevalent
today, these theories were restricted to a particular
location, certain types of migration patterns, rates of
flow, distance differentials, or motivational factors.
A particularly good example of this approach is to be
found in a paper by J. Oscar Alers and Richard Applebaum
in which 100 "migration proposi tions" specif ical ly related

27

to the Peruvian case are enumerated and discussed. Al-
though these propositions are a definite contribution
to the theory of migration process as it pertains to
Peru, no attempt has been made to organize them into a
general, and therefore universally applicable, set of
premises. For example, the first Alers and Applebaum
proposition states

Migrants in Peru tend to move toward
zones with characteristics generally
similar to those which they abandon;
those from semi-urban and urban zones
to urban zones; those from rural zones
to rural or semi-urban; and those from
hacienda to hacienda. (Alers and
Applebaum 1968:2)

The above proposition might be restated as a
more general hypothesis such as. When circumstances
permit, migrants tend to choose points of destination
which bear a structural resemblance to the point of ori-
gin. Stated in this manner, the hypothesis may then
be tested in other migration arenas. Many of the re-
maining 99 are of equally general importance to merit
testing in other situations.

Perhaps the most recent contribution to nomo-
thetic principles of migration t>as been that of Everett
Lee whose bi-modal analysis of motivational factors was
presented in the opening pages of this chapter. Building
on this preliminary model, Lee has postulated several
hypotheses dealing with the overall process of migration.
EverettLeeexplainsthat

28

This conceptualization of migration as
involving a set of factors at origin
and destination, a set of intervening
obstacles, and a series of personal
factors is a simple one which may per-
haps be accepted as self-evident. It
is now argued that, simple though it
is, it provides a framework for much
of what we know about migration and
indicates a number of fields for inves-
tigation. It is used below to formulate
a series of hypotheses about the volume
of migration under varying conditions,
the development of stream and counter-
stream, and the characteristics of
migrants.

Volume of Migration

(1) The volume of migration within a
given territory varies with the
degree of diversity of areas in-
cluded in thatt err i to ry.

(2) The volume of migration varies with
the diversity of people.

(3) The volume of migration is related
to the difficulty of surmounting
the intervening obstacles,

(4) The volume of migration varies with
fluctuations in the economy.

(5) Unless severe checks are imposed,
both volume and rate of migration
tend to increase with time.

(6) The volume and rate of migration
vary with the state Of progress
in a country or area.

Stream and Counterstream

(1) Migration tends to take place largely
within well defined streams.

(2) For eyery major stream, a counter-
stream develops.

29

(3) The efficiency of the stream (ratio
of stream to counterstream or the
net redistribution of population
effected by the opposite flows) is
high if the major factors in the
development of a migration stream
were minus factors at origin.

(4) The efficiency of stream and counter-
stream tends to be low if origin and
destination are similar.

(5) The efficiency of migration streams
will be high if the intervening
obstacles are great.

(6) The efficiency of a migration stream
varies with economic conditions,
being high in prosperous times and
low in times of depression.

Characteristics of Migrants

(1) Migration is selective.

(2) Migrants responding primarily to plus
factors at destination tend to be
positively selected.

(3) Migrants responding primarily to
minus factors at origin tend to be
negatively selected; or, where the
minus factors are overwhelming to
entire population groups, they may
not be selected at al 1 .

(4) Taking all migrants together, selec-
tion tends to be bi-modal.

(5) The degree of positive selection in-
creases with the difficulty of the
intervening obstacles.

(6) The heightened propensity to migrate
at certain stages of the life-cycle
is important in the selection of
migrants.

(7) The characteristics of migrants tend
to be intermediate between the char-
acteristics of the population at ori-
gin and the population at destination.
(Lee 1968:288-296)

30

Everett Lee's theoretical framework offers an
analytical point of departure for the present study of
current trends in highland-lowland Bolivian patterns and
processes of migration. Although the Lee model is by no
means totally inclusive in scope, it appears to be the
most recent comprehensive formulation of general principles
of migration. The Lee schemes of bi-model pol ari ties and
processural factors in migration therefore offer at least
a minimum apparatus for the analytical organization of
the Santa Cruz data. In conjunction with the testing of
Lee's hypotheses, however, the information gathered in
the lowland region will be discussed in relation to rele-
vant propositions from the Peruvian material of Alers
and Applebaum. An additional point of articulation for
the lowland Bolivian data will be that of specific migra-
tion patterns or the typology outlined in the previous
section. Finally, the researcher will present a model
of Santa Cruz migrational flow patterns on a regional
scale, the importance of which will be discussed next.

The Regional Approach to Migration
in the Department of Santa Cruz

The great majority of literature dealing with
migration has tended to concentrate on a single aspect
in population flow from one point on the rural-urban
continuum to another, on particular migrant characteristics.

31

or on migration trends as they affect a certain urban
or rural locality. Moreover, there is a division between
rural -oriented studies and those of an urban nature
which have been maintained consistently in the presenta-
tion of material pertaining to migration. An entire
body of literature exists which deals specifically with
problems of migration and urbanization. Another such
collection must be consulted in order to enter the realm
of interrural population movement. Many investigators
have combined either their urban or rural preference for
investigation with the selection of a single study site
such as Lima (Mangin 1970), Rio de Janeiro (Bonilla 1961),
the Chapare colonization project of Bolivia (Henkel 1971),
or the Jewish agricultural settlements at Entre Rios,
Argentina (Winsberg 1968; 1969).

Although each of these forays into the field
of migration has contributed substantially to a general
understanding of population flow, they may be presenting
a limited view of the migratory processes developing
within a wider context. Even more importantly, they may
leave an erroneous impression that migration to a desig-
nated locality or from one settlement situation to another
(i. e. , rural-urban) is the only significant incidence
of migration occurring in a given territory or nation-
state. This problem of distortion is greatly magnified
in areas where a classic primate city is attracting

32

substantial numbers of rural-urban migrants. In Peru,

Stephen Brush set out to attack the voluminous research

preoccupied with rural-urban migration to Li ma by invest i

gating the phenomenonof inter-Andean rural migration.

The extent of this migration . . . be-
lies two former images: (1) that the
relationships between the various social
units of the Andean region are generally
confined to economic (trade) and insti-
tutional (political-administrative) levels;
and (2) that the only significant migration
which concerned the Andean area was emigra-
tion to the coast. (Brush 1 974 : 1 ) (empha-
sis supplied)

Brush's study opens for consideration another
aspect of migration within the Peruvian nation, but it
remains as one more isolated instance of population move-
ment which cannot contribute to an overall conceptualiza-
tion of migratory flow patterns. The questions remain
as to what processes, patterns, and strategies of migra-
tion are at work within both the rural and urban sectors
of a territory which has become an arena for internal
migration, and how do these elements function as an
integrated system?

The Department of Santa Cruz in lowland Bolivia
offers an ideal opportunity to pursue answers to these
important questions. It is the recipient of increasing
numbers of highland migrants and, to a lesser degree, of
foreign immigrants. Most significantly, Santa Cruz
offers both urban and rural settings as points of desti-
nation where the migrant may be studied.

33

The Department of Santa Cruz is large in area,
but the majority of the population is centered in what
is known as the northern Santa Cruz region, an inverted
triangle of land occupying an alluvial plain.

Five study sites in this area were chosen for the
research project. On the extreme urban end of the con-
tinuum is the primate city of Santa Cruz, the departmental
capital. On the opposing end are the agricultural colo-
nies represented by the settlement areas of the Yapacanf
and San Julian. Three intermediate sites were also in-
vestigated because of their importance to migration flows
within the department and because of their differing social
and economic compositions which generated distinctive
adaptive strategies. These three are Montero, a secondary
service center, Warnes, a town tied economically and
socially to commercial agriculture, and San Carlos, a
village based on semi subsi stence horticulture.

Each of these sites was studied separately and
provided a link in the chain of information out of which
eventually emerged a well-defined model of population
movement into, out of, as well as within the department.
The order in which each locality wais investigated followed
a spatial progression outward from the city of Santa Cruz.
Since there was only one road north into the area of
highest migrant concentration, this route to a large
extent determined the order in which the sites were studied.

34

Except in two instances, the relative spatial disposition
of each locality coincided with appropriate points along
an urban-rural continuum. An ordering by this latter
criterion would be Santa Cruz, Montero, Warnes, San
Carlos, Yapacanf/San Julian. By following the road,
the actual sequence emerged as Santa Cruz, Warnes,
Montero, San Carlos, Yapacanf/San Julicfn.

Because many of the data obtained in each site
are directly related to the particular sequencing of
the research target areas, the order in which the study
was conducted has been maintained as the basis for organi-
zation of the dissertation.

The following segment of the research report,
Chapter Two, is an introduction to the settlement and
economic development of the Department of Santa Cruz
and. its peculiar place in Bolivian history. Chapters
Three through Seven each deal with one population center.
In these chapters, specific data regarding local migrant
settlement patterns, migration processes, strategies and
motivations, and characteristics of migrants will be
discussed. In the closing statement. Chapter Eight,
the information obtained from all five study areas will
be synthesized and analyzed, and the resulting data will
be tested against the theoretical precepts and hypotheses
described in the body of the present chapter. Finally,
a descriptive model of the structure, process, and

35

integrative nature of current migration trends in the
Department of Santa Cruz will be developed and discussed
in terms of the general patterns and principles of migra-
tion presented in this chapter.

CHAPTER TWO
THE DEPARTMENT OF SANTA CRUZ

The migration of highland Bolivians into the
Santa Cruz region is by no means a recent phenomenon.
Nevertheless, it only has been during the last twenty
years or so that population movement into the lowlands
has reached large-scale proportions. Many factors have
contributed to this migration trend and to its impact
on lowland society. A significant influence on patterns
and processes of migration in the department has been
the curious history and geography of the region.

In area, though not in population, the Department
of Santa Cruz is the largest of Bolivia's nine political
divisions. The Crucenan inhabitants not only are few
in number, but have existed in a condition of almost
total isolation. The first and only all-weather road
linking the populous highland centers of Bolivia and
the rest of the world to this lowland province was not
completed until 1954. This is the 500-kilometer Santa
Cruz-Cochabamba highway which has far from subdued the
treacherous mountains it must cross. The route to the
lowlands begins in the city of Cochabamba which rests

36

37

^. * DCOBIJA

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Figure 1. Map of Bolivia

38

in a teacup valley at an elevation of 2,000 meters. From
there it winds up through the mountains, clings perilously
to the cliff walls overhanging a rocky river bed, and
finally reaches the 3 ,000-meter-high cloud forest known
popularly as "Siberia." Here the asphalt gives way to
gravel, the roadbed having deteriorated from the constant
fog and drizzle. Vehicles slow to a crawl as they feel
their way along the narrow track lined with towering tree
ferns and a tangle of tropical vegetation. It is an eerie,
ethereal land, and travelers are glad at last to leave
the swirls of mist to start the descent to the lowlands.

The edge of the highway is dotted with the small,
white wooden crosses of those travelers who failed to
negotiate a curve, or lost their brakes, or made the
trip while too tired or drunk. Every so often a ragged
scar appears in the rocky wall beside the road where a
recent slide came crashing down to cut off traffic until
a bulldozer could be brought in to clear the way. The
descent is abrupt, the road a series of hairpin curves
and switchbacks. Driving it is a relentless chore, but
for those who just ride, the scenery is spectacular.
Small farms appear wherever there is any hope of clearing
away enough rock to free the scant topsoil for cultiva-
tion. Scattered along the river are grist mills always
accompanied by a few women washing clothes in nearby pools.
Throughout it all there are the mountains, the ever-present

39

mountains, the eastern-most slopes of the Andes. Until
they almost reach the lowland plain they are great slabs
of rough-hewn rock, new mountains in terms of geological
time which have yet to be torn down by eons of erosion.

Themountains end suddenly at about 400 meters'
elevation, and the road spills out onto the plains. The
final 50 kilometers are a long, smooth ribbon crossing
farmlands and cattle raches until the highway reaches
its destination, the lowland capital, the city of Santa
Cruz de la Sierra. Now the distinctive Crucenan country-
side is evident. The houses no longer are built of adobe
blocks roofed with straw but are mud and wattle with a
thatch of palm. Everything is green aind lush, in sharp
contrast to the arid and barren altiplano or even the
Cochabamba Valley which is patchworked green only where
water i s avai 1 able .

Cleared fields and pasture lands near the city
of Santa Cruz are interrupted by the many varieties of
palm which in earlier times were the mainstay of the
lowland inhabitants. The tall, stately chonta not only
provides an excellent wood for building and decoration
(the airport in La Paz is adorned with this lowland hard-
wood), but also produces a nutritious fruit which when
boiled has a flavor and consistency not unlike potatoes.
The massive motacfl, perhaps the most sacred of lowland
palms, is used to roof the peasant houses, or pauhuichis;

40

its tender center shoot, the cogollo, is woven into bas-
kets, hats, and sleeping mats. The heart of the motacd
is extracted with an axe and boiled to make palm-heart
salad, a feastday food. On Palm Sunday it is the motacCi
frond which is brought to church by villagers and city-
dwellers alike to be blessed by the parish priest.
Another palm is the thorny totaf which is pictured on
the coat of arms of the Department of Santa Cruz. It,
too, has an edible and tasty fruit; but for the children
of the countryside the totaf has additional importance.
The totafces, as the fruit is called, are perfectly
spherical in shape and are about the size of large
marbles. Young boys collect pockets full to have a
ready supply of ammunition for their slingshots.

The Department of Santa Cruz is marked by a
diverse landscape. To the south the great desert of the
Gran Chaco dominates the region. Population is sparse
here and tends to be clustered along the recently com-
pleted 540-kilometer railroad linking the city of Santa
Cruz with Argentina. The northern reaches of the depart-
ment begin to merge into the grassy flood plain of the
B.eni and are broken only by large stands oftropical
forest. To the east lies the Brazilian Shield, a hilly
country of plains and forest, also sparsely populated,
traversed by the Santa Cruz-Brazil railroad completed
earlier in 1955. It is the wide alluvial fan, captured

41

1n the basin formed by the Andean block to the west and
the Brazilian Shield to the east, which has offered the
greatest opportunity for successful settlement. The
city of Santa Cruz was located, or rather relocated, in
this area and it is where 70 percent of the department's
580,000 inhabits reside (Reye 1974). The terrain varies
from flat plains to gently rolling subtropical forest to
dense jungle. It is a beautiful land characterized by
clear blue skies and great mounds of white clouds. Wide,
meandering rivers criss-cross the region, moving slowly
northward, converging into larger and more powerful
streams until they reach the Amazon and are carried out
to sea. At dusk large flocks of parrots shriek noi si ly
across the sky in search of a place of safety to pass
the night. The great packs of wild pigs, the agouti,
the peccary, the tapir, and the jaguar are all but gone
now, hunted out of existence for their meat and hides.
Those animals which escaped retreated farther into the
wilderness but they too are being purs.ued to extinction
by the persistent hunter.

As one moves north from the city of Santa Cruz
the landscape changes from sandy, grassy pampas to large
expanses of cotton and sugarcane. Farther north the
terrain becomes more heavily forested, and rice and banana
fields begin to dominate the countryside. There is a
paved road from the city north, extending 60 kilometers

42

to the smaller city of Montero where it splits, one
branch heading west to the Yapacanf River and the other
east to the Rfo Grande. Within this triangle are located
most of the department's inhabitants, its major commercial
centers, and the most productive agricultural lands.

The climate is generally warm and humid with a
well-defined dry season beginning about May and terminat-
ing in September. The heaviest rains fall during the months
of December, January, and February. Thus crops are
usually planted in October and November with the hope
that the rainy season will arrive on schedule and be ade-
quate to assure a good harvest. Only the cold winter winds
interrupt the warm days and mild nights. Several times a
year, normally during the months of June, July, and August,
the cold Antarctic surazos blow unhampered through the.
Argentine pampas into the Santa Cruz plain where they
are stalled by the Andes and dissipated. Once the pre-
vailing winds shift from north to south the temperature
can drop 20 degrees in a matter of hours. In 1975, tem-
peratures of -4 degrees centigrade were recorded on three
consecutive days during the midwinter month of July.
The Crucenans are ill-prepared for these abrupt climatic
shifts in terms of both clothing and housing. They
must simply weather the surazo as best they can, sitting
huddled in blankets by the cook fire or with a makeshift
heater of live coals in an old lard can. The cold winds

43

take their yearly toll among the very young, the very old,
and the infirm.

The inhabitants of the Santa Cruz region are
better known as Cambas, a term believed to have originated
from the Guaranf word meaning "friend," but now Camba
has several meanings. It was first applied to the peasant
class and was synonomous with the peon, who was tied to a
large agricultural establ i shment , or finca, by debt.
As time went by, Camba became an al 1 -incl usi ve term for
lowland society, both peasant and aristocrat. It addi-
tionally became a means by which the lowlander could
demonstrate his cultural as well as geographical distance
from highlanders whom he disparagingly referred to as
Kollas (from the Quechua word Kollasuyo, the Bolivian
sector of the Inca Empire). All of these uses continue
the present day although the first, that of a class
distinction among lowlanders, has declined in popularity
in recent years .

The Camba for the most part is a mestizo, and
even those families professing "pure Castillian heritage"
would be hard-pressed to prove this claim. It is a
well-known fact that not many European women accompanied
the Spanish conquest so that mestizoization proceeded
at a rapid pace. In the case of Santa Cruz, the taking
of wives and concubines from among the native populations
was even more pronounced due to its extreme isolation and

44

rusticity. If a Spanish woman was hesitant about crossing
the Atlantic to make her home in Buenos Aires or even
Lima, she certainly was not going to consider a place like
Santa Cruz. It is not unreasonable to assume, then, that
few, if any, Europeans were able to maintain their ethnic
purity for more than a generation or two. At the same
time, many Cambas exhibit phenotypic characteristics which
would indicate some African influence, giving credence
to the numerous tales that Santa Cruz became a refuge
for black slaves escaping Brazi 1 ian pi antations . Thus
theCamba tends to be a potpourri of highland Indian
(Quechua and Aymara), lowland Indian (Guaranf , Guarayo,
Chiquitano and many more) , European primarily from
southern Spain, and perhaps African.

The Cambas have been termed an emergent society
(Heath 1959) because of their isolation due ,to,. geographi c
barriers and tremendous distances which until quite
recently effectively inhibited contact with the outside
world. It is only an outsiders, however, who would use
this phrase; Camba society has existed since the Iberian
conquest and traces its origins back to the first Spanish
conquistadors who rode east from the Andes and west from
the Argentine. From this point, nevertheless, Crucenan
history becomes a muddle of oral tradition and scant
documentati on .

45

There are no publ i c 1 i braries or archival deposits

in Santa Cruz. The fevi documents pertaining to the area

during colonial times are now dispersed throughout the

world or held by private individuals in the area. '.

Cruceiian historians attribute the loss of most records

to the ravages of time and climate and to the destructive

uses to which they were put. S. Montero Hoyos has written

During the times when troops were sent
[to Santa Cruz] from the interior of
Bolivia, they were quartered in the
Colegio Nacional, which gave these
generally illiterate soldiers access
to the using of the archives as toilet
paper; for this reason Santa Cruz does
not preserve anything of historic tra-
dition, because it was in that church
(El Sagrario) and in the Colegio where
the archives were kept. (Quoted in
J i s u n u 1974:13)

Another historian explains how the cannon from the War

of Independence, which was kept in the Prefectura and

fired every 24th of September to commemorate the

Crucenan bid for freedom from Spain, was wadded with

colonial documents (also related in J i s u n d 1974:13).

Because of inadequate sources of documentation, the

piecing together of Crucenan history since the conquest

has occasioned no small amount of controversy among

national historians. The most heated debate revolves

about the amount of influence the highlands have had

in the birth and development of lowland society.

46

The well-known Bolivian historian, Enrique Finot,
who is himself a lowlander, has been accused of overempha-
sizing the importance of the Peruvian geopolitical sphere
during the period of Spanish colonization in the lowlands.
In his Historia de la Conquista del Oriente Boliviano,
Finot remarks

A curious account taken from the Archi vos
d e I n d i a s and which constitutes the sole
document known which refers to the inhabi-
tants of the Grigot^ [Santa Cruz] plains
during the period of theconquestor
immediately prior to it, sheds a great
deal of light on the fact that, upon
arrival of the first Spaniards, the
territory was found to be under the
domination of the Incas of Peru. This
is one more reason to recognize the
totally Altoperuvian originsof the city
of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. (Finot
1939:67)

Recent studies (Sanabria 1973) indicate that the Incas

never were successful in their efforts to subjugate the

lowland aborigines and were therefore required to build

a series of fortresses to keep the "barbaric hordes"

from invading their highland dominions. But whatever

the particular historical interpretation may be, one

salient point emerges from this dispute. Lowland Bolivians,

and especially the Camba, will disavow whenever possible

any substantial Andean influence in the formation of

their culture and tradition. The separatist philosophy

of the Camba began and was cultivated during colonial

times and continues to the present day. In any event.

47

it cannot be denied that the first to arrive in the
area were Spaniards from the Argentine, not those from
- the Peruvian highlands, and from that moment on, what is
now the Department of Santa Cruz was caught in a cross-
fire of conflicting interests and petty quarrels. The
most current treatment of colonial Santa Cruz, that
written by Hernando Sanabria Fernandez (1973), is recog-
nized by lowlanders and highlanders alike as perhaps
the best and most accurate documentation presently avail-
able. In the following brief summation of lowland
conquest and settlement, then, it is the Sanabrian
interpretation which is presented.

In 1549, Captain Domingo Martfnez de Irala set
out from Asuncidn, Paraguay, in quest of the legendary
"Mountain of Silver" reputed to lie in the mountains
to the west. He halted his march at the Guapay River
(now the Rfo Grande) where he was informed by the abori-
gine residents that other Spaniards had already claimed
the highland dominions formerly ruled by the Incas. Irala
was bitterly disappointed to find that his dfe,>.is of
conquest and riches would newer be realized, but he
decided to try to make the best of the situation. Rather
than return empty-handed to Asuncion , Irala sent an envoy
to the Audiencia Real in Lima to lay claim to the terri-
tories he had discovered east of the Peruvian viceroyalty.

The envoy was Captain Nuflo de Chcivez, well known
in the La Plata region for his audacity in battle and
his leadership qualities. After weeks of travel through
the Andes, ChSfvez arrived in Lima only to be told curtly
by the authorities that Irala and his followers were to
cease their explorations westward or be held in royal
disobedience. With this news Irala had no choice but to
retreat to Asuncidn where he began planning his return
to the area to establish a permanent colony and thereby
secure his claim. But once more his aspirations of empire
were thwarted, now permanently, for Domingo Martinez de
Irala died suddenly on October 3, 1556, never again to
cross the plains of Grigota. Nuflo de Chcivez had no
intention, however, of permitting the death of Irala
to crush the La Plata effort to colonize the lowland
plains. By February, 1558, he had gathered together an
army of 150 Spaniards and more than 2,000 Guaranf Indians
to begin the march to the Rfo Guapay. Bloody battles
with hostile Indians along the route, treachery, and
mutiny reduced the Chcivez ranks to no more thanniSOo
Spaniards and only a few hundred Guaranf. The ragged
group finally reached the Rio Guapay on August 1, 1559,
where the first permanent settlement was established.
Nuflo christened the site Nueva Asuncion in honor of the
distant post in Paraguay where his journey had begun.

49

Only days after the founding of Nueva Asuncidn,
another contingent of Spaniards rode into the small camp
on the banks of the river. The band was led by Captain
Andres Manso, who had left Peru with permission from the
Audiencia to colonize the lands now occupied by Chavez.
Nuflo dared not risk the wrath of the powerful viceroyalty
in Lima, so, rather than use force to keep what he felt
was rightfully his, he tried guile. Manso was convinced
to rema^in in the lowlands to govern both groups of colo-
nizers in Nueva Asuncidn while Chavez, along with Manso's
emissary, took the land dispute to Lima to be decided by
higher authority. Acting on his own behalf, Nuflo de
Chcivez was in a much stronger bargaining position than his
adversary who was only a spokesman for the absent Manso.
Thus, on February 15, 1560, Viceroy Andres Hurtado de
Mendoza Marques de Canete created the province of Moxos,
to be granted to his son, Garcta Hurtado de Mendoza.
In the absence of the latter, Nuflo de Chcivez was ap-
pointed Lieutenant General of the entire region. Manso
was summoned to Lima but defied his recall, choosing
instead to settle near Nueva Asuncion where he was killed
by a group of hostile Chiriguano Indians.

On his return to the lowlands, Nuflo was given
supplies, Spanish soldiers, arms, and substantial quanti-
ties of highland Indians to assist in the colonization of
the Moxos territory. Throughout the march to the east.

50

the local groups of aborigines encountered along the way
were brought peacefully or by arms under the yoke of
Spanish rule. One such group were the Chiquitanos, who
at the time of conquest were in control of the wide cen-
tral plain. Nuflo befriended the Chiquitanos and they
in turn helped him locate the site which was to be the
headquarters of the Moxos colonies. The area chosen was
at the base of the Brazilian Shi el d. beside a clear stream
known as the Sutos. During a formal ceremony on February
26, 1561, the settlement was inaugurated. Nuflo named
the newly founded town Santa Cruz de la Sierra after
the village in Extremadura where he had been born 44
years earlier. Having firmly established his claim in
the lowlands, Chcivez rode east to Asuncion where he
gathered his wife, children, and numerous settlers,
both Indian and European, to return to Santa Cruz.
With the impetus of additional colonists, the town began
to grow and prosper. In 1568, however, the fierce
Itatines invaded from the north and Nuflo de Chcivez
was killed in the skirmish. The populace voted Diego
de Mendoza to succeed Chcivez. Mendoza began his
stewardship by putting down the Itatfn revolt and re-
establishing peace in the region.

But once again adversity in the form of highland
interference was to plague the Santa Cruz colony. Upon
the rise to power of Francisco de Toledo as Viceroy of

51

Peru, Diego de Mendoza was deposed as governor of Moxos.
The position was to be occupied by one of Toledo's men,
Juan Perez de Zurita. Shortly after his arrival in
Santa Cruz, Zurita was routed from the town by Mendoza 's
followers and was unceremoniously sent packing back to
Toledo. Incensed by the rebellious Crucenans, Toledo
himself led an expedition into the lowlands to punish
the offending settlement. The viceroy's troops were no
sooner onto the lowland plain when they were attacked
by the Chiriguanos and forced into a hasty retreat in
which Toledo barely escaped alive. He prudently decided
at that point to let Santa Cruz manage its own affairs.
During the next two years Santa Cruz was torn in bitter
civil strife between the supporters of Mendoza and
those faithful to the viceroyalty in Lima. Finally
Toledo sent word that amnesty for all had been proclaimed,
and an invitation to Mendoza to visit the highlands was
extended. Upon his arrival in Potosf, Mendoza was taken
prisoner on order from the viceroy and a few days later
beheaded.

In the course of the next several years, the
Audiencia of Charcas, under whose jurisdiction Santa Cruz
fell, tried to convince the Viceroyalty of Peru to estab-
lish another lowland city closer to the highlands. The
inhabitants of Santa Cruz would then be moved to the new
location and the old settlement would simply be abandoned.

52

In October of 1580, Lorenzo Sucfrez de Figueroa was charged
with the task of founding this new lowland capital. Fierce
battles with the Guaranf led to an abortive attempt to
build a fort on the plains between the Piray and Guapay
Rivers. A second settlement, San Lorenzo el Real, was
finally secured on the west bank of the Guapay, and here
a governing body for the region was established. The
inhabitants of Santa Cruz protested loudly athaving their
ruling powers over the region usurped and made good their
protest by refusing to move into San Lorenzo. The new
capital was soon met with natural disaster when the
Guapay River flooded, carrying away most of the settlement.
San Lorenzo was then moved back to the site of the old
fort, the Guaranfs having been dispersed.

The inhabitants of Santa Cruz continued their
former existence, but because of their rebellious atti-
tude remained a source of aggravation for the Audiencia
of Charcas. In 1604 an envoy sent by the Charcas
authorities arrived in Santa Cruz with the order that
the city was to be moved. The residents acceded to
the decree, but they refused to cohabit with the San
Lorenzo community. Instead, the Crucenans located five
leagues away where they remained for 17 years.
At the: end of this period, the governor of San Lorenzo,
Nuno de la Cueva, working with the Jesuits, began to
seek means to unite the two settlements. It was finally

53

agreed that Santa Cruz would move to San Lorenzo, but
would not give up its autonomy or its sovereign rights
to govern its citizens. Gradually the Crucerfans began
to take over the city, and in a matter of just a few
years even the name San Lorenzo was cast aside in favor
of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Charcas may have succeeded
in moving the city closer to ■ the highl ands , but it was
incapable of reshaping the independent, intractible
inhabitants who constituted its populace.

The postcolonial history of Santa Cruz to the
present is long and complex, but throughout its course
two themes reoccur: isolation and local autonomy. When
the new Viceroyalty of La Plata was created in 1778,
Santa Cruz as part of Upper Peru passed from control
of the Audiencia of Charcas to that of Buenos Aires.
The shift in the domains of government had little effect
on the remote lowland province. It was just as diffi-
cult to maintain adequate communication with Santa Cruz
from Buenos Aires as it had been from the highlands.
Thus the region continued to conduct its affairs as a
semiautonomous state.

The first moves toward emancipation from Spain
went virtual ly unnoticed by the Cambas. It was not until
two patriots, Eustaquio Moldes and Juan Manuel Lemoine,
rode down from Cochabamba with word of the insurrection,
that Santa Cruz became involved. in the War for Independence

54

(Urquidi 1944:117). There was little doubt that the
city would support the rebel forces rather than side
with the royalist cause. Thus on September 24, 1810,
Santa Gruz formed a junta revolucionaria and seceded
from Upper Peru. The Santa Gruz region was never the
scene of any major battles during the 15-year war,
but the Gambas contributed to the harassment of royalist
forces by the effective guerrilla warfare they waged.
In 1814, led by the Argentine Golonel Ignacio Warnes,
the Crucenan guerrillas ambushed the royalist army led
by General Blanco and claimed a victory over 900 enemy
troops, an event still celebrated every 25th of May.

The Venezuelan General Antonio Jos6 de Sucre,
emissary of Sim6n Bolivar, arrived in La Paz on February
9, 1825, to promulgate the Independence Decree for the
provinces of Upper Peru. The Santa Cruz representative
was still in Buenos Aires awaiting the convocation of
the Assembly of the United Provinces of Rfo de la Plata,
It must have come as some surprise for him to learn
that Santa Gruz had been annexed to the recently formed
highland nation of Bolivia rather than to one of the
La Plata republics as had been anticipated (Finot 1954:
184-195). The fact remains that Santa Gruz was not
fully represented when the Assembly of the Provinces of
Upper Peru gathered, but the business of nation-building
was carried on in spite of this oversight. By the time

55

Antonio Vincente Seoane had been dispatched from Santa
Cruz and arrived in the hi ghl ands , the formal Independence
Decree had been prepared and signed by the other dele-
gates. Seoane entered the city of Chuquisaca on August
6, 1825, and, on that same day the final signature was
affixed to the document and the independent, nation state
of Bolivia officially came into being.

Once the war ended, Santa Cruz settled back into
the indolence of isolation it had previously enjoyed.
As presidents came and went in the highlands, the low-
lands remained oblivious to the political turmoil seething
beyond its boundaries. In the countryside the Camba
campesino continued his insular existence much as he had
since the first years of settlement. The French explorer
Alcide d'Orbigny visited the Santa Cruz plains shortly
after Independence and commented

. . . the campesino of Santa Cruz is
the happiest of men. He does not
know, nor does he care to know, any-
thing of other regions. For him, the
world is a radius of a few familiar
places, hemmed in by the mountains
which he sees as a vast curtain across
the horizon. (Orbigny 1835-1837:536)

Whilehighland Bolivia was characterized by an

active mining industry, by an exploitative system of

absentee landholdings, and by political intrigues,

Santa Cruz continued its unhurried pastoral existence.

But the latter third of the 19th century ushered in the

56

rubber boom which for the first time in its history
brought wealth and prosperity to the city of Santa Cruz
de la Sierra. Hordes of rubber tappers, the siringueros,
flooded north into the Beni and Pando, attracted by the
high wages offered by the rubber barons of Santa Cruz.
The pound sterling became the standard currency in the
lowlands and even today many Crucenans retain these coins
among old family treasures. Those who remained behind
had a ready market for all the rice, manioc, beef jerky
and other staples that could be produced in surplus to
feed the siringueros. Great privations were suffered by
the tappers. Many went hungry, had chronic illnesses,
and were brutalized by their employers. Others died
from malaria, drowned in floods, or were killed by
Indians. Fawcett (1924) reported that the laborers on
the Madeira River had a working life of only five years.
When men no longer could be recruited for the jungles,
they were taken as slaves. Both the great surge in the
lowland economy and the countless atrocities committed
to insure its continuation came to an end in 1910 when
southeast Asia flooded the market with great quantities
of cheap rubber. Bolivia simply could not compete and
was forced to abandon the rubber trade. The city of
Santa Cruz once again fell into the somnolence of its
past; fortunes were quickly depleted and prosperity
drained away.

57

The beginning of the 20th century witnessed re-
newed interest by the highland government in the lowlands
to the east. Several unsuccessful attempts were made
at integrating Santa Cruz into the national sphere. In
1909 a telegraph line was strung between Cochabama and
Santa Cruz in an effort to increase communication with
the isolated province. All major political offices in
the lowlands were given to highlanders appointed by the
La Paz government. These measures served only to
heighten the rebellious chauvinistic attitudes of the
Camba. Secessionist revolts occurred in 1920 and in 1924,
both of which were quickly put down by federal forces,
but the seed of fear had been planted.

Since the early 1920's, when the Standard Oil
Company had secured concessions for exploration in the
Gran Chaco desert, Bolivia and Paraguay had been disput-
ing the undemarked boundary zone in this region. Moves
on both sides to gain control of the potential ly oi 1 -rich
land resulted in several border skirmishes, and in 1931
war broke out between the two contenders. The La Paz
government feared that Santa Cruz would side with the
Paraguayans, with whom they had much stronger cultural
ties. Thus immediate means were taken to prevent the
department from any renewed attempt to secede. All
political posts were given to highlanders, military
command was denied to Crucenans, and the Cambas were

58

forbidden to form theirown regiments (Heath 1 959: 30-31 ) .

Rather than uniting lowlanders and highlanders in a common

cause, the war served only to embed more deeply the old

regional hatreds. One Chaco veteran recalled

It was an incredibly horr i bl e time !
War is always ugly, I guess, butthis
was like Hell. The worst part of it
was that we had not one enemy but
three--we had constantly to fight
thirst and the Kollas, as well as the
Paraguayans. There were many who
we ntmadwiththirstand killed them-
selves or were killed. And there were
also many who were killed by the
Bol i vians--the Kollas had only to say
that a Camba was a spy to have him
shot. This way they amused themselves
when the war was slow, and as many of
our buddies were killed by Kollas as
by the enemy on the other side. Of
course, we were able to kill a few
of them too, but it was dangerous,
(quoted in Heath 1959:31 )

The treaty of 1938 ended the war but brought
defeat to Bolivia. The major portion of the disputed
desert area was awarded to Paraguay, and Bolivia was
left counting its dead. The Cambas were grateful to
return to their farmlands, away from the savagery of war
and their despised compatriots, the Kollas. The high-
landers, no doubt, were just as eager to leave the low-
land wastes and be reunited with their families. Once
again the national government was thrown into a frenzy
of political turmoil with a series of coups which kept
the hi ghl and pol iti cians preoccupied with their own

59

affairs. Santa Cruz was permitted to quietly lick the
wounds of war and return to a semblance of normalcy.

In 1952 the MNR (Movimiento flacional i sta Revolu-
cionaria) led by Victor Paz Estenssoro gained control of
the Bolivian government. The Crucenan factions of the
party centered primarily in the city of Santa Cruz, were
appointed to major political posts and began to seek
a wider following in the lowland countryside. Sweeping
reforms instituted by the new government radically
altered the old social order throughout the entire
nation. Perhaps of greatest impact was the Agrarian
Reform Law enacted in 1953 which effectively put an end
to the established land tenure system.

The highland campesino traditionally had been
tied in perpetual serfdom to an agri cul tural establ i sh-
ment, the hacienda. In return for the privilege of
cultivating a small parcel of the poorest soil, he was
required to give the landlord from four to six days'
labor per week. Contrary to the views of many writers
such as Josd Romero Loza who states that the Camba
campesino "was never subjected either historically,
economically, or socially to servile and free labor"
(Romero 1974:296), the lowland version of the hacienda,
the finca, was also operating in a similar manner.
Because of differences in settlement patterns, no entire
villages were simply transferred like chattel from the

60

hands of the Incas to those of the Spaniard and their
descendants as occurred in the highlands. Nevertheless,
the Camba landlord depended on large quantities of inex-
pensive labor to sustain his enterprise just as did his
highland counterpart. Thus the Camba peon was tied to
his landlord not by a long tradition of servitude, but
by debt. Wages were always kept low enough to insure
that no farm family could possibly live off their earnings
In order to meet his basic needs, the Camba peon was
forced to buy supplies on credit from the finquero. The
debt was generational, and just as in the hi ghl and case,
insured a stable work force.

The lowland situation, however, presented one
major difference. There never existed a true shortage
of arable land as was prevalent in the mountains. Any-
one with a spirit for adventure and the fortitude to
withstand great hardship and solitude could escape into
the wilderness and carve out a homestead. He may not have
been able to market his produce, but he would be free
from the demands of the finquero and relatively free
from hunger. Many of the more courageous Cambas did
just that, opening up new territories to the north and
east. Others were content to remain on the finca which
robbed them of dignity and self-determination but at the
same time provided some security. On the finca the Camba
peons had access to a few comforts such as kerosene for

61

their lamps, sugar, salt, tobacco, and the ever-important
cane alcohol, all purchased on credit and assuring greater
indebtedness and more years of toil. Many of the patrons
took their paternalism quite seriously, providing medical
attention for their laborers and schools for the children.
Just as many were ruthless and cruel to those who worked
their lands. The huasca (leather whip) was always at
hand and very seldom spared. Runaway peons were hunted
down with dogs and men on horseback and were severely
punished if caught. One woman related the story of the
patron who dealt with recalcitrant peons by giving them
enemas prepared with hot peppers.

The days of the great landlords came to an
abrupt end in Bolivia when the Agrarian Reform laws
were enacted in 1953. In the mountains, the land pre-
viously held by wealthy upper class Bolivians, often in
absenteeism, was confiscated by the government and re-
distributed to the impoverished peasant serfs. Land-
owners in such places as the Cochabamba Valley where
the population is extremely dense were total ly di vested
of their holdings. Because of the pressure in the high-
lands for arable land, previous patrons were left with
a very small part of their original estates. In many
instances, land was forcibly taken by groups of campe-
sino unions, the sindicatos, which were unwilling to
await the due process of law. Great tracts of land were

62

also expropriated in the less densely populated Santa
Cruz region, but here properties were of an enormous
sizein comparison to those in the interior of the
nation. The demand for land by the lowland campesinos
could be met easily. Thus the patrons in Santa Cruz
were also divested of large portions of their original
holdings, but in most cases they retained adequate
amounts to continue extensive farming. What broke the
lowland finquero was not so much the loss of land but the
loss of the labor necessary to work it, for hand-in-hand
with the Agrarian Reform went a decree to abolish all
forms of debt peonage and a cancellation of all outstand-
ing accounts held against the finca workers. Even the
promise of higher wages was insufficient enticement for
the peons who could now secure their own farms nearby
atonly the cost of title registration. Thosefinqueros
with foresight and capital began to mechanize their
operations and were ultimately spared the financial ruin
experienced by many of their contemporaries. Most,
however, were forced by economic necessity to sell off
their remaining land and move to the cities where they
sought other forms of income. The property in turn was
purchased by individual farmers and by agribusiness con-
sortia which were cued to the coming economic expansion
in the lowlands.

63

After more than five years under the revolution-
ary government, Bolivia began to evaluate the results of
many of its programs for change. Efforts were made to
assess the outcome of the Agrarian Reform on agricul-
tural production throughout the nation. Some observers
such as the United Nations' Economic Commission for
Latin America (1958) reported a 15 per cent drop in pro-
duction as a result of land reform and forecast grave
economic problems for the future. Ronald J. Clark
countered the ECLA report by pointing out that produc-
tion had not necessarily fallen off but simply may have
been rechanneled (Clark 1968). Due to the reform, he
argued, the campesino was now able to keep more of his
produce for personal consumption instead of handing it
over to the hacienda. Hence less of the nation's agri-
cultural products were reaching urban centers where they
could be counted. Clark added that the revolution also
destroyed the old marketing system, formerly in the
hands of the landowners, and that it would take time
for the campesino to establish a new marketing network.
Nevertheless, as Zondag has noted in his study
of postrevolution Bolivian economy, the peasant was given
land to work but \/ery little monetary or technical
assistance to permit him to rise much above a subsistence
level. Then too, in such localities as Cochabamba, be-
coming a landholder meant very little in terms of economic

64

betterment. More than 8,000 families in the Cochabamba
received less than 1.5 hectares of arable land (Zondag
1968:186). By 1964 the economy began to recover, but
social pressures in the highlands continued to increase
as well. For the children of many families there would
be no land, or at least not enough for them to eke out
a living. The cities offered only temporary relief since
Bolivia as yet has no industrial base to support large
urban populations . By the early 1 960 ' s many campesinos
began to look toward Santa Cruz and the abundant farm-
land it offered as a possible solution.

Prior to the enactment of the Agrarian Reform
laws, the three largest mines in Bolivia, those owned
by Patino, Hoschchild, and Aramayo were nationalized
and brought under the control of COMIBOL (Corporacidn
Minera de Bolivia), an agency of the central government.
According to Zondag ( 1 968 : 1 09) , "From an economic point
of view, the impact of the 1952 revolution on the . . .
mining industry has been a disaster." As the result
of political patronage, COMIBOL was required to take on
greater numbers of additional employees. The labor
rolls jumped from 24,000 mine employees in 1951 to 36,558
in 1958 (Zondag 1968:120). At the same time, production
had slumped from a 1949 total of 34,600 metric tons of
tin ore mined to the COMIBOL 1961 figure of only 15,000
metric tons (Zondag 1968:120). Low market prices, poor

65

administration, depletion of ore deposits along with
the practice of featherbeddi ng , all contributed to the
decline of the mining sector. The labor situation became
acute. Mining unions represented a formidable obstacle
to the attempts at streamlining mining operations and
efforts to increase mechanization in the mines. At one
point it became more profitable to pay miners to remain
at home than put them on the job using up expensive
materials such as explosives to quarry what was mostly
worthless rock.

In 1961 the crisis of COMIBOL reached its peak.
The mines had been operating in the red for almost ten
years without any indication that conditions would improve
It is unknown what the losses were for the period 1952-
1957, but between 1958 and 1961 the deficit totalled
approximately 52.2 million dollars (Romero 1974:303).
The rise of Fidel Castro in 1959 coupled with the rumored
offers by the USSR to bail out COMIBOL spurred western
governments to a hasty loan proposal of US $37,750,000.
The Plan Triangular, as it was known, would supply tech-
nical as well as financial assistance to the failing
industry. There were strings attached, however, and
COMIBOL was expected to make major alterations in its
administrative practices. By 1964 COMIBOL, aided by the
rising price oftin on the world market, was at last
operating at a profit. Economic solvency was short-lived.

66

however. Production costs rose at a much greater rate
than the market could absorb, and in 1966 COMIBOL was
once again in debt--41 million dollars' worth. This
deficit was transferred to the Presupesto Nacional
(national budget) which inturn was covered by US
financial assistance to Bolivia. Another 20 million
dollars over the original loan was allocated under the
Plan, but the mining industry failed to respond. As
Romero has stated somewhat cryptically, "The entity
remains as an untouchable monument to inefficiency"
(Romero 1974:308).

During the years the Plan Triangular was in
operation, COMIBOL was required by provisions of the
loan agreement to cut back on mine personnel. Miners
were laid off amidst the hue and cry of the sindicate
leaders, but even the labor unions were incapable of
wieldi ng enough coercive power to maintain previous
employment levels. The industry was sick, and there
was no cure in sight. One of the major problems faced
by the Bolivian revolutionary government was that of
relocating the ex-miners. Many simply drifted into the
cities or back into the countryside, in search of some
alternate source of income. Others justifiably argued
that the government should make some provision for them.
Aid was sought from several international agencies, in-
cluding the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB), to fund

67

colonization projects in the lowlands. It was hoped
that these programs would not only offer a solution to
the problem of unemployed miners, but at the same time
would serve as an escape valve for the pressures created
by land-hungry campesinos. In reality, colonization
accomplished neither of these goals, but it contributed
to the first trickle of highland migrants into the low-
lands which in succeeding years was to become an ava-
lanche.

Though it has been debated heatedly whether or
not the 1952 revolution was of any significant economic
advantage to the highlands (that it represented definite
achievements in the social sphere has not been denied),
it proved to be the necessary impetus to awaken Santa
Cruz from its years of lethargy and plunge it headlong
into the modern capitalistic system. Cornelius Zondag
opens his chapter on the lowlands of Santa Cruz with the
following statement:

Even the most severe critics of the
Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucion-
aria admit one thing: the develop-
mental efforts of the MNR discovered
a new, tropical Bolivia. Admitting
that the idea of developing the plains
was not new, it was now up to the
nationalist revolutionary government
to make this dream a reality. {Zondag
1968:193)

The Cochabamba-Santa Cruz highway was completed, and

railroads were pushed through to the Brazilian and

68

Argentine borders. With major transportation routes
now avai 1 abl e, Santa Cruz could look beyond its own
boundaries toward national and international markets
for its agricultural products.

Since colonial times, Santa Cruz agriculturalists
have concentrated on the production of two marketable
items, sugar and rice. Of course, many secondary crops
have been cultivated such as corn, bananas, manioc, coffee,
pineapple and peanuts, but sugarcane and rice tradition-
ally represented the stanchion of the regional marketing
system. In times past, sugar was produced on the finca;
the cane was pressed and the juice rendered into sugar
and other byproducts in the huge pailas, earthen caul-
drons fired with dry kindling. The sugar was then stored
in pottery urns called hormas, with a layer of moist
clay spread on top to bleach out some of the molasses.
Until the 1950's, all of the sugar produced in Santa
Cruz wa s ma deinth is manner.

In 1949 the lowlands provided only 249 tons
of sugar for national consumption. Then in 1952 a
private concern constructed the first commercial sugar
mill in the area, located between Santa Cruz and the
town of Warnes, in the heart of cane country. This
was "La B^lgica," soon to be followed by another private
mill, "San Aurelio," built on the outskirts of the city
of Santa Cruz. Funds were made available by the new

69

revolutionary government to cane growers for the expan-
sion of sugarcane production and to business enterprises
interested in constructing new mills. One of the latter
was "La Esperanza," which recieved a loan of US $400,000
and was soon augmenting lowland output by 460,000 kilos
of sugar per year (Romero 1974:257). By 1957 the
government mill north of Monerto, "GuabirS," was com-
pleted along with a paved highway connecting the mill
to Santa Cruz and the route to the interior. As each
succeeding mill was brought into production, more and
more land was put to cane,. In 1958 there were 5,800
hectares in sugarcane. This amount had risen to 24,600
hectares by 1964. In tonnages of sugar produced, the
1949 figure of 249 tons jumped to 93,600 tons in 1964
and peaked at 115,700 tons in 1969 (Reye 1974:13).
Sugar importations dropped from 66,700 tons in 1956 to
zero in 1964. Exportation began in 1960 on a small
scale of only 500 tons. However, by 1969, exports
had risen to 10,000 tons annually (Reye 1974:13).

The impact of commercial sugar production in
Santa Cruz was far reaching. More than 12,000 zafreros
(cane cutters) were needed each year to get the crop in.
Most Cambas were unwilling to hire out for the back-
breaking work, so labor had to be sought elsewhere.
Highlanders responded to the call for zafreros, many
of them campesinos in search of off-season work to

70

supplement their farm incomes. The cane harvest coin-
cided nicely with the three-month fallow period preceding
spring planting. There are no data available regarding
the number of cane cutters who may have chosen to remain
in the lowlands, but numerous highlanders now residing
in towns or on small farms throughout the Santa Cruz
region confess that it was the cane harvest which gave
them their first glimpse of lowland life. They liked it
and decided to stay.

The development of rice production in Santa
Cruz followed a similar pattern to that of sugar. At
the time of the revolution of 1952, Bolivia was import-
ing 53 per cent of its consumption needs or 83,000 quintales
(100 lbs.) of rice per year (Romero 1974:257). Land
under rice cultivation in Santa Cruz amounted to 16,000
hectares in 1955 and increased to 35,815 hectares in
1964. Rice production for 1964 reached 42,500 tons,
exceeding national demand by 10,000 tons. By the follow-
ing year the rice growers cutback 30 per cent onculti-
vation as a result of the previous year's overproduction
(Zondag 1968:194).

The boom being experienced by Santa Cruz agri-
culture made lowland settlement seem more palatable
to many highlanders. There was money to be made in
the area, and land was available in large quantities
at relatively low cost. Even colonization no longer

71

appeared to be such an ends-of-the-earth proposition.
The prospect of homesteadi ng the lowlands became of
increasing interest to nonnational groups as well. In
its efforts to spur the development of the Santa Cruz
region, the Bolivian government granted large tracts of
land to foreign migrants demonstrating a willingness to
become permanent and productive agriculturalists. To the
north, in the center of prime rice producing terrain, the
Japanese established the San Juan colony. To the east,
the Okinawans set up their colony of the same name and
are engaged in both cane and rice growing. A group of
Old Colony Mennonites have been allotted land to the
south of Santa Cruz, and their small settlements are well
on the way to prosperity.

Coincidental to the great awakening of agricul-
ture in Santa Cruz has been the exploitation of oil
resources in the region. Although petroleum extraction
has not contributed significantly to the labor market,
employing only about 2,000 persons or 1 per cent of the
departmental labor pool, it has made available substan-
tial capital to the development of the region. By law,
the Comite de Obras PcJblicas (Public Works Department)
of Santa Cruz receives 11 per cent of the revenues ob-
tained from petroleum products extracted in the depart-
ment. By 1974 Obras Pdblicas had invested US $17,800,000
within the city of Santa Cruz for sewers, potable water.

72

paving, and other urban projects. In the countryside,
another US $6,050,000 has been dispersed for rural elec-
trification programs and potable water systems (Reye
1974:11). At this point it is interesting to note that
the Comity de Obras PJblicas of Santa Cruz has succeeded
in hiring many of the most promising young architects,
engineers and planners in Bolivia, owing no doubt to the
fact that it is one of the few governmental bureaucracies
which pays well, on time, and has adequate funding for
its projects.

The beginning of the 1970's witnessed a temporary
decline in sugarcane cultivation brought about by several
droughts, sugarcane blight, and progressively lower prices.
Hectares of land under cane cultivation dropped from 35,000
in 1970 to 27,000 hectares in 1971. During this decline,
many growers switched from cane to cotton which was de-
manding high prices on the world market and which had
demonstrated good adaptability to the soil and climatic
conditions of the region. Formerly cotton had been grown
in the lowlands by only one enterprise, the "Al godonera , "
a privately owned, government-subsidized monopoly. A
new administration in La Paz opened up cotton production
to free enterprise, and everyone, farmers with large and
small holdings alike, jumped on the bandwagon. From the
6,000 hectares controlled by the Algodonera in 1968,
cotton cultivation spiraled^to 67,000 hectares in 1974

73

(Reye 1974:15). Most of this cotton is destined for ex-
port, an income which in 1973 assisted Bolivia's balance
of payments by 19 million dollars.

Aside from the economic impact on the region, the
shift from cane to the more lucrative crop of cotton has
occasioned demographic repercussions throughout the nation
as well. Unlike sugarcane which during harvest makes use
of small groups of primarily male laborers to cut, clean,
and load the cane on trucks, cotton harvesting is highly
labor intensive and a good deal less strenuous. Thus it
requires large numbers of pickers who are not necessarily
restricted by age or sex. Once again, the lowlands were
not able to meet the demand for labor, and contractors
were sent into the highlands to hi re indi vidual s , families,
or even entire villages and ship them down to the cotton
fields of Santa Cruz. In 1974, 34,000 pickers worked
in the cotton harvest and it has been estimated that over
half remained in the lowlands (Federaci(5nde Campesinos
1975).

The surging economy of Santa Cruz not only has
been a major inducement for the highlander to migrate to
the lowlands, but at the same time has benefited from
that migration. For along with the thousands of har-
vesters have come the camp f ol 1 owers--merchants , crafts-
men, artisans, and unskilled 1 aborers--al 1 riding the
crest of free-flowing money.. It is the place for the

74

entrepreneur, where with a modicum of luck and experience
any small enterprise will mushroom into a profitable
business .

Lowlanders have not been overly enthusiastic
about this recent invasion of their homeland by highland
Bolivians, but they are fully aware of the positive impact
it has had on the growth and development of the region.
The deeply embedded prejudices held by the Camba will
ultimately be eroded away by time and by the sheer numbers
of highlanders moving into Santa Cruz. Perhaps the fate
of the Camba is that they will simply cease to exist,
only to rise in their stead a new and truly "emergent
society" of lowland Bolivians.

CHAPTER THREE

MIGRATION TO A PRIMATE CITY:
SANTA CRUZ DE LA SIERRA

Santa Cruz de la Sierra, or simply Santa Cruz,
is the capital of the department of the same name and
is the largest urban center in the lowlands. Nearly
a third of the department's half million inhabitants
reside in the city of Santa Cruz (Reye 1974:104), and
although other smaller cities such as Montero are rap-
idly gaining in prominence, it is Santa Cruz which remains
the center of all governmental and commercial activity
in the region .

The precipitous growth of the city from 43,000
inhabitants in 1950 to 170,000 in 1973 may be attributed
mostly to internal migration in Bolivia. It has been
estimated that 1 7 per cent of the city's residents are
migrants from other departments, primarily those of
the interior. Another 18 per cent are Cambas who have
left their farms and villages to move to Santa Cruz
(Reye 1974:101). For the highland migrant, the entice-
ment of the lowland capital has been overwhelmingly the
promise of economic gain. At present the department

75

76

boasts the highest per capita income in the nation, and
the city is attracting about half of those highlanders
seeking better income opportunities in the lowlands.
The Camba migrants have expressed several motives for
leaving the countryside, including, of course, higher
wages, but educational needs and the desire to live in
an urban si tuat ion--the so-called "bright lights" syn-
drome--also enter into the decision to migrate.

Santa Cruz is now very much a reflection of
the great flows of migrants which have settled within
the city's boundaries. The lowland migrant, for the
most part, has been assimilated into the resident popu-
lation. The highlander has added an entirely new dimen-
sion to traditional Crucenan society.

The City

The city of Santa Cruz began as a traditional
Mediterranean-style settlement of streets set out in a
grid pattern with a central plaza. The physical orien-
tation, whether by plan or accident, is almost true to
the cardinal axes. -Dominating the south side of the
main square, the Plaza 24 de Septiembre, is the Santa
Cruz Cathedral . It is frequently photographed by errant
fans of colonial art, but in actuality the building
is only 50 years old. On the north side of the plaza

77

is the Banco Nacional de Bolivia, a neo-Baroque structure
painted a brilliant turquoise blue. To the east and
west are public and private buildings including the
mayor's office (Alcaldfa), the police department
(Intendencia), the Departmental offices (Prefecture ) ,
restaurants, tourist shops, bookstores, and a movie
theater.

Unlike urban centers in other parts of the
world, the inner city has not degenerated into a slum
area but remains the hub of social and commercial ac-
tivity. Many of the older Crucefian families continue
to make their homes there. The buildings for the most
part are single-story masonry or wattl e-and-daub which
has been plastered and whitewashed. Roofs are almost
uniformly Spanish tile. A few multistory buildings
have been completed; the newest and tallest, still
under construction, rises 12 stories. Still, when
viewed from a high vantage point, the city presents a
calm sea of curved, lichen-splotched tile. Only oc-
casionally is the stone interrupted by a concrete struc-
ture rising above the mass of red-orange roofs.

Prior to the installation of sewer lines and the
paving of the first streets near the main plaza, Santa
Cruz was characterized by two extremes: dust and mud.
During dry weather, winds of the plains of Grigotci drove
sand and silt down every thoroughfare in town. The tile

roofs of homes and business establishments trapped pockets
of soil which in turn served as seed beds for spiny
cactus plants. The torrential rains brought momentary
respite from the billowing dust, but the streets were
soon converted into flowing rivers of mud. In 1966
paving was begun and gradually the sand was pushed back
onto the plains. Gutters now carry away the street over-
flows from heavy downpours, making the rains only a tem-
porary nuisance.

The outskirts of Santa Cruz, however, remain
much as the inner city was in earlier years, although
changes are being made. As money becomes available,
Obras Publicas lays a few more meters of sewer pipe
and seals the roadbed with 1 ocetas*--hexagonal -shaped
interlocking concrete blocks. As paving moves gradually
toward the perimeter of the city, neighborhoods vie for
political favors in order to be the first in the area to
have sewers laid and streets improved. Except in resi-
dential districts of greatest influence, however, the

*Aside from their curious honey-combed beauty,
the locetas are also extremely adaptive to the needs
of the city and to the lowland environment, reflecting
the intense tropical heat rather than absorbing it as
will an asphalt surface. Then too, the locetas are
eminently practical. Because they are movable units,
there is wery little loss of material if additional
street excavation becomes necessary. The locetas
simply are placed to one side of the roadwork and then
repositioned when the task is completed.

79

completion of sewers and streets has tended to move at
an equal pace in all sectors.

Settlement Zones

Four concentric circular throughways, called
anillos, have been superimposed over the basic quadri-
lateral plan of the city. Two of these roads are wide
and fast, enabling travelers to circumnavigate Santa
Cruz without having to pass through the congested down-
town areas. Like rings on a tree, the anillos mark
the outward growth of Santa Cruz. Various types of
settlement patterns are evident within the confines of
each anillo, and the nature of each is greatly determined
by the regional origins and economic status of the in-
habitants.

The area enclosed by the first anillo, designated
for the purpose of this study Zone 1, is the oldest part
of Santa Cruz (see Figure 3). As, previously mentioned,
this sector continues to be inhabited predominantly by
the old Cruceiian aristocracy, wealthy or otherwise.
The area immediately contiguous to the main plaza has
become primarily a commercial center, although many of
the owners of downtown establishments live on the
premises. Along with the old Camba fami 1 ies in Zone 1
are foreign immigrants engaged in commerce and a few

80

^/ CITY OF SANTA CRUZ
^ ^/MIGRANT SETTLEMENT
PATTERNS

m^ HIGHLAND MIGRANT
M BARRIOS

LOWLAND MIGRANT
BARRIOS

CONAVl

-^

Figure 2. City of Santa Cruz - Migrant Settlement Patterns

campesino families which have accumulated adequate capi-
tal to permit them to acquire a town house. The only
highland stronghold in this section of the city is
centered around Los Pozos market, in the northeast.
Like every open market in Santa Cruz, Los Pozos has
beentaken over by highland entrepreneurs. While most
live'in the migrant barrios outside of the second anillo,
many have secured homes in the immediate area of the
market. Others reside in the market proper, sleeping
in their small stalls. Two additional markets are
situated within the first anillo, Siete Calles and
Mercado Nuevo, both of which have also been dominated
by highland merchants. Unlike the Los Pozos case, how-
ever, highlanders have not settled around these markets,
for Siete Calles and Mercado Muevo are located closer to
the center of town than is Los Pozos and are hemmed in
by established Camba businesses and residences. Hence,
most of the highland sellers have been unable to buy or
rent in this area and must commute from the periphery
of the city .

The second anillo is constructed of asphalt
and forms the major link between the highway to northern
Santa Cruz and the route to the interior which enters
the city from the southwest. The residents living in the
area between the first and second anillos (Zone 2) are
also primarily lowlanders, although some highlanders

82

have begun to acquire homes and shops within this
perimeter. The Cambas occupying Zone 2 are for the
most part lower-middle income residents, middle income
residents, and campesinos who migrated to Santa Cruz a
number of years ago when' this area constituted the out-
skirts of the city. Also within the zone are the stadium,
half of the university (the other half is in Zone 3),
and the majority of lentertainment facilities such as
restaurants, nightclubs and movie theaters. Homes here
tend to be single family dwel 1 i ngs and aside from being
of newer construction, look very much like those of
Zone 1. Because of the presence of the second anillo
and the Santa Cruz-Cochabamba highway. Zone 2 has become
the service center for the transportation industry.
Mechanics, parts shops, steam cleaning and lubrication
pits are all concentrated in this sector of the city.

Crosscutting both Zone 1 and Zone 2 is the Ave-
nida de las Americas, leading from the central business
district to the airport. Along this avenue and for
about three blocks on either side is situated one of the
three upper income residential areas in Santa Cruz.
Homes in the Americas district are large and expensive,
and several are of unusual design. Wealthy Crucenans,
many of them nouveaux riches, as well as foreign immi-
grants and the resident diplomats in the city own or
rent dwellings along the avenue.

83

Two similar areas exist outside of the second
anillo in Zone 3. The first, known as Equi petrol , began
as part of the Gulf Oil camp where well-to-do oil execu-
tives bui 1 t 1 arge, American-style houses. When the hold-
ings of Gulf Oil were expropriated in 1969, the American
colony vacated the site. Equipetrol became a second
residential area for the city's elite, and has continued
to expand rapidly because of the vacant tracts of land
available nearby. Recently, a middle income housing
project called "Guapay" has been tacked on to the rear
of Equipetrol. These houses sell for US $10,000 to
$12,000 and may be purchased on a 20-year loan after
a modest down payment. Young professionals and middle
level bureaucrats, mostly Crucenan, make their homes
there. The other upper income residential area located
in Zone 3 is the Urbanizacidn Cooper, located just south
of Equipetrol. This was begun as a planned development
but never managed to quite get off the ground. The
streets were laid out and a few homes built, but the
majority of lots are overgrown and unimproved.

The city of Santa Cruz has now stabilized with-
in the confines of Zones 1 and 2. All of the streets
in Zone 1 have been paved and those of Zone 2 are about
to be completed. The greatest areas of flux lie outside
of the second anillo, in what are now the fringe areas
of the city. The remai ning- two ani 1 los , three and four.

84

have been plotted on city planning maps and their loca-
tions marked with signs at strategic points, but in
actuality they do not exist. Thus at present there is
no apparent physical boundary between Zone 3 and Zone 4.
For the purpose of analysis, however, they will be treated
as separate entities.

The extent of urban sprawl in Santa Cruz was so
underestimated that Zone 3, which is now a major resi-
dential area, is also the site of the oil refinery, air-
port, railheads for both the Brazilian and Argentine
lines, the other half of the university, and the San
Aurelio sugar mill. In addition. Zone 3 constitutes
the district of greatest migrant concentration.

For the present, the major function of Zone 4
is to catch the spill from Zone 3. Much of the area
is still in the process of being subdivided into lots,
and public services are mostly nonexistent. Many of the
residents are squatters, occupying land which has yet
to be opened for settlement. A few of the larger migrant
neighborhoods, or barrios, have begun to overflow into
the fourth zone and, as they do, parcels are quickly
surveyed for urban Tots.

There are two exceptions to the rule of general
lack of development in Zone 4. The first, Guapay, has
been discussed previously. The second exception is the
CONAVI project. CONAVI (Consejo Nacional de Vivienda),

85

the Bolivian counterpart of HUD, has granted funds to the
city of Santa Cruz for the construction of low income
housing. However, even with low interest loans, the cost
of these homes, from US $3,000 to $3,500, is well beyond
the reach of most of the city's poor. Consequently,
CONAVI-built homes have been inhabited primarily by
lower-middle income residents with a few in higher income
brackets who, for one reason or another, desired to live
there.

After the CONAVI project was begun, adjacent land
was purchased by several private development corporations
and by trade cooperatives, such as the Cooperativa Orgullo
Camba. These private concerns built homes similar in
design to those in CONAVI and offered the same provisions
for long-term payment. The cooperatives and corporations,
however, have not kept to the same specifications as the
government project. As a result, many of the homes are
sold and occupied before water and electricity have been
brought into the area. The cost of installing these ser-
vices must therefore be assumed by the new owners in addi-
tion to their house payments.

All of these corporations, cooperatives, and
even the CONAVI program are owned or administered by
lowlanders who have attempted, to bar highlanders from
settling in these projects. A few people from the in-
terior are evident in CONAVI, which, after all, is

86

supported by national funding, but the private develop-
ments are uniformly Camba. One informant mentioned that
there had been quite a struggle to exclude highlanders
from the area, and that the Cambas had prevailed. Inci-
dents such as this no doubt have contributed to the
segregation of Santa Cruz by regional origins. Many
highlanders confessed that they would rather live in
their own barrios where they are not subjected to the
scorn and ridicule of lowlanders. Lowlanders complain
that they do not want highlanders intruding in their
neighborhoods. Even so, housing shortages in the city
are so acute that often one must settle where one can,
regardless of origin or preference.

The Migrant Barrios

Except for the old Gulf camp, now Equipetrol,
the areas in Zone 3 are new settlements. Most have been
carved out of former urban estates of the Crucenan
aristocracy. The Urban Reform Law prohibits the private
ownership of more than one hectare of land within the
four-kilometer radius of the city. Consequently, land-
owners have been faced with the options of either losing
their holdings to government expropriation or having them
surveyed into lots for subsequent sale. Most have made
the decision to subdivide and sell, and in the majority

of cases owners have profited substantially from the
transaction. It is in these newly formed residential
tracts that recent arrivals to Santa Cruz have settled,
creating a series of migrant barrios along the second
a n i 1 1 0 .

The migrant barrios are composed of either Camba
or highlander concentrations, with one or the other group
dominating in any single locality. In addition, the
barrios themselves are clustered in accordance with
the regional origins of the inhabitants, and this cluster-
ing has occasioned the bisection of the outer rings
of the city. Thus if a line were to be drawn from the
airport through the center of the plaza to the Equipetrol
section, all of Zones 3 and 4 to the west of the line
would be predominantly highland, and all of the same
zones to the east would be Camba.

The pattern of migrant barrios initially emerged
as a result of the location of major transportation
routes. When the Brazilian and Argentine railroads were
constructed, they opened communication along the routes
with many of the inhabitants who previously had lived
in relative isolation. An inevitable outcome of this
increased contact was out-migration from the hinterlands.
Since both railroads terminate in the southeastern part
of the city, it is here that many of these Camba migrants
settled. Because of heightened commercial activity in

the railroad areas, Santa Cruz began to grow toward the
railroads. When the limits of outward growth had reached
the terminal yards, the urban spread began moving toward
the northeast section of the city. Much of the area
to the south was already occupied by industrial centers
such as the oil refinery and the San Aurelio sugar mill.
The airport also constituted a considerable barrier to
settlement toward the southwest. At the same time,
lowland migrants were arriving from the north via the
Santa Cruz-Montero highway. These new arrivals acquired
property on either side of the northern entrance to
Santa Cruz, but settlement toward the west was inhibited
by the presence of the Equipetrol/Guapay complex. The
migrants from the north were therefore forced by circum-
stance to expand housing areas toward the northeastern
sector of the city. Thus the zones situated between
the airport and Equipetrol on the eastern side of Santa
Cruz became predominantly Camba migrant barrios.

Coinciding with the settlement by lowlanders in
the eastern half of the city was the establishment of
highland migrant barrios in the west. The Santa Cruz-
Cochabamba highway enters the city from the southwest,
so earlier migrants arrivi ng from the interior sought
homes in this general area. A large open market. Las
Ramadas, also began to develop near the entry point of
the highway serving to add further interest among

89

highlanders to settle in this sector of the city. Thus
the western half of Santa Cruz as delimited by Equipetrol
and the airport became highland strongholds.

Recent settlement in these areas cannot be attrib-
uted so much to the migrant's point of entry as was the
case in the past. Once the new barrios began to grow,
additional residents were recruited primarily as the
result of chain migration. Either through the use of
family networks or by word of mouth, both Highlanders
and Cambas contemplating the move to Santa Cruz have a
yery good idea of where they would prefer to establish
residence. In many instances relatives or friends pro-
vide, temporary habitation for the newly arrived migrants
and their families. If these supports do not exist,
migrants in need of shelter will tend to search first
in those barrios where people from their own particular
region make their homes. However, because of the present
housing ■ shortage in the city, many migrants now are
forced to rent a room or house in any area which offers
a vacancy. One informant said that it had taken her
three weeks to find a small room to rent. In the mean-
time, one of the barrio residents where she first arrived
let her sleep in a corner of the kitchen--for a small
fee.

The problems encountered by the recent migrant
to Santa Cruz are not mitigated by assistance groups such

90

as the regional associations which exist in other parts

of the world. In his analysis of the migrant associations

in Lima, for example. Doughty has stated

the migrant regional associations
serve a variety of important func-
tions for the individual and the
nation by helping to maintain key
social institutions and relation-
ships. These tend to slow down the
stressful pace of social and cultural
interactions which often make demands
on the individual new to the city.
(Doughty 1970:30)

Mangin (1973) adds an additional dimension to the function
of the regional assoc iation in Lima. As an outgrowth of
shortages in suitable living space, migrants have found
that if they act in groups, usually regional associations,
they can effectively invade government land on the out-
skirts of the city and claim squatters' rights. As a
result, the migrant barriadas of Lima have mushroomed
wherever vacant land is available.

Perhaps because migrants arriving in Santa Cruz
are not funneled into a central slum area where rapid
disorientation and depersonalization occur, nor have
limited opportunities to purchase land near their friends
and family, regional associations have failed to material-
ize. The existence of social clubs, especially among
highlanders, is not denied, but they certainly are not
prevalent. In speaking with those few informants who
admitted membership in such groups, it was evident that

91

these clubs are very loosely structured, and serve pri-
marily as a means to provide dancing and drinking partners
for' the members. There was no indication that any addi-
tional service such as offering assistance in acquiring
employment or shelter was a function of these social
clubs.

Settlement Similarities in
Highland and Lowland Migrant Barrios

Although ethnic differences have tended to di-
chotomize settlement characteristics of highland and
lowland migrant barrios, both districts exhibit important
similarities in residential patterns and processes. One
of these is the sequence of settlement. As a general
rule of thumb, those property owners in the migrant
barrios who live closer to the center of Santa Cruz
are the older residents in the neighborhood and have
the better homes. This appears to be simply a time/
space effect rather than one of hierarchical social
ordering. Because of the radial growth of the city
outward, the areas of the barrio nearest the nucleus of
Santa Cruz were settled first, with subsequent settlement
gradually moving toward the distal end of the neighbor-
hood. Barrio stabilization also follows this time/space
continuum. Thus a greater number of permanent structures
are evident in the area where settlement commenced, and

92

temporary dwellings predominate in the area of newest
habi tat ionattheotherextr erne.

While both migrant areas exhibit similar patterns
of settlement sequence and stabilization, they are also
•alike in the heterogeneity of the income status of resi-
dents as demonstrated by differences in housing types.
In the older sections of migrant barrios, or those nearer
the urban nucleus, the disparity in housing between the
affluent and the less-affluent is notso pronounced.
Here the majority of housing is of brick construction
with tile roofs. The wealthier residents built their
homes at the outset of settlement, and may have added
on to them over the years. The poorer residents will
also have brick homes, but they usually are smaller and
less complex in design. For this segment of the barrio
population it has been time, rather than wealth, which
has permitted the transition to a permanent structure
(e. g., adobe to brick). Many inhabitants spent years
in acquiring brick, cement, and other bui 1 ding material s
before they finally were able to construct a better home.
The same succession of events is occurring in the more
recently settled areas of the migrant barrios where

stabilization is still in process. On any one street

i ■ . '
in a newer section of the migrant neighborhood then,

a variety of housing types is evident.

93

The highland barrio, 4 de Noviembre, has been in
existence for about six years and represents the result
of the outward expansion of its contiguous neighbor.
Villa San Lufs. Because the barrio is a newer settlement
and still in a state of flux, it is a good example of
migrant housing progression. In looking at one street
consisting of 20 lots, 10 on either side, it is found to
be composed of the following:

a. Three large, substantial brick homes with
tile roofs and such amenities as mosaic tile
floors, curtains at the windows, lawns and
flower beds. One of these homes boasts a
small swimming pool. All three are sur-
rounded by high masonry walls.

b. Two large, substantial homes, tile roofs,
presently unfinished but inhabited. Neither
is walled or fenced and is only partial ly
furnished.

c. Four smaller brick homes consisting of two
or three rooms. Only one has a surrounding
wal 1 .

d. One adobe brick house with tile roof. One
room.

e. Two combinations of two houses, one small
masonry and one wattle and daub with thatched
roof.

f. Five lamina houses, one or two rooms.
"Lamina" is the term used for the refuse
of the veneer factory. The thin sheets of
wood are collected and then used like
shingles to cover a rude frame. The lamina
will last for only two or three years after
which time it begins to deteriorate and must
be replaced in part or whole. However, it
does offer the advantage of quick, inexpen-
sive housi ng .

94

g. One combination of two houses , one leimina
and one small brick still under construc-
tion. The owners live in the leimina house.

h. Two vacant lots being offered for sale.
The owners of the three large uncompleted homes
constructed their residences soon after the lots were
purchased. Of the two large homes still unfinished, one
is used as rental property by the owner who lives closer
to central Santa Cruz. The rent for this home, which
is still greatly lacking in comforts (wal 1 s are unfinished
mortar and there is nothing but bare dirt surrounding the
exterior), is US $175.00 per month. The price is steep
by any standard but is indicative of the housing pressures
now being experienced by Santa Cruz. The other unfinished
home is being built in stages by its owner, a mason, and
supersedes a leimina structure which earlier housed the
family. Owners of the remaining residences are gradually
working toward property improvement, with the exception
of those individuals involved in the business of renting.

It is not uncommon for migrants to rent a room
or rooms in their home from time to time for the purpose
of increasing family cash income. For many, this is a
convenient way to accumulate money for the further improve-
ment of their dwellings. However, there is a certain
amount of slum-lording going on in the migrant barrios,
especially with reference to the highland settlements.
These property owners have bui 1 t inexpens i ve housing

95

facilities for the expressed purpose of financial gain.
Their major interest like slum lords everywhere, is not
in spending money to improve the property, but to extract
as much profit as possible. Some of these landlords may
live on the premises; others will reside in a separate
homewithin the same barrio or perhaps in another. As
the neighborhood begins to stabilize and more permanent
homes are constructed, property values increase. Ulti-
mately it becomes more profitable to sell the substandard
dwellings rather than maintain them.* The second or
third owners eventual ly wi 1 1 tear down the old rental
housing and replace it with a single-family masonry home.
In spite of individual efforts to upgrade living
environments, migrant barrios have tended to be classi-
fied as peripheral city slums and consequently are often
the targets for urban renewal projects. However, as
previously indicated, when such areas are permitted to
follow the natural course of their development, sub-
standard housing is eventual ly el iminated . John Turner
(1970) has described a simi 1 ar si tuation for the barriadas
of Lima which, like Santa Cruz, begin with low-cost, poor

*A "standard" home as defined by Obras Pdblicas
of Santa Cruz is one which is of masonry or finished
lumber construction, has a permanent roof (not thatch),
flooring, water piped i n , el ectrici ty , and sanitary
faci 1 i ties .

96

quality housing but which over time evolve into residen-
tial areas of at least standard if not better-than-standard
homes. As the result of high motivation and initiative,
migrants will work toward the betterment of their property,
contributing both time and materials to the effort. Un-
fortunately, this improvement may take as long as 15-20
years, a time span which most urban planners find unac-
ceptable. Hence, many cities have become involved in
costly projects of instant development. John Turner
argues that large expenditures of public monies are
basically unnecessary and even wasteful when applied to
urban renewal projects for a city's migrant population.
Not only are these programs costly, but they also operate
on premises which do not necessarily apply to the situa-
tionathand. Turner proposes that

the principle of minimum modern standards
is based on three assumptions: that high
structural and equipment standards take
precedence over high space standards-; that
households can and should move when their
socioeconomic status has changed so that
they can afford to have a larger (above
minimum) standard dwelling; and that the
function of the house is, above all, to
provide a hygenic and comfortable shelter.
While these assumptions are valid in the
United States, they do not hold true for
such countries as Peru, Turkey and the
Philippeans. (Turner 1970:2)

When given the opportunity. Turner continues, most migrant
families "show that they prefer to live in large unfin-
ished houses--or even large shacks--than in small finished
ones" (Turner 1970:2).

97

The views of John Turner receive additional con-
firmation in the Santa Cruz case. Over time, what was
initially an area of Iclmina shacks and mud houses becomes
a residential sector of primarily standard housing which
in the long run is better constructed, has more living
area, and was probably less expensive to build than the
typical mass-produced urban renewal unit. The problem,
of course, is time, and even now Crucenan city planners
are considering the possibility of funding urban develop-
ment programs to remove the migrant barrio "eye-sores."

Aside from the problem inherent in the disruption
of an orderly and positive progression of development,
the removal of the existing migrant settlements would
have other far-reaching repercussions. Much of the
vitality of the migrant barrio lies in the socioeconomic
diversity of the i nhabi tants . A renewal project would
tend to level this diversity resulting in a homogeneous
population based primarily on poverty. A certain out-
come of such a program, which has numerous world-wide
precedents, is the creation of a newer and more expensive
slum, but one which has little hope for improvement. The
migrant barrios of Santa Cruz are testimony to the belief
that individual initiative and private resource alloca-
tion are perhaps better answers to problems of urban
development in migrant settlement areas. It is certainly
a much less costly proposition and one which holds some

98

promise of creating a more viable and enduring social
envi ronment .

In looking at the great socioeconomic diversity
in the Santa Cruz migrant barrios, one is struck with
the inevitable question of site selection by the more
affluent residents. Given that some barrio inhabitants
from the outset were financially capable of a wider-
choice in the location of a dwelling, why have they
selected to build their homes in a raw, undeveloped
sector of Santa Cruz? For many, ethnic solidarity is an
important factor. They simply prefer to live in areas
where fellow villagers or people from the same region
reside. But additional possibilities must also be con-
sidered when dealing with the financially elite of any
barrio.

When queried as to why a particular lot in a
migrant barrio was chosen, several informants replied that
cost was a major consideration. They wanted a spacious
homesite at a reasonable price and it did not really
matter where the lot was located. It is this type of
situation which exemplifies some basic differences in
attitudes among the city's populace toward space alloca-
tion. The middle and upper income residents of Santa
Cruz who have purchased homes in the Americas district,
Equipetrol, Guapay, and even the CONAVI project have
adopted the middle-class North American model of

99

external 1 zing space. The homes in these areas are usually
built in the center of the lot and are surrounded with
wide lawns and flower beds. If a security barrier is
present, it normally consists of an iron fence rather than
a wall. Thus there is a conscious effort to expand the
visual field of exterior space. The more traditional
custom, on the other hand, is to internalize the use of
space. This is the pattern which is more prevalent in the
migrant neighborhoods. Houses are built either right to
the property limits with inner courtyards or are sur-
rounded by a high masonry wall. Once an affluent barrio
resident has entered the privacy of his home compound,
it does not matter who his neighbors are or what their
living conditions may be.

The existence of a handful of relatively well-
to-do residents in each migrant barrio may also be re-
lated to prevailing attitudes regarding the achievement
of a high status position in society. When compared oh
a city-wide income scale, the affluent barrio dweller by
no means would fall into the upper-income bracket. If
these individuals were to move into a typically middle-
income Crucenan neighborhood, it would be difficult to
distinguish them economical ly from any of the other resi^
dents. However, out in the barrio the contrast is imme-
diately apparent, and persons of only average income
become "wealthy" when compared to the majority of their

100

neighbors. In many such instances, the affluent members
of the barrio are entrusted vn'th or assume numerous
leadership responsibilities with the result that they
soon occupy positions of pov/er. The opportunity to be-
come the "baron" of a migrant neighborhood is seldom
rejected. It would be difficult to correlate any direct
relationship between the decision to settle in a migrant
area and the desire to achieve high status, but once
residence has been established, it is probable that social
prominence is instrumental in the choice to remain there.
One resident stated that he was often requested to
become the compadre of neighbors and that they sought
his advice on important personal matters. He also ex-
pressed the belief that the barrio needed him and that it
was his responsibility to respond to this need. The
borrowing of money is not encouraged, but many barrio
barons will furnish a small loan from time to time. Thus
it becomes evident that although migrant barrios represent
a disruption of previous lifestyles and patterns of inter-
action, the continuity of traditional social institutions
remains basically undisturbed. The patron-client rela-
tionship is reestablished almost immediately in the new
environment in spite of the novelty of the situation.
In summary, all migrant barrios, whether com-
posed of highland or 1 owl and migrants , exhibit the fol-
lowing characteristics:

TOl

1. The incidence of permanent structures de-
creases as the distance from the nucleus of
the city increases.

2. Those migrants who have resided in the barrio
for the greatest length of time tend to own
permanent dwellings and to be located in
that sector of the settlement which is
closest to the center of the city.

3. Migrant barrios are heterogeneous in the
income status composition of their inhabi-
tants as reflected by variations in housing
types.

4. Over time, migrant settlements will progres-
sively improve dwelling standards, and resi-
dent stability will be increased.

5. Traditional social i nsti tutions such as the
patron-client relationship and the compadrazgo
are rapidly reestablished among barrio
dwellers.

The Highland/Lowland Settlement Dichotomy

While all migrant barrios demonstrate certain
similarities in settlement patterns and characteristics,
there are also recognizable differences between the high-
land and lowland residential areas. These differences

102

in large part may be attributed to the cultural traditions
and ecological adaptations intrinsic to each group.

Although highland housing type's are not particu-
larly suited to the lowland environment, they are very
much inevidence in the migrant barrios of Santa Cruz.
For many recent arrivals, the rapid construction of in-
expensive shelter is of paramount importance. Most
migrants are not concerned with the problem of whether
or not what they consider to be a temporary structure
may be the ideal design for their present habitat. Then
too, many migrants newly arriving from the interior have
little or no knowledge of lowland technologies or simply
may not perceive the disadvantages of traditional high-
land architecture. Thus each highland barrio has numerous
adobe brick homes, in contrast to the Camba neighborhoods
which tend toward mud and wattle construction of non-
permanent dwellings.

The primary objection to adobe brick is that
after the foundations have been continually soaked by
the Crucenan rains, the entire building becomes unsound.
The mud and wattle house, on the other hand, is composed
of embedded wooden posts, and although the mud walls may
eventually melt away, the original weight-bearing struc-
ture remains intact. Another problem encountered by
highlanders with adobe houses in the lowlands is the
failure to recognize the need to extend the roof overhang.

103

In the interior, where humidity is quite low and rain
infrequent, it is not necessary to protect adobe walls
from rain wash. However, in the lowland environment,
even permanent masonry structures tend to have ample
roof coverage to combat the erosive effect of constant
dampness. After experiencing the problems of wall
deterioration with traditional adobe dwellings, many
highlanders have modified the design by raising founda-
tions and extending roof overhang.

For this and other reasons, Icimina houses are
not popular among lowland migrants. Not only do' they
leak and get soggy after long periods of rain, but they
also become overrun by all manner of pests. Highlanders
are accustomed to a relatively dry and insect-free
existence, and by building a Icimina house, they magnify
all the problems inherent to a moist, bug-ridden environ-
ment. After only a few months of habitation, ISmina
dwellings with all their cracks, crevices, and overlapping
shingles become infested with cockroaches, spiders,
scorpions, centipedes, and ticks. They are, however,
the cheapest, fastest house to build, take little construe
tion expertise, and so have become abundant in the high-
land barrios. Cambas prefer to remain with their mud
and wattle pauhuichis. It may take somewhat longer to
build and a good bit of skill, but most males as well as
females have knowledge of the techniques involved and can

104

erect at least a frame with roof cover in a matter of
days.

Another basic difference between the housing pat-
terns of the migrant settlement zones is the existence of
two-story structures in the highland neighborhoods. In
many village situations in the interior it is common to
find two-story adobe buildings. The upper floor is often
a sleeping area with the ground floor reserved for family
activities and perhaps cooking. However, in the highlands
cold, rather than heat, is the dominant climatic feature.
A two-story home offers some advantages for the maximi-
zation of warmth in that the second floor will trap heat
generated from below. Needs are reversed in Santa Cruz,
and ceilings and roofs are high in order to dissipate heat
from within. The worst place to be in a Camba house is
up near the roof. In addition to the heat buildup prob-
lems, a two-story structure in Santa Cruz must be able
to withstand strong rains and wind, something which can-
not be accomplished with tradit^ional lowland construction
materials. Consequently, design requirements along with
the lack of a cultural precedent have inhibited the build-
ing of two-story dwellings in the Camba barrios.

The hi.ghlanders who have erected two-story homes
in the migrant areas are not numerous, and in eyery case
are the more affluent residents. By necessity, these
structures are of masonry construction with reinforced

105

concrete roof and wall supports. They are massive and
expensive to build. Whether or not anyone has ever
attempted to build a tv/o-story adobe brick house in the
city is unknown, but the absence of this very common
highland dwelling type must indicate that at some point
its lack of feasibility became readily apparent.

Perhaps the most noticeable contrast between
the two migrant areas is the high population density of
the highland barrios, manifested both in housing types
as well as in the number of dwel 1 ing , uni ts per lot.
Camba neighborhoods exhibit a fairly uniform pattern of
a single house per lot, inhabited by a nuclear family
or rarely, by a group of extended kin. As previously
noted, a spare room may be rented to a recent arrival,
but seldom is this person unrelated to the homeowner.
There are few cases of additional housing having been
built to accommodate renters. Conversely, the highland
migrant barrios are filled with rental "complexes,"
composed of numerous small Icimina shacks or other small
buildings, or one or two "long houses" with separate rooms
which house several families, or a combination of both.
Rents are high and space at a premium. One 3x3-meter
room in a lamina house with a dirt floor, communal water
faucet, no electricity, and no sanitary faci 1 i ties was

106

renting for US $10.00 per month.* The owner of this
complex of eight units stated that a day seldom passed
when someone did not stop by to inquire about a room.
When one tenant leaves, the vacancy is immediately filled
by another.

Along With the highland practice of filling every
available space with some type of rentable shelter, it
is also common to find large numbers of individuals living
in a single room. One rental complex of four rooms,
each measuring approximately 3x4 meters, is occupied by
22 persons. The lot measures 15x20 meters and also con-
tains a covered shed where cotton mattresses and pillows
are made. The inhabitants of this complex are unrelated
families and are all employed at the bedding factory.
Another similar situation consists of three separate
dwellings: a smal 1 brick kiosk where the property owner
and her family live, a Icimina house of three rooms rented
by two sisters and thei r f ami 1 ies and an unmarried seam-
stress, and the third building which is interesting in
that it presents a housing variation which demonstrates
some ingenuity. It would have to be classi f ied as a type

*Most migrants, highland or Camba, stated that
they averaged from US $8.00 to $10.00 per week in family
income. \lery few males had steady jobs, so the differ-
ence was often made up by the wife who supplemented
family income by washing, selling, sewing, etc.

107

of wattle and daub, except that the "wattle" consists of
lengths of clay sewer pipe which have been placed ver-
tically side by side and the interstices filled with mud.
This structure houses two families, unrelated to each
other or to any of the other residents in the complex.

In searching for explanations for the existence
of high population and housing unit densities among high-
land migrants as opposed to the reverse situation for
Cambas ,: several possible interpretations merit considera-
tion. Because of the scarcity of arable land in the
highlands, settlements tend to be situated on terrain
which is least suited for crops, or, when they are located
on arable property, are clustered so as to occupy as little
tillable soil as possible. Thus it is common to find
dispersed homesteads, but ones which may combine several
nuclear families of one kin group into a single living
compound. William Carter (1967), writing on the Aymara,
refers to these kinship groups as "unidades dom^sticas"
(domestic units) while Daniel Heyduk (1971) speaks of
homesteads consisting of extended families for the Quechua.
There can be no doubt that a parallel may be drawn between
the domestic unit or extended kin compounds found among
highlanders inthe interior and theliving complex preva-
lent in the highland migrant barrios of Santa Cruz. How-
ever, as will be discussed in the next sectionof this
chapter, most migrants in the city of Santa Cruz do not

108

come originally or directly from a rural situation,
and information on urban lifestyles among the lower in-
come groups, which comprise the majority of migrants ,
is generally lacking. About all that can be said con-
cerning this aspect of multiple residence compounds is
that they may have precedents in the highlands, but
any direct relationship between the two would be difficult
to substantiate. The tradition is there, but it may be
a generation or two removed from those who are actually
migrating.

That lowlanders do not encourage residence situa-
tions consisting of numerous related or unrelated indi-
viduals not only is evidenced by their settlement patterns
but also is tied to their concept of personal growth.
Independence and self-reliance are cultural ideals among
the Camba, and it is a great part of individual pride,
orgullo personal, to be able to establish a household
separate from fami 1 ia T assistance and interference. Even
many of the elderly, if they are not infirm, wi 1 1 choose
to remain along in their own homes rather than be taken
in by a younger member of the family. It is only when
no other option is available that an extended family will
occupy one place of habitation. The idea of intentionally
structuring one's dwelling so as to invite residence from
persons who are not part of the nuclear family is incom-
prehensible to the Camba. They are sti 1 1 very much people

109

of the frontier, and like other frontiersmen begin to
feel uncomfortable when their relatives and neighbors are
too close at hand. Perhaps part of the explanation is
that Highlanders and lowlanders simply differ in their
personal space boundaries. Hence, what is unbearable
crowding to a Camba may be a quite tolerable existence
for the highlander. During the course of interviews,
highland migrant informants would mention dissatisfaction
with their physical environment but were generally un-
concerned about the number of people who surrounded them.
Only when personal animosities prevailed was there any
expressed desire to seek a new social environment.
Another factor which must be considered in
analyzing the disparity in settlement densities is the
sheer number of individuals coming into the lowlands.
Once again the lack of sufficient demographic data re-
duces any estimate to supposition, but some general
observations are possible. The 1968 housing census
conducted by Obras Publicas revealed that 18 per cent
of the city's population had immigrated from other areas
of the department (lowlanders) and that 17 per cent of the
residents were from other departments (primarily high-
landers), but it should be emphasized that the rates
of migration are far from equal. The lowland migrants
have been moving into the city of Santa Cruz over several
decades, and to a lesser extent since the city's founding.

110

The advent of intensive immigration to the lowlands by
people from the interior, however, is a recent phenomenon,
Most Crucenans place the commencement of large flows of
highland migrants into the area at about 1969, coinci-
dent with the cotton boom. Since that time the number of
highlanders in the city of Santa Cruz has continued to
multiply rapidly. Thus the 1968 percentages of highland/
lowland migrants are probably not representative of the
current status of migration rates. Also, a period of
seven years has elapsed since the results of the housing
study were tabulated, and several planners at Obras Pdb-
licas believe that the highland migrant sector of the
city may be reaching 30 per cent, and that this figure
now greatly exceeds that of the lowland migrants residing
in the c i ty .

It may be, then, that simple housing pressures
are creating the notable population and dwelling unit
densities in the highland migrant zones. There is land
available farther from the city which either may be pur-
chased or illegally invaded, but not many highlanders
seem to be taking over vacant property in these areas.
It should be remembered that outlying land has no access
to potable water, or any water for that matter, elec-
tricity, and most important, bus service to places of
employment.

Ill

Even with the housing crunch being experienced in
the highland migrant barrios, lowlanders are reluctant
to take part in the thriving rental business. Although
most individuals from the interior expressed a preference
to live among fellow highlanders, it could be expected
that additional available shelter in a lowland sector
would not go begging. If Cambas suddenly were to embark
upon construction of rental units in their neighborhoods,
it is a reasonable assumption that most would profit from
the venture. However, there are two intervening factors
which, at least to date, have inhibited the entrance of
lowlanders into the rental market. First, lowlanders
do not want to live with people from the interior and
generally have a greater animosity toward highlanders
than the latter have toward Cambas. Second, lowlanders
do not conceive of their homes primarily as a source of
income. A small store may occupy a front room, but once
again it is uncharacteristic of the Camba to threaten
the sanctity of his home by allowing strangers to reside
there, let alone highlanders.

On the other hand, entrepreneurship and commer-
cial enterprise are yery much a part of the highland
migrant experience in Santa Cruz. As stated earlier,
the majority of those migrating from the interior to
the city of Santa Cruz are not rural folk. They may have
originated from a small agricultural community, but long

112

since had traded that existence for urban life in one of
Bolivia's highland cities before migrating to Santa Cruz.
In many ways these migrants are similar to the Peruvian
criol 1 o/chol 0 described by Ozzie Simmons. According to
Simmons, "The term cholo is reserved for those 'Indians'
who are rapidly accul turating to the mestizo culture group
but have not yet 'arrived.' A cholo may be classified
asmoreor less criollo, depending on the degree ofhis
orientation to the criollo outlook." This criollo out-
lo.ok is characterized by "shrewdness, ingenuity, guile-
fulness, and the ability to be very good at verbal per-
suasion" (Simmons 1955:108-111). Simmons also notes that
the criollo businessman is always on the lookout for a
better way to turn a quick profit, and will stop at little
to achieve this end. Many of the highlanders arriving
in the city of Santa Cruz appear to exhibit the same
propensity for shrewd business dealings as the Peruvian
criollo. Lowlanders often relate the tale of the little
highland woman sitting on a street corner selling oranges
who, after ten years of manipulating her income, bought
several new cargo trucks and opened her own transport
company. Although these rags-to-riches stories are
wel 1 publ icized , in reality such occurrences are rare.
Even so, it has become an integral part of highland
migrant existence to approach any situation as a potential
business opportunity. Thus^ rental housing is simply

113

another way to expand one's earning capacity. To the
highlander, then, a piece of property in the city of
Santa Cruz has negotiable value, and is not necessarily
perceived in terms of its intrinsic worth as a sacrosanct
place of habitation.

As an outgrowth of the rental /nonrental dichotomy
existing between highland and Camba barrios, stabilization
of the two migrant zones is proceeding at an unequal rate.
Because most properties in the lowland sectors do not have
to go through the rental transition, permanent structures
are erected at an earlier date on many lots. In comparing
one highland barrio with a lowland settlement area of
approximately the same age, more masonry homes were in
evidence in the Camba neighborhood. Informants in both
areas did not demonstrate any appreciable difference in
levels of income which might account for earl ier stabi 1 i -
zation in the lowland area.

Finally, the highland barrio remains distinct
from its lowland counterpart in one additional aspect--
the presence of the chicherfa. The drinking of corn beer,
or chicha, is an important tradition among rural, as well
as lower- and some middle-income urban highlanders. Al-
though Cambas will admit to liking chicha, they do not
know how to prepare it,* and do not patronize the

*Lowlanders prepare a nonalcoholic chicha made
from boiled corn meal , sugar and flavoring, but it is

114

establishments where it is served, the chicherfas. The
chicherfa remains a stronghold of highland culture; it
is where Quechua and Aymara may be spoken freely, where
highland music is enjoyed, and where traditional dancing
occurs. Rowdiness and violence along with gaiety and song
often characterize the business hours of the chicherfa--
hours which conform only to the whims of the patrons but
which reach maximum popularity on Saturday and Sunday
nights. Although the Camba certainly are not parlor-
sitters when it comes to drinking, they complain bitterly
about the raucous behavior of highlanders in their
chicherfas. In many Camba neighborhoods, the informal
negative sanctions against chicherfas are so strong that
local police officials are instructed to put pressure on
any individual attempting to open an establishment to
cater to the few highland residents there. Perhaps
because Crucenans are excluded by their own prejudices
as well as by highland censure from participation in beer
festivities, the chicherfa has taken on almost satanic
dimensions. After the owner of an uncompleted structure
intended for chicha sale died without beneficiary, the
city fathers expropriated the building and posted this
sign.

a rare Camba who i s f ami 1 iar with the three-day-long
procedure of making alcoholic chicha.

115

Este local antes fue una chicherta. Ahora
serS una escuela, dentro de la campafia de
moral izacidn emprendida por la H. Alcaldfa
Municipal. Desde hoy este local cumplir^
una funcion al tamente social . (signed)
Intendencia.

(This site previously was a chicherfa. Now
it will be a school, as part of the morali-
zation campaign undertaken by the Honorable
City Hall. From today on this expropriated
site will fulfill a highly social function,
[signed] Police Department.)

As a backlash of the vitriolic criticism levied
against chicherfas by Crucenans, many highlanders are
beginning to question the validity of this institution
within their new cultural context. Much of this debate
is being advanced by the women, many of whom resent the
weekly spending by husbands in the neighborhood chicherfa
One woman referring to her spouse, who was still uncon-
scious from a previous night's drinking bout, stated in
disgust, "Los hombres son unos chulupis; no sirven para
m^s que tomar chicha. Las mujeres son las que tienen
que trabajar." ("Men are cockroaches; they aren't any good
except for drinking chicha. Women are the ones who have
to work. " )

The negative sanctions directed toward chicherfas
by the CrUcenan community and by increasing numbers of
highland migrants have resulted in certain design modifi-
cations of the highland prototype. This, however, is true
only of the chicherfas within the city of Santa Cruz.
In outlying areas the social pressures and official

116

harassment are not so great, and the traditional building
style has prevailed. In the highlands, there is no attempt
to conceal the chicherta. The drinking areas are built
facing the street, with the family living areas located
above, or to the rear of the property. Efforts are made
in Santa Cruz to hide the existence of a chicherfa, but
they are usually unsuccessful. In many instances, the
concealment only serves to attract more attention to the
establishment. Most Crucenan chicherfas have the appear-
ance of a fortress, with an abnormally high masonry wall
and the tell-tale wide wooden door at the entrance. No
simple homeowner would go to quite such elaborate efforts
to protect his privacy, and it is not common to use a
solid wooden door as an entryway. An iron gate is the
preferred closure. The wide wooden door at the chicherfa
entrance marks not only the desire to keep out prying
eyes, but also is the result of the necessity to admit
truckloads of firewood and the huge casks used to store
the brew. In spite of its present tribulations, the
chicherta continues to thrive in Santa Cruz, and probably
will as long as there are highlanders to sing, dance
and drink chicha .

In review, the major differences between highland
and lowland settlement areas are as follows:

1. Highland zones are characterized by greater
numbers of l^imina houses along with the

117

appearance of some adobe brick constructions.
The more prevalent type of impermanent dwell-
ing in lowland migrant districts is the mud-
and-wattl e type .
2. Two-story masonry structures appear in high-
land neighborhoods but are rare in Camba
barrios .
'3. Multi-family dwellings and multi-unit con-
structions are characteristic of primarily
the highland zones .

4. Highland migrant areas generally present
higher population densities an.dhgreater num-
bers of dwellings per lot.

5. Camba migrant barrios exhibit a tendency
toward faster stabilization.

6. The chicherfa i s characteri stic of the high-
land neighborhoods and is actively excluded
from lowland barrios.

Although the settlement characteristics of low-
land migrants are only tangential to this study, they
have performed an important function in providing compara-
tive insights into the nature of the processes involved
in the settlement patterning of highland migrant districts
For example, the similarities evident between the two
groups probably are indicative of either the urban environ-
mental demands on each, or the existence of parallel

118

cultural traits which have proven adaptive to the migrant
situation. On the other hand, the differences are most
likely the result of divergent cultural traditions and
point out the persistence of social custom even under
conditions of great change.

Due to the demands of the urban environment,
the development of both migrant districts has not been
one of random growth or a duplication of traditional
patterns of settlement. Rather, it has exhibited a
structural relationship to the urban center where the
barrios are located, the city of Santa Cruz. The physical
orientation of Santa Cruz with reference to highland cen-
ters (west), foreign ports (east and south), and agricul-
tural zones (north) has led to a polarization of migrant
zones within the city. Though proclivities toward ethnic
segregation have perpetuated this separation, its origins
lie within the structure of the city itself. Thus the
location of both migrant sectors derives from the entry
point of major transportation routes, and settlement has
concentrated in those areas contiguous to highways and
railroads. In addition, the radial progression of urban
expansion is reflected in the growth patterns of the
migrant neighborhood. Once again settlement is not
haphazard but conforms to the developmental trends of the
city. As with the larger urban model, there is a general
avoidance of " leap-frogging" jin the migrant barrios and

119

growth and stabilization move progressively along a time/
spacecontinuum.

Institutions such as the patron-client relation-
ship and compadrazgo are outgrowths of economi cal ly hetero-
geneous neighborhoods but have parallel precedents in both
highland and lowland society. However, these traditions
are not simply cultural survivals; they also have adaptive
significance in the lowland setting. In a settlement
situation fraught with instability and insecurity, the
establishment of reciprocal relationships on equal and
unequal levels provides a means by which perceived per-
sonal jeopardy is reduced. Both lower and upper income
migrants are members of a network of fictive kin ties
and patron-cl ient relationships which when operationalized
provide some measure of emotional and financial reinforce-
ment.

Still, according to the principle of cultural
stabilization formulated by Thomas G. Harding, "cultures
tend to persist unchanged, and under the influence of
external factors act to maintain their basic structure
through adaptive modification" (Harding 1970:59). It
is in the light of this principle that differences between
the migrant districts may be explained. Thus varia-
tions in housing styles are attributable to divergent
cultural traditions, but highlanders have had to modify
their homes somewhat to conform to the lowland environment.

120

Dwelling unit composition and density preferences may also
be the result of the continuity of the cultural content
that each group brings to the migrant barrio. Finally,
the prevalence of the chicherfa, but again with modifica-
tions in its structural layout, is the direct consequence
of cultural persistence.

It may be said, then, that in the case of both
highland and lowland migrant barrios, certain settlement
patterns have been imposed by the overriding demands of
the urban environment of Santa Cruz. At the same time,
each migrant district exhibits distinct cultural tradi-
tions which have persisted in spite of the discontinuities
inherent to the migrant experience. Or, as Harding has
stated, "When acted upon by external forces a culture
will, if necessary, undergo specific changes only to the
extent of and with the effect of preserving unchanged its
fundamental structure and character" (Harding 1970:54).

The Highland Migrant in the City of Santa Cruz

In order to ascertain the characteristics of high-
land migrants coming into the city of Santa Cruz, inter-
views were conducted in every highland barrio. A total
of 66 informants was questioned in the five neighborhoods
with the following breakdownby barrio:

121

Table 1
Location of Informants

Barrio Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

4deNoviembre 17 25.8

Villa San Lufs 17 25.8

Santa Rosa 14 21.2

Alto San Pedro 13 19.7

Villa Santa Ro si ta _5 7.6

Total 66 100.0

A time limit of four months was allotted to this portion
of the study, and since there are no recent census data
available to determine the population size of any one
barrio, the above figures are representative only of
the numbers of interviews it was possible to conduct
in that period of time. However, subjective decisions
were made regarding the comparative settlement density
and population size of each neighborhood. As a result,
a greater number of interviews was completed in the
larger barrios than in those with a seemingly smaller
number of inhabitants. Thus the migrant neighborhood
Villa Santa Rosita, which consists of only four square
blocks, received much less attention than Villa San
Lufs which covers an area of well over two-kilometers
square.

122

SEWAGE
PLANT

/////// //^//LUisJ

SANTTA //
// ROSITA'

i

. //

O"/

oj/

^/

0/

i/

LOCATION OF

HIGHLAND BARRIOS

•>»/

^/

#/

J

1

\

//SANfTA //V
7>//R0SA//

^ ALTO SAN '

^^

\

\

m

\

Figure 3. Location of Highland Barrios

123

No attempt was made to control the sample statis-
tically; once in the field, it became apparent that such
a procedure was unfeasible due to time limitations as
well as to the variability of informants' schedules.
The investigator was concerned primarily with success-
fully obtaining a wide range of data regarding migration
trends rather than adhering to rigid statistical sampling
methods. Informants were selected to include residents
of both permanent as well as temporary dwelling types,
and those migrants who live at varying distances from
the nucleus of Santa Cruz.

Interviewing involved the use of an interview
guide which was developed in the field after several
initial sessions with informants. The guide was used as
a means of structuring each interview to provide for
comparability of data. Nevertheless, if an informant
deviated from the original format, he or she was per-
mitted to follow the line of discussion to its conclusion.
A great deal of information pertinent to the study was
often elicited spontaneously as a result of this tech-
nique.

It is also notable that a preponderance of
females served as informants. Because interviews were
conducted during the daytime, most of the resi dent males
were at work elsewhere in the city. The individuals at
home at this time were females and children. The fact

124

that the researcher is also a female no doubt was of con-
siderable consequence in gaining entry to many of the
migrant homes. Most of the women interviewed were initially
hesitant to admit a strange female into their houses, but
once some preliminary conversation ensued, the suspicion
gave way to open friendliness. Later exchange with a
male engaged in research in the same area revealed that
he was not so fortunate in being received into homes
where only females and children were present.

The situation illustrates an important point.
In Bolivia, as in other parts of the world, it is diffi-
cult for a woman to gain access to a man's realm and
vice-versa. Consequently, the great bulk of field data
which has been gathered by social scientists, who are
predominantly male, tends to be male-dominated and male-
oriented. While this in itself does not justify the
failure to obtain a perfectly balanced sample, it does
elucidate the problems of sexual bias inherent to any
type of social research. Thus, as male researchers
and male informants have proffered their observations
of social content as valid criteria for comprehensive
analysis, the female point of view will dictate many
of the results of the present study.

Migration to lowland Bolivia is unique in that
it has dichotomized into rural and urban flows which
have tended to remain discreet units. Both groups of

125

migrants have chosen different destinations in the low-
lands, with the result that the city of Santa Cruz has
attracted the urban-oriented individual whi le the rural
migrant has headed into the northern Santa Cruz area.
Santa Cruz is a focal point for rural-urban migration
among Cambas, however. Thus the majority of highlanders
in the city are not rural folk, or if their origins are
rural they have had previous exposure to an urban center
in the interior before moving to the lowland capital.
Of the informants in the sample population, only seven,
or about 10 percent of the total, come directly from a
rural highland situation. On the other hand, almost
82 per cent of the migrants interviewed have either urban
origins or have had urban experience prior to their
taking up residence in Santa Cruz. Five informants are

Table 2
Migrant Origins

Origin

Absolute
Frequency

Relative
Frequency (%)

66

57.6

16

24.4

5

7.6

J_

10.6

66

100.0

Urban

Rural to Urban Highland

Road Town (Santa Cruz-

Cochabamba highway)

Rural

Total

126

from road towns, semirural communities located along the
Santa Cruz-Cochabamba highway. These localities present
a special case in that they are secondary and tertiary
marketing centers, but the economic base remains primarily
agricultural in nature. More importantly, contact with
other urban centers, via the highway, is an influential
factor in community organization. Road town residents
are rural as well as urban in their orientations. Hence,
these five informants must remain in a fourth category
of migrants.

The reasons for the rural-urban settlement
dichotomy in Santa Cruz are several and will be discussed
at varying points in the study. With regard to the city
of Santa Cruz, the urbanites from the highlands are pre-
sented with no great obstacles to successful settlement.
For the rural migrant, the city offers no great attrac-
tion. Part of the lack of interest in migrating to
urban Santa Cruz derives from the relative ease with
which a rural person may obtain land in the lowlands.
Thus the rural highlander is more likely to opt for the
familiarity of an agricultural setting if it offers a
viable alternative to city life. Those migrants who
ultimately seek to leave the lowland countryside in
favor of urban residence do not choose Santa Cruz,
however. Their affinities lie with family members and
other rural migrants who have made Montero the focus

127

for rural-urban migrations of highlanders in the lowland
region.

Other than having predominantly urban origins,
the Santa Cruz migrant sample population also tends to
be young. The mean age of the sample group is 31.
Seventy-three per cent of the informants fall between
the ages of 18 and 35 while 4 percent are below 18.
Twenty-three per cent are over the age of 35. When a
cross-tabulation between age and length of residence
in Santa Cruz was run, it was discovered that not one
older informant was within the middle ranges of residence
length. Those in the upper range of ten or more years
arrived at a much younger age, of course. Those who
are within the lower ranges have only recently arrived
in the lowlands. The impl i cati ons woul d seem to be
that it is very difficult for older migrants to adjust
successfully to the stresses of the Santa Cruz urban
environment and that they generally return to the in-
terior after a trial period of about 2-3 years. This
"weeding out" process may also be viewed as contributing
to the youthful trend of the sample population.

Once in the lowlands, the desire to return to
the interior seems to diminish rapidly. It was only the
older, recently arrived migrants who expressed a longing
for thei r mountai n homes. Three of the five migrants
who stated that they would like to return to the highlands

128

were over 40 years old. This finding also correlates
perfectly with recent arrivals in Santa Cruz. In each
case, the older migrant expressing dissatisfaction with
lowland life had been there for less than two years.

For many migrants, arrival in the city of Santa
Cruz is only one of a series of successive moves and may
in turn represent a temporary site of habitation. More
than half of the informants in migrant barrios reported
previous migrations prior to the move to Santa Cruz.
For some, movement from place to place is considered an
unacceptable lifestyle, but one which becomes necessary
as the result of economic pressures. Many, however,
expressed no concern with their itinerant behavior and
perceived continuous migration as a means of optimizing
available resources. When a new opportunity arises in
another locality, the migrant unit simply packs up its
belongings and moves on. Property and other immovables
are disposed of, or in many cases, retained as additional
sources of i ncome.

Table 3
Santa Cruz as First Migration

Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Yes 32 48.5

No 34 51 .5

Total 66 100.0

129

Chain migration is an important factor in popul a-
tion movement into the Department of Santa Cruz as would
be expected in any case where migration has continueid over
an extended period of time. A significant number of
migrants, nevertheless, make the move without the
assistance of friends or relatives. One-third of the
sample reported that their first place of residence in
Santa Cruz was a rented room, hotel, or a rented house,
and that these accommodations were necessary because of
a lack of known kin or other supportative networks in
the region .

-Table 4
FirstPlaceofResidence

Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Relatives 24 36.4

Fictive Kin 1 1.5

Friend/Employer 14 21.2

Room 7 10.6

Rental 15 22.7

No Data _5 7.6

Total 66 100.0

130

It is also interesting that the Department of
Cochabamba, the nearest highland neighbor of Santa Cruz,
supplied over half of the sample immigrant population.
Another 16.7 per cent originated in the Sucre area, also
relatively close to the city of Santa Cruz. The more
distant highland centers of La Paz, Oruro and Potosi
together furnished only 15 per cent of the migrants.
The remaining 12 per cent were from other areas such as
Tarija and Vallegrande, middle altitude regions which
cannot be considered actual highland culture centers.
The city of Cochabamba serves an important function as
the highland jumping-off place for migrants progressing
through a series of step migrations culminating in the
move to Santa Cruz.

Table 5

Place of Origin
(Department or Region)

Origin Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

La Paz 3 4.5

Cochabamba 37 56.1

Sucre 11 16.7

PotosT 3 4.5

Oruro 4 6.1

Other _8 12.1

Total 66 100.0

131

Excluding those 15 residents whose place of birth is
Cochabamba, 19 out of 41 migrants entered the lowlands
after a previous period of habitation in Cochabamba.
If the natives of Cochabamba are included with this
group, over half of the sample previously has lived in
the city of Cochabamba. Beyond the fact that Cochabamba
is located at the distal end of the highway into the
lowlands, the city has become the point of exit from
the interior for many migrants because it represents
the last rung on the highland ladder of opportunity.
After unsuccessful attempts to attain economic security
in other highland urban centers, migrants will try
Cochabamba as a next-to-last resort. Second only to
Santa Cruz, Cochabamba has the highest per capita income
among workers in Bolivia (Reye 1974:20). However, it
is incapable of absorbing the large numbers of people

Table 6

Residence in Cochabamba (City)
Prior to Santa Cruz Migration

Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Yes 19 28.8

No 32 48.5

Origin Cochabamba T5 22.7

Total 66 100.0

132

who are seeking employment there. Though some migrants
from other highland regions may find job opportunities
in Cochabamba, many more are not so fortunate. The city
therefore becomes a funnel for migrants whose only remain-
ing feasible alternative is a move to Santa Cruz.

Table 7,

Worker Annual Income (1971)
( in pesos Bol i vianos )

Department

Income

Santa Cruz

Cochabamba

Oruro

La Paz

Potosf

Tarija

Pondo

Chuquisaca (Sucre)

Beni

9.119
5.662
5.594
4.870
4.427
3.799
3.510
3.339
2.829

Source: Reye 1974:20

Commercial activities by far outweighed other
occupational specialties of the female informants.
Twenty-nine of the fifty-one women interviewed listed

133

marketing or related activities as their principal source
of income. Among highlanders, it has become a tradition
for women to engage in much of the marketing activity.
The market itself is an integral part of highland life,
with certain days of each week set aside at particular
localities for buying and selling. For lowland inhabi-
tants, however, markets are a somewhat alien experience.
This is not to say that the area has been entirely devoid
of markets, but until the region began to witness a sub-
stantial increase in highland entrepreneurs, the only
open market places to be found in the Department of
Santa Cruz were in the city itself. Other communities
have continued to depend in large part on small house-
hold stores, the pulperfas, for their source of food-
stuffs and merchandise.

The marketing system in the lowlands differs
qualitatively from the highland system of produce ex-
change in that goods are carried into Santa Cruz by men
and wholesaled to vendors who in turn do the reselling.
In the highlands this may also be the case, but it is
just as common for females to grow, transport and market
their own produce , givi ng up little profit to a middle-
man. At the same time, until the advent of highland
migration, there were no special market days in Santa
Cruz, or "ferias," as these temporal markets are known
in the interior. The two main markets in Santa Cruz,

134

Los Pozos and El Mercado Nuevo, operated continually
during the week and on Saturday with only a few vendors
engaging in commerce on Sunday. As a result of the
arrival of highlanders, Santa Cruz now boasts its first
feria, open on Wednesdays and Sundays. Even the word
feria, previously reserved for highland usage, has
become a part of the lowland dialect. Commercial
activity on Sundays may also be viewed as a highland
introduction. The custom of Sunday market, so popular
in the highl ands , has had an enthusiastic reception in
the lowlands as well. Whereas Sunday was never con-
sidered by Cambas to be a big market day, most lowland
women now eagerly board buses and taxis to shop on that
day. Along with the feria, Los Pozos and other markets
do their best business on Sundays. In addition, three
streets near the second anillo are closed to traffic
on this day, and the area is converted into a huge
shopping mall. A multitude of cargo trucks from Cocha-
bamba and other highland areas arrive in Santa Cruz
every Saturday night. By dawn the next morning they
are parked in streets by the downtown markets and through-
out the area closed to vehicular traffic. Fresh produce,
fish from highland streams, dried llama meat and mutton,
herbs, and medicinal cures are all dispensed from the
beds of trucks to the throng of Sunday shoppers.

135

Highlander success in marketing may be attributed
firstly to the preference of these people, especially
women, to pursue commercial activity. But at the same
time, the highland market vendors have been able to move
into a relatively unoccupied economic niche. Even in the
city of Santa Cruz where the open market has been in
existence for some time, going to the market was not a
daily or even weekly occurrence among Camba women. It
has always been more prevalent to patronize the neigh-
borhood pulperfa where credit buying could be done.
Pulperfa owners traditionally have done business with
the markets since they are the source of wholesale items,
but until quite recently the average Crucenan homemaker
stocked her kitchen from the neighborhood food store,
not from the market. The arrival of highlanders in the
city has brought about the introduction of a small amount
of bargaining in markets, along with more competitive
prices, and many Camba women now feel that they can save
money by going to a market when cash buying is done.
Al so, highlanders have initiated the daily shipment of
fresh vegetables and other produce from highland truck
gardening centers. Although the Camba diet has never
included many itemssuch as lettuce, tomatoes, carrots,
bell peppers, cucumbers, radishes, and green beans, the
exclusion of these foods was due to lack of availability,
not to lack of acceptance for these products. Highlanders

136

have begun transporting fresh produce on a large scale,
and lowlanders as well as the migrant population from
the interior flock to the markets to buy it.

Lowland vendors in the Santa Cruz markets are
now few in number, and their puestos (stalls) have been
taken over by the more astute highland entrepreneur.
It is only in the area of lowland production such as
beef, manioc and bananas that the Camba has continued
to prevail. Every other type of merchandising is now
controlled by highlanders. Even the transport industry
into the lowlands and within the Camba region is largely
dominated by truckers from the interior.

The marketing idea has begun to diffuse as a con-
sequence of highland occupation of the Crucenan lowlands.
Warnes, a community just north of Santa Cruz, now has
two small open markets, also run by highlanders. Montero
has one wery large market, on a par with any in the city
of Santa Cruz, and a second smal 1 er market has recently
been constructed in another section of the city. Most
interesting is the case of San Carlos, an old Camba
village some 85 kilometers north of Santa Cruz. Although
a few highland families have begun to move into town,
and vendors come in from the nearby agricultural colonies
to sell small amounts of produce, one could not say that
highlanders have made any great impact on the community
as yet. Even so, in a recent communication from a

137

Sancarlena, it was reported that funds have been collected
from the townspeople and matched by Obras PcJblicas to
build the first open market in San Carlos (personal
communication from Margarita Leon, March 1976). There
can be no doubt that the villagers have witnessed the
success of markets in other lowland communities and are
eager to participate in the activity. There also can be
no doubt that within two to three years after the market
in San Carlos has been in operation, highlanders will
have taken control of the enterprise.

Table 8
Occupations of Female Informants

Occupation Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Commercial Activity 29 43.9

Home Employment 12 25.8

Servant 1 1.5

None _9 13.6

Total 5.1 100.0

Male informants generally fell into two occupa-
tional categories: mason (albafiil) and home employment.
The latter includes such specialties as ceramic work and
the preparation of food additives and condiments.

138

Table 9
Occupations of Male Informants

Occupation Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency {%)

Abanil 5 33.3

Home Employment 5 33.3

Transport 1 6.7

Industry 1 6.7

Other _3 20.0

Total 15 100.0

When female informants were asked about the occu-
pation of their spouses, 23 replied that their husbands
were employed as albaniles. Thus, 49 per cent of the
males who enter into the survey are employed in the con-
struction industry. Although the literal translation of
"albanil" is "mason," the term has become a generic one
for anyone employed in the building trades. Hence, a
man who loads and unloads bricks at a construction site
will consider himself an albanil just as will a master
bricklayer.

The boom economy of Santa Cruz has brought about
the rapid increase of building starts in the city. It
is the flourishing construction industry which has allowed
for the urban absorption of highland as well as lowland

139

male migrants. Without this source of employment, the
majority of migrant men would find themselves back on
the road in search of some new opportunity.

Table 10
Occupations of Spouses (No. & %)

Occupation Female Male Column Totals

Commercial Activity

Home Employment

Servant

Albanil

Transport

Industry

Other

None

Unmarried

Total

4
36.4

7
63.6

11
16.7

3
75.0

1
25.0

4
6.1

1
100.0

0
0.0

1
1.5

0
0.0

23
100.0

23
34.8

0
0.0

5
100.0

5
7.6

0
0.0

4
100.0

4
6.1

0
0.0

2
100.0

2

3.0

2
100.0

0
0.0

2
3.0

5
35.7

0
64.9

14
21.2

66
100.0

140

Another area of investigation concerned dress
patterns of migrants. All males in the sample make use
of mestizo apparel, consisting of cotton pants and shirt,
generally produced commercially. The females wear either
the traditional pol 1 era , a wide gathered skirt with a
tie band, or mestizo clothing such as a straight skirt
and blouse or a cotton dress. The preference of mestizo
wear as opposed to traditional garb does not correlate*
with length of residence in the lowlands as might be ex-
pected. Some women mentioned that their Santa Cruz-born
children are exerting pressure on them to discard the
pollera and use mestizo wear. But most still use the
pollera after more than ten years' residence in the low-
lands and stated that they continue the traditional pat-
tern because they feel more comfortable and are concerned

Table 11
Dress Style

Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Traditional 32 48. 5

Mestizo M 51 . 5

Total 66 100.0

^Significance = 0.0437; Cramer's V = 0.41593

141

about their neighbors' criticisms of trying to "put on
airs." More than two-thirds of the females interviewed
wear a poll era .

One woman views the dress controversy in economic
terms. She explained that it is good business to con-
tinue wearing the pollera especially at the market or
while selling so as not to alienate much of the migrant
population. Potential Camba clients expect to see high-
land women in their pol 1 eras--conforming to the lowlander's
stereotype of the Kolla. The female informant also re-
lated the tale of two highland women who had stores next
to each other. One of the store owners began to use
mestizo dress. Soon the woman's business began to drop
off until the majority of her customers were patronizing
her neighbor. The errant highlander was forced to rein-
state the pollera in order to salvage her store.

With regard to illiteracy rates, the sample popu-
lation would seem to fall within national averages. The
1950 census showed 67.9 percent of the adult population
to be illiterate. Unpublished 1963 survey sample data
of the Dirrecidn General de Estadfstica y Censos listed
47 per cent of the Bolivian population as illiterate
(Chirikos et aj_. 1971 :246) . The Santa Cruz migrant
sample collected by this researcher exhibited at 59.1
per cent rate of illiteracy.

142

Also in keeping with national trends is a much
higher rate of illiteracy among migrant women as compared
to men, a result of differential access to schooling based
on sex. Cross-tabulations run between indigenous language
use and illiteracy revealed that there is a strong corre-
lation* between the two. Those individuals whose command
of Spanish was negligible or limited have a much higher
illiteracy rate than those who have a functional use of
Spanish. This is most likely a reflection of a greater
incidence of illiteracy among rural-born people as well
as females who do not have equal educational opportunities.

Table 12
111 iteracy (No. & %)

Literate Illiterate Total

Male 10 5 15

100.0

Female 17 34 51

100.0

Total 27 39 66

100.0

10
75.0

5
25.0

17
33.4

34
66.6

27
40.9

39
59.1

^Significance = 0.0000; Cramer's V = 0.59841

143

and the inability of many students to learn literacy
skills in a foreign language, namely Spanish. Somewhat
unexpected is the lack of correlation* between extended
lowland residence and a better command of Spanish. Al-
though there is a general trend toward the augmented use
of Spanish as length of habitation in Santa Cruz in-
creases, there remained numerous individuals who have
been in the lowlands for ten or more years and who con-
tinue to be monolingual speakers of an indigenous
language, usually Quechua. Many others have only limited
ability in Spanish. This may be the. result of the present
lack of integration between the highland and lowland
populations of the city. Highlanders live in relative
isolation in their own barrios where Quechua is heard
more often than Spanish. Even outside of the barrio,
only a minimal amount of Spanish is needed to engage
in trade.

The children of migrants who are attending Santa
Cruz schools are striving toward bilingualism and, in
many cases, monolingual use of Spanish. Forty-one of
the 66 informants have offspring, and a very large
majority of these have children who claim they are unable
to speak the indigenous language of their parents. Many
immigrants stated that their sons and daughters can

^Significance = 0.3500; Cramer's V = 0.28862

144

understand Quechua but refuse to speak it. Parents of
these. Chi 1 dren believe that peer pressure by Camba play-
mates at school inhibits their offspring from using
the language spoken in the home. Some informants are
resentful of the situation, but most seemed pleased that
their children are choosing the lowland lifestyle,
thereby hastening the assimilation of the younger genera-
tion of hi ghlandmi grants.

The reasons given, for migration to Santa Cruz
fell into six categories which are listed below with
the number of responses for each. As the table shows,
economic incentives account for over half of the total
sample population and although other motives may have
been offered, in many cases they too are ultimately

Table 13
Motives for Migration

Motive Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

To Find Work 36

To Accompany Spouse 2

To Accompany Relative 11

Runaway 3

Contracted to Work 5

Contracted to Work Harvest 6

Visiting " 3

Total 66 100.0

54

6

3

0

16

7

4

5

7.

6

9.

1

4.

5

145

related to some economic purpose. For example, 13 in-
formants stated that they came to the lowlands to accom-
pany a spouse, parents, or other relatives. The spouse
or parents, however, were often lured to Santa Cruz by
the promise of economic gain. Another 11 informants
came to the lowlands as contract workers, either as
harvesters or as employees of private individuals. In
essence, the only categories which cannot belinked
with economic interest are "runaway" and "visiting,"
andthe latter category is suspect inthatall three
informants admitted that while they were in Santa Cruz
visiting relatives, they had taken advantage of the
time to look for employment. For the case of Santa
Cruz at least, it would appear that economic incentives
are foremost in the decision to migrate from the interior
During one interview, when queried as to why she had
left the highlands, a young informant could only reply
with a look of amused dtsbel ief. The implication of
her response was that the reason should be obvious.
Finally in exasperation she said, "Para ganar, puei=:"
(To earn money, of course!).

As might be anticipated in a situation of con-
stant flux such as is found in the migrant barrios of
Santa Cruz, those among the sample population who own
homes run only somewhat above those who are renting.
Another segment of the sample, approximately 20 per cent.

146

Table 14
Housing

Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Own 27 40.9

Rent 26 39.4

Live with Relative 11 19.7

Total 66 100.0

lives with other family members. There is a strong corre-
lation* between length of residence and home ownership,
with residents who have been in Santa Cruz for a longer
period of time tending to own their homes. This finding
would also have been expected as very few migrants arrive
in the lowlands with sufficient capital to allow for the
immediate purchase of a home or a building site. It was
found that most of the migrants questioned did not own
homes until after the fourth or fifth year of residence
in the ci ty .

Another interesting statistic which emerges from
the data gathered is the ratio of prior contact with the
lowlands to that of no previous knowledge of the area.

'Significance = 0.0010; Cramer's V = 0.47255,

147

Over 59 per cent of the sample population had never been
to Santa Cruz before deciding to migrate. Still, a large
segment of the migrants reported prior acquaintance with
the region. Several of the male informants as well as
spouses of female migrants claim military service in the
lowlands as the reason for initial contact. Others had
come on marketing trips and a small number had worked
the harvests. Although migrants with previous knowledge
of the area stated that familiarity with Santa Cruz
made the decision to leave the highlands much easier,
it is noteworthy that over half of the sample made the
trip blindly or with second-hand information at best.

Table 15
Previous Knowledge of Santa Cruz

Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Yes

No

Arrived as a child

Total

24
39

_2
66

36.4

59.1

4.5

100.0

Finally, two-thirds of the informants stated
that they have relatives in other areas of the lowlands

148

While these kin may be distant in degree as well as loca-
tion, migrants seem to concern themselves with keeping
track of as many relations as possible. They know that
as city residents they may be called upon to provide
shelter. for a variety of visiting uncles, cousins, or
fictive kin from the hinterlands of Santa Cruz. At the
same time, country kin can provide wOrk as well as diver-
sion for the city-bound children of Santa Cruz migrants.
Then too, many city migrants will often send out to the
countryside a prospective migrant in search of farm
labor or a piece of land. Migrant networks are a func-
tional part of lowland adaptation; they become survival
mechanisms in an unstable and insecure environment.
Even the most casual acquaintance is carefully nurtured
for possible future utilization.

The migrants who reside in the city of Santa
Cruz represent only part of the flow of highlanders into
the lowlands. The remainder pass briefly through the
city on their way to points north. The northern Santa
Cruz region is attracting primarily rural agriculturalists
as, opposed to the urban-orientated migrants who are
settling in the city of Santa Cruz. A small number of
urban people are also heading north, however, following
the harvesters, fieldhands, and farmers. They consti-
tute another contingent of entrepreneurs, chancing their
luck and shrewdness on the promise of profits in the
not-so-competitive hinterlands to the north.

149

Highlanders are now flooding into the rich
agricultural region of the humid alluvial basin of
Santa Cruz. Although much formerly nonproductive land
has been opened for cul tivati on bri ngi ng economic pros-
perity to the department, the Camba regards the intrusion
by highlanders with increasing chagrin. Not only has
the lowlander's virgin forest been swarmed over by ever-
burgeoning numbers of highland farmers, but the Camba
is also being out-farmed and out-traded by the more
assiduous highlander. At the point where the northern
highway leaves the city of Santa Cruz there is a huge
stone statue of Christ, the Cristo Redentor. The arms
are upraised with palms thrust outward, and Crucenans
half-jokingly remark that the significance of this
gesture is "Halt! No more Kollas!"

CHAPTER FOUR
WARNES: CANE, COTTON AND CONTRACT HARVESTING

The first town one reaches on the route north is
Warnes, an agricultural community which has been caught
up in the region's new dependence on migrant labor.
Warnes is now in the process of learning to deal with
its migrant population.

The economic boom of Santa Cruz more than any
other single factor has encouraged the exodus of high-
landers from the interior of Bolivia. Crop failures
and economic stagnation certainly contribute to the
desire to leave the highlands, but without some promise
of a better life, it is probable that the urban poor
as well as the peasant farmer would continue their mar-
ginal existence with stoic acceptance.

For many, however, the decision to move east is
not an immediate one. Work opportunities in the low-
land harvests become the gateway to Santa Cruz and at
the same time provide a testing ground for those migrants
not quite certain of the finality of the move. Among
harvesters, the choice to remain in the lowlands may be
made only after several years of seasonal migrations.

150

151

/

<

X
CD

O

a:

LJ

o

N

a:
o

w

152

Others may decide to stay after their first trip down.
Still others continue to come year after year with no
intent of making a permanent move. But for all, the
assurance of a contract for wages and the security of
traveling in a group with one's family and friends
make contract harvesting the least risky of the possible
options for migration to the Department of Santa Cruz.

The role of the agricultural enterprise employ-
ing highland migrants on contract is an important one
in the scheme of migration and population movement in
the lowlands. It is during the harvest that the high-
lander will be faced with many of those factors which
ultimately will enter into the decision of whether or
not he or she returns to the interior. The varied
experiences which accumulate during the three- to
five-months' period of labor in Santa Cruz also have
bearing on the lifestyle choices made by the prospective
immigrant. For many migrants, harvesting is the spring-
board which launches them into a series of new and
diverse strategies for lowland adaptation.

Farmers and Harvesters

The agricultural evolution of Santa Cruz has
been witnessed by many towns and villages, but one in
particular has experienced all the major crop transitions

153

in recent history. The town of Warnes, named after the
Independence War hero Ignacio Warnes, is located 30
kilometers north of the city of Santa Cruz. It lies
in what began as rice country but which later progressed
to sugarcane and finally, to cotton. Warnes is an old
Camba agricultural community, with a population estimated
at 3,000 and a slow growth rate of only 2.7 per cent,
as compared to 6.2 per cent for the city of Santa Cruz
(Reye 1 974: 1 07a) . When the road north to Montero was
paved, it bypassed the town, and Warnes was denied the
chance to share in the prosperity brought by the high-
way.- As a consequence of the road bypass, the town has
begun to grow in the direction of the highway, and several
shop owners have set up stores along the pavement to the
west of Warnes. A new market has also been constructed
in this area in the hope of attracting passing travelers.
Still, the center of town remains quiet and dusty and
quite unaffected by the movement of progress. There is
a shady plaza, church, and a cluster of whitewashed
houses with tile roofs. The older residents point
proudly to sections of Warnes which are well over a
century old and which have in that time remained virtually
unchanged .

The outwardly quiet of the town belies the in-
tense agricultural acti vi ty whi ch engages many of the
residents. Fortunes have been made on the land surrounding

154

this community, and fortunes continue to be made. Much
of the profit flows into the coffers of the agribusinesses
whose owners live in the large urban centers of the
country or perhaps in other nations. The Warneno farmers
who have done well by their land generally have not in-
vested in their town. Instead, the money is put into
homes and businesses in Santa Cruz, into farm equipment,
or is simply salted away for a future occasion.

Warnes has weathered the vagaries of commercial
agriculture in the region and has been agile in respond-
ing to market fluctuations. When mills began to go up
in the surrounding areas, making sugarcane a highly
marketable crop, the farmlands around Warnes were cleared
and put to cane. Many of the early profits were funnelled
back into farm machinery and trucks to carry the cane
to the mills. Then blight and low prices threatened the
prosperity of the growers. A substitute for cane was
found in cotton, and a quick shift was made. But both
crops demand hand labor for harvesting, and Santa Cruz
has never been capable of meeting its own labor require-
ments. Most Cambas are themselves small farmers and have
adequate acreage to satisfy their basic needs. They are
not eager to leave their land to work as day laborers.
On the other hand, the highlands have always seemed to
possess an abundance of people who by necessity or
desire are eager to take on any task for an average day's

155

wage. And by Bolivian standards, the wages paid for
field work in Santa Cruz are much better than average.
A strong male working as a field hand in the highlands
can only hope to earn 30-40 pesos (US $1.50-2.00) per day.
The same individual can easily make 60-80 pesos (US $3.00-
4.00) per day harvesting cane or cotton in Santa Cruz.
There is always work available, and the more adventure-
some highlanders merely cl imb aboard a truck headed for
the lowlands and make their way to some community such
as Warnes where they are hired on the spot. Neverthe-
less, no small amount of chicanery has been perpetrated
on highland harvesters, and many feel more secure of
their income if they hire on as part of a formal group
organized through a labor contractor, or contratista.

In order to bring people legally from the interior,
a contratista must be registered by the Federacidn de
Campesinos, a farm labor organization controlled by the
national government. Clandestine labor operations are
kept at a minimum through the maintenance of two gates
along the Cochabamba-Santa Cruz highway at which all
incoming trucks are inspected. The Federaci(5n also
sends out representatives to individual cotton farms,
ostensibly to ascertain if living conditions for workers
are adequate. Actually, the investigator is more inter-
ested in finding out if the pickers are all members of
the Federaci(5n (which collects a tax of 2 pesos

156

[US $.10] per TOO pounds picked by each harvester) and
if the contratista has registered properly with the
organization. In addition, the Federacidn requires each
grower to fill out a work sheet (planilla) listing by
column the name of each picker, a few vital statistics
such as age, sex, and place of origin, and the daily
poundage harvested. Another column on the planilla
represents the cash advances or food items taken on
credit which will be deducted from the weekly wages.
The last column on the sheet lists the net income of
each worker. These plani 1 1 as must be turned in to the
Federaci(5n office in Montero at the end of harvest. The
contratista is entitled to one peso (US $.05) per 100
pounds picked by each harvester as his commission, but
this fee must be paid by the grower and not by the field-
hand. Unscrupulous contractors will attempt to collect
from both.

Contratistas may be highlanders or Cambas.
They are usually engaged by a grower who is in need
of a certain number of harvesters. The contratista then
goes into the highlands to find his labor. Some try
the cities, but most search the countryside for people
willing to come to the lowlands as fieldhands. After a
group has been gathered, the members select a leader--
usually a young literate male who is believed to know
the ins and outs of contractr harvesting . Then the work

157

agreement is prepared in which the harvesters are guaran-
teed that they will be paid a certain price per TOO pounds
of cotton picked, that they will have adequate living con-
ditions, and that the grower wil 1 provide transportation
to the nearest town for "Sundaying." The workers in
turn must pledge to remain the duration of the harvest.
Once the contract has been agreed upon by the laborers
and the contratista, the latter rents a truck, and the
harvesters are loaded aboard for the trip east.

Harvesters for sugarcane may be engaged in a
similar manner, but not as many cutters are required
for the cane crop as are pickers for cotton. Cane har-
vesters also tend to be a somewhat specialized group and
do not represent a potential or actual drain on the labor
pool needed for cotton harvesting. The greatest amount
of competition for workers is among the cotton growers,
not between the cane growers and cotton farmers. It
is in reference to the labor needs of these two primary
crops that part of the recent changes in migration rates
and settlement trends may be understood.

The road from the highlands had been open since
1954, land was plentiful, and there was seasonal work
available in the canefields and on the Algodonera cotton
farm monopoly. Yet high landers were leaving the interior
at only moderate rates and were not particularly visible
in the lowlands. Even government-subsidized colonization

158

projects were failing to attract the large numbers of
highland Bolivians that had been expected. Then in 1969
the movement east gained momentum and highlanders began
flowing into the Department of Santa Cruz. Why did this
suddenly occur? Cotton. Carmelo Durcfn, a Warneno ex-

plains

When the cane crop began to fail and prices
were low* a lot of us began to worry. But
then the government abolished the Algodonera
monopoly and everyone started planting cot-
ton. It is primarily an export crop so we
didn't need to worry about national markets
so much. And European buyers were paying
high prices for good quality, hand-picked
cotton. I had been growing cane and still
do, but not so much anymore. Cane does
have the advantage that you don't need as
many people to harvest it as cotton. With
cane mostly men work, in groups of four
to six, with perhaps one or two women to
help husk it and do the cooking. But
mostly men come for cane. These men sel-
dom stay on because their families are in
the interior. It isn't so much trouble
finding enough cane harvesters. Also, if
it takes a little longer than expected or
something happens so that you can't get
all the cane cut in time, the crop can
just wait until next year. With cotton
you only have a few weeks to get the crop
in, then you Ipse it all. And you need a
lot of people to harvest. But just about
anyone can harvest cotton, it doesn't take
a lot of strength. Women and children can
often pick as much as a man. Now instead
of just looking for men, I hire whole fami-
lies.

*When sugarcane production reached export levels,
prices began to level of and then drop. Almost simul-
taneously, portions of fields became infected with blight
The adventitious appearance' of cotton as an alternative
crop and i ts hi gh market value convinced many growers to
shift to cotton cultivation.

159

Thus the advent ofcotton farming not only in-
creased the number of laborers needed for fieldwork, but
it also diversified the labor pool. Now women, children,
and the elderly could accompany young men into the low-
lands, and once there the incentive to return to the high-
lands was not so great. Entire nuclear families, extended
kin, and village members coul d make, the move simultan-
eously, without having to leave family members behind.
But even more importantly, there was work available for
anyone willing to go into the fields, and previously
unproductive or underproductive persons could contribute
substantially to family incomes.

The relationship established between the grower
and his pickers harkens back to the old pre-Reform days
of the patr6n and his peones. Once on the farm, many
harvesters become virtual prisoners until the harvest
has ended. Only the fear of retaliation by the Federacidn
keeps some growers from actual physical abuse of their
farmhands. However, those cotton farmers who acquire
a reputation for brutality and dishonesty often find
themselves short of labor the following year. The
"typical" grower simply treats his workers like any
useful animals, providing for their minimal needs and
showing little concern for their well-being. Melfy
Moreno and her husband Luts operate a Warnes cotton
farm but are far from typical in their dealings with

160

farmhands. Consequently they have earned the trust and
respect of the inhabitants of a small village near Sucre,
and these people return every year to work on the Moreno
farm.

On their way to their farm, 30 kilometers east
of Warnes, Melfy talked about the cotton business. She
and her husband are both. Warnes-born and had worked for
the Algodonera for many years before converting some
family land to cotton and trying it on their own. As
Algodonera employees they both learned to speak Quechua,
not fluently, but adequately for communication--somethi ng
unheard of among Cambas. Melfy and Lufs.have a certain
sympathy for their highland workers, but they relate to
the fieldhands from a consistent stance of paternalism.
The Morenos feel highlanders are children and must be
guided and cared for because they are incapable of
caring for themselves. When hands fall ill, Melfy will
administer medicines or prescribe a remedy. She also
instructs her workers in the virtues of saving money
and admonishes them to beware of dishonest contrati stas .

The main encampment of the Moreno farm consists
of a new brick house with one room for sleeping and
another for storage, a pauhuichi where the overseer and
his wife live, a thatched kitchen, and to the rear, the
two galpones where the harvesters are housed. The gal-
p(3nes are built of wattl e-and-daub with palm thatched

161

roofs. They are approximately 20 meters long and per-
haps IG wide. There are no windows in either building;
only a door at each end. The harvesters sleep side by
side along both lengths of the buildings, and movement
within is restricted to a small path down the center
between the feet of the occupants. A few couples have
erected woven palm dividers for privacy, but the majority
of harvesters sleep lined up like soldiers in a barracks.
Most have constructed chapapas, raised platforms of tree
saplings, so that they do not have to sleep directly on
the ground. All cooking is done on open fires in front
of each galpdn. There is a shallow well for water and
no sanitary facilities other than the woods a short
distance away. In later conversations with other growers
it was evident that the housing accommodations provided
by the Morenos are about average for the area.

The first galpdn houses the villagers from Sucre
and the second consists of " vol untarios , " a mixed group
of harvesters who have hired on individually without the
services of a contratista. Both groups have a spokes-
man, and each is a young male, bilingual in Spanish and
Quechua. Although the galpfines are separated by only a
short distance, and all cooking and socializing goes on
in the same open space in front of both, there is little
interaction between the two work groups. This seems to
be the preference of the villagers, many of whom are

162

related and whose previous propinquity and shared expe-
riences definitely make them an "in" group. These people
have been returning to the lowlands in contingents of
about 80 persons per year, approximately 6 per cent
of the total village population. One harvester comments
that perhaps twenty villagers and their families have
chosen to remain in Santa Cruz to date. If while in
the lowlands a job opportunity should arise, it is often
adequate incentive to remain. The Morenos have also
hired each year several of their fieldhands for off-
season work on the farm. These people, explains Melfy,
ultimately have all purchased land farther north or have
gone into Montero to live and work.

Melfy and Lufs pay their workers every Saturday
night. At first this did not seem extraordinary, but
after witnessing the complexity of the all-night event
it was obvious why most growers pay less often. Some
refuse to pay their harvesters until the end of the
season, excusing this practice with comments such as
"If I didn't withhold their pay, these people would spend
it all and go home broke." Actually, withholding sala-
ries is a common method of forcing a worker to remain
the duration of the harvest or forfeit his wages. Once
the picking season has begun and harvesters have had
more exposure to current prices being paid, they often
prefer to move from farm to farm to take advantage of

163

labor price wars among the growers. To prevent this,
growers simply withhold pay, and most pickers are
hesitant in giving up even a week's wages to move to
another farm unless the working conditions have become
unbearable. Pickers who have signed contracts and then
vacate the farm are in violation of their work agreement,
but enforcement is di f f i cul t--especial ly in a seller's
market where labor is scarce.

Weekly pay periods mean that the Morenos must
have cash on hand and in the exact amounts necessary to
give to each harvester. Melfy, who does most of the
bookkeeping, must add up the pounds of cotton harvested
by each worker, subtract any outstanding debts, and then
note this final amount on an envelope with the name of
the picker. The wages go inside. When payday arrives,
the Morenos load their pickup truck with foodstuffs
and other items from their store in Warnes. It is
common for growers to provide this service, although
many take advantage of their harvesters by charging ex-
horbitant prices for the goods they bring to the farm.
Melfy charges the same prices that she does in Warnes,
still making a profit and at the same time maintaining
good will among her farmhands. Melfy Moreno continues
this practice not out of any great humanitarian instinct,
but simply because she is an astute businesswoman. If
her laborers are kept content, she feels, they will

164

continue to return each year, and the farm will not be
pressed for harvesters. Melfy is also aware that word of
working conditions on a cotton establ i shment i s carried
back to the highlands by seasonal migrants, and it is
better to lose a little in trade goods than risk an
entire harvest.

After each harvester has received his or her pay
envelope, Melfy, Lufs, and the overseer begin weighing
out foodstuffs and noting the amounts in a ledger. From
time to time a special request will be made for an
encomienda such as a shirt or a pair of shoes which
the Morenos will purchase in Santa Cruz or Montero and
bring out to the worker the following week. Salary and
food dispersal usually end early Sunday morning after
which the Morenos make their way back to Warnes, and
the harvesters return to the galpdnes for a few hours'
sleep before preparing for their trip to town.

Most pickers leave the farm on Sunday morning
aboard the flatbed trailer pulled by the Morenos' farm
tractor. They are taken into Warnes and dropped off
and will be picked up for the return trip late in the
afternoon. Some harvesters use this opportunity to buy
items which the Morenos have not furnished or which might
be purchased in Warnes at a better price. Others are
interested in going to the market to browse, talk, and
eat, and then on to a chicherfa for the remainder of the

165

day. Melfy noted that most of her workers make the
afternoon pickup but are usually quite drunk. Some
prefer to remain on the farm--to avoid the temptation
of spending their money. Sunday there is spent relaxing
and washing clothes for the following week.

Sundaying is an important event not just for the
fieldhand but also for the investigator in search of
migrant movement patterns in the region. While on the
farm- the harvesters are isolated from information flows
which could effect their strategies to remain or return.
They are in the center of the lowlands but at the same
time are cut off from any wider understanding of the
area. About all the farm experience provides is a
developing awareness of learning to deal with Camba
employers and a taste of the lowland natural environ-
ment. In order to acquaint themselves with lowland
lifestyle options, harvesters must get off the farm.

When the fieldhands arrive in Warnes Sunday
morning, some go to the two small open markets in the
town or into the highland barrio to drink chicha. The
majority, however, head immediately for the highway and
climb aboard any available transportation going to
Montero. Warnes presents an interesting and useful case
in that it is almost a laboratory situation in terms of
comprehending migrant Sundaying choices. The town is
exactly equidistant from Santa Cruz and Montero, 30

166

kilometers from each. Thus the selection of the smaller
city of Montero over the capital, Santa Cruz, cannot
be attributed to either factors of distance or travel
costs. The preference to go to Montero lies in other
domains, and ones which ultimately have bearing on the
migrants' successful entrance into lowland life.

The city of Santa Cruz provides no substantial
attraction for the Sundaying harvester for several
reasons. First, the route from the north enters the
city at a point fairly distant from the location of the
highland barrios. Thus an incoming harvester must pay
an additional sum to get from the north road to a high-
land neighborhood and return. In most cases this means
a taxi--a considerable expense. Second, the highland
barrios may be located in one sector of the city, but they
cover a very large area. Chicherfas are spread out in
a similar manner, and a migrant who is a novice to the
city would have to walk around a good deal to find a
drinking establishment to suit his tastes. Third, the
markets are also dispersed throughout the city and gen-
erally are not continguous to chichertas. Hence several
forays are necessary to satisfy drinking and shopping
needs, and only a limited time is available before the
return trip must be made to Warnes. Finally, most of
the highlanders in the city are from urban backgrounds,
have little in common with the rural rustic, and would

167

not freely pass on housing and employment information in
an already stressed situation. There is just not much
to offer the Sundaying harvester in the city of Santa
Cruz.

•; Montero, on the other hand, provides for many
of the needs of the migrant harvester on short leave
from the farm. Since this urban center is the topic
of the following chapter, an in-depth appraisal at this
point would be premature. However, some general comments
can be made. Montero is a smaller city than Santa Cruz
not only in terms of population but also in land area.
Thus service centers in Montero are more compact and are
separated from one another by much shorter distances.
Because of its central location in the agricultural zone,
Montero attracts highland harvesters and farmers from
the entire northern region and consequently has become
a stronghold of highland tradition and culture. The
establishment of a highland district on the eastern
outskirts of the city, where over 80 chicherfas are
located within an area of six square blocks, has held
tremendous attraction for the harvester and farmer on a
Sunday excursion. Then too, Montero's main market is
located directly across from the highland barrio, with
the Santa Cruz-Montero highway running between them.
An incoming harvester need only get off a truck or bus,
walk a few meters and be in the heart of the marketing

168

and drinking areas of town. Here Quechua is spoken freely
and Camraderie runs high.

Beyond the attractions of ethnic solidarity and
diversion offered by the city of Montero is the even more
significant aspect of verbal exchange. Montero is a clear-
inghouse of information for the rural highlander. It is
here where the harvester is brought up to date on job
prospects, avai 1 abl e 1 and , possible housing, and the
current status of family, friends, and countrymen. The
chicherfa is the principal gathering place for the Sunday-
ing crowd, and between drinking and dancing important
information is appraised and discussed. The market
place is another source of news, and vendors who have
arrived recently from the interior relate the latest
highland events. The level of interaction on this one
day is so intense that the week's isolation on a farm
becomes virtually inconsequential.

Sunday in Montero also has a great psychological
impact on the highland migrant. The city is bustling
with buyers, sel 1 ers , peopl e looking for work and people
in search of workers. It is a scene of almost frantic
prosperity and eagerness in which the harvester is
quickly caught up. Friends encourage him or her to stay
in the lowlands, there is a good job avai labl e , or a piece
of land is being offered at a giveaway price. Dreams
suddenly become reality over a pitcher of chicha. The

169

fieldhand returns to Warnes late in the afternoon encour-
aged and exhilarated by the carnival atmosphere of Mon-
tero on Sunday. When the farm tractor pulls into town,
tired and intoxicated harvesters climb aboard the trailer
to begin another week of labor and to ponder the prospect
of remaining in Santa Cruz.

The Townspeople

People engaged in commercial enterprises in
the town of Warnes have responded enthusiastically
to the increased flow of money brought about by the recent
surge in the agricultural sector. A spark of interest
in developing Warnes has been kindled among the towns-
people with the result that a new hospital has been com-
pleted with the financial assistance of Obras Pdblicas,
and plans are being made to begin paving the plaza area
with locetas. According to the Warneflos, however, with
e'jery good there must come some bad--in this case the
highlanders. All of the prejudices apparent in the city
of Santa Cruz are magnified in Warnes. It is a small,
fami ly-control led town , and old memories and hatreds
run deep. Even the local priest, a foreigner, is uneasy
about the addition of highland families to the town's
populace. No small part of this ecclesiastical as well
as secular disfavor is rooted in the presence of the
chicherf as .

170

Across the highway and contiguous to the new
market is located the Warnes highland migrant barrio.
It consists of about eight blocks in which the market
vendors and chicherfa owners reside. Another group of
highlanders have settled to the rear of the central mar-
ket, perhaps five families, and several vendors live in
the market itself, sleeping in their stalls. There are
no chicherfas in the central market area, however, as
it is considered within the city limits and within Camba
territory. The highland barrio has been named "Villa
Tunari," after a mountain near Cochabamba. "Villa" is
the preferred term of highlanders to designate a barrio.
In it there are 17 chicherfas, catering mostly to those
harvesters Who come to town on weekends.

Villa Tunari is still outside the main settlement
of Warnes and consequently has enjoyed some autonomy.
The chicherfas are constructed along more traditional
patterns with drinking areas situated facing the street
and no high walls. Harassment by local authorities evi-
dently is still minimal, but in light of recent occurrences,
the Warnes chicherfas may not be long in adopting some
of the protective modifications found in Santa Cruz.

Even though the chicherfas are located a good
distance from the center of town, they are well within
earshot of most residents. It is a common practice now-
adays for these establishments to use ampl i f icadores

171

which comprise large speakers, a record player, and a
powerful ampl ifyi ng system producing music which easily
traverses the one-kilometer distance to downtown Warnes.
Cambas also make use of rented loud-speaking systems
for birthdays and other occasions, turning up the volume
so that plaster is jarred off walls and ceilings. It is
important to make known to as many people as possible
that a party, is in progress and that no expense has been
spared. But when highland celebrations in chicherfas
keep the town awake, they are met with grumbling and
threats of viol ence--and chicherfas operate almost con-
stantly. Even worse, as far as lowlanders are concerned,
highlanders play all the wrong music. After several
months of chicherfa activity, tempers in town were begin-
ning to grow short.

A meeting of the townspeople was finally con-
vened at the parish house and was presided over by the
priest who was also alarmed at the changes occurring in
once-peaceful Warnes. The "Kolla" element in town was
going to have to be controlled. Only recently several
thefts had been perpetrated on the church, most probably
by highlanders it was felt, and now for the first time
in the history of Warnes the church doors were kept
locked except during devotions. Pressure was brought
to bear on the chicherfas as the result of a series of
maneuvers attempted by the itown. The two local policemen

172

made several visits into the highland barrio but were
generally unsuccessful in bringing about any modification
of chicherta activities. Then the priest spoketo sev-
eral highl and pari shoners who, as faithful churchgoers,
did not want to be associated with the chicherta scandal.
They began to work through barrio networks in an effort
to coerce the chicherta owners into submission. But the
chicherfa owners are a numerous and tenacious faction and
stubbornly refused to give in to the demands for silence.
Finally, the town's power group, the Consejo Parroquial,
also created by the priest, was called into a meeting to
discuss the problem. This group consists of representa-
tives from all the major organizations in Warnes, which
include

CI ub de Leones

CI ub de Mad res

E s c u e 1 a S a i d

Hombres del Pueblo

Junta Vecinal 15 de Noviembre

Cooperativa de Servicios Publicos

Associacidn del Sagrado Corazdn de Jesds

Central Cultural Recreativo

Liga Deporti va

Escuela Mariano Saucedo Sevilla

Cooperativa de Ahorro y Cr^dito

Comite Cfvico Juvenil

Sindicato de Albaniles

Representante de la Gente de Habla Quechua

In a town the size of Warnes it can be safely

said that almost every adult in town belongs to at least

one of these organizations. Until the advent of the

chicherfa argument, the Consejo was uniformly Camba.

173

Then a highlander was added to the group. He was selected
by the priest because he is an active parishoner and a
member of the highland nei ghborhbod , but he does not
represent any formal barrio organization per se. Placing
a highlander on the Consejo was simply a means by which
an information source in Villa Tunari could be tapped.
The young man is part of a large family engaged in market-
ing and as such has limited power in the hi ghl and barrio.
As the sole highlander on the Consejo, his opinions and
recommendations are heard but not necessarily heeded.
This representative is used mainly as a mouthpiece to
carry the proceedings of the Consejo reunions back to
the highland neighborhood. The chicherfa owners responded
to the Consejo's intrusion into their affairs by forming
their own league, the "Asociacidn Villa Tunari," and a
meeting was held at which both groups were in attendance.
Amid threats and flaring tempers the chicherfa owners
were outnumbered and consequently outvoted. They agreed
to keep noise at a minimum level, and once again relative
quiet reigns in Warnes. The Asociaci6n Villa Tunari has
since disbanded but no doubt will regroup if the need
arises.

As a consequence of the chicherfa dispute, the
schism between highlanders and lowlanders has widened
appreciably. At first, the mere presence of highlanders
in Warnes occasioned some ill feelings among the residents.

174

but the chicherfa episode along with the market situation
have moved highlanders into a position of extreme dis-
favor.

When highlanders first began arriving in the
Warnes area as the result of harvesting opportunities,
a few migrants settled in the town proper to engage in
commercial activity. This involved mostly street selling
which entailed the setting up of a small stall, often
of cloth or canvas. The vendors were engaged primarily
in the selling of fresh produce, an important item in the
highlander's diet and at the time generally ignored by
lowlanders. Hence, street vendors did not immediately
offer any threat to the pulperfas, small stores in the
homes of many Warnenos. As more harvesters were brought
in, the number of vendors also increased to cater to
their needs. Soon the downtown streets were crowded
with highlanders sel 1 i ng f rui ts and vegetables and other
merchandise. The Camba stores were also doing well by
this business, but most townspeople considered the presence
of so many peopl e sel 1 ing and living in the streets of
Warnes a nuisance and a health hazard. As a result, it
was decided that street selling should be prohibited and
that all vendors should be moved into an area set aside
for marketing purposes. Although Warnes, like other
lowland communities, has no tradition of either an open
market or special days set aside for marketing such as is

175

common in the highlands, the abundance of so many high-
land street vendors inspired the building of the first
marketplace in town. The controlling interests in Warnes,
however, were not agreeable to the prospect of letting
highlanders take over the market. Thus a series of brick
kiosks were constructed around the periphery of the
market area, and these shops were to be sold or rented
to Cambas. The interior of the market, an open quadrangle,
would be allotted to the highland merchants. In this
manner lowlanders would be able to share in the expected
profits from Sundaying harvesters as well as collect a
rental fee from each vendor.

After four years of operation, the majority of
1 owl ander-operated kiosks were bought out by the more
astute highland entrepreneurs, and the market became
dominated by people from the interior. As in the Santa
Cruz case, prices in the market are much more competitive
than those in pulperfas since highlanders will settle for
a slimmer profit margin in favor of volume sales. For
cash transactions most Warnenos go grudgingly down to the
market where a few pesos can be saved. Thus the pulperfas
in Warnes have had to depend in great part on their credit
customers for most of their business. Then too, the intro-
duction of large amounts of fresh produce as a daily
market item has had an effect on the dietary patterns of
Warnes residents. Salads and vegetables are now an

176

integral part of lowland cui sine . Since highlanders con-
trol the sources of vegetable production in the mountain
valleys, there is no possible way a Camba can compete in
the produce trade. Although the Warnes townspeople do
not want to admit i t , hi ghl anders have carved out a per-
manent niche for themselves in the community's economy.

It is interesting to note that meat selling is
the one area of marketing in Warnes and in other locali-
ties which the highlander has failed to dominate. Cambas
continue to control meat production in the lowlands, and
the marketing of beef is done through a rancher-butcher-
seller network which to date has excluded the highlander.
To sell beef in a small town and to have a steady and
dependable supply of meat, one must have established
relationships with butchers as well as ranchers. As yet
the highlander has been unable to break into this
economic chain. Once enough highlanders become involved
in cattle production, however, this one last bastion of
Camba enterprise will no doubt become yet another casualty
of highland entrepreneurshi p .

A second market was recently completed in what
is now the Villa Tunari area. It began as a joint enter-
prise between a majority of Cambas and a highland minority,
but this market also is now controlled by highland inter-
ests. The one exception is, of course, the Camba meat
vendor. Hence, what began as a lowland effort to take

177

advantage of the presence of seasonal migrants, permanent
migrant residents, and the influx of highland vendors,
has been transformed into a highland dominion. The Cambas
were. quite effectively outwitted and are still trying
to figure out how it all happened.

The Migrants

The town of Warnes is a primary gateway into the
lowlands for many highlanders, but it has not become a
major center of migrant settlement. The land around
Warnes consists primarily of large farms, 500 to 1,000
hectares in size, owned by agribusiness consortia and
a few of the older families in town. Parcels of 40 to
2-00 hectares, usually farther out, belong to the town's
small farmers. In the cultivation of sugarcane and cotton
it is not economically feasible to farm much less than
40 hectares, and the small land parcel in this area
is too much in demand for subsistence farming. Thus a
prospective farmer from the highlands would be hard
pressed to find a small parcel of land to cultivate in
the Warnes area. The rural -oriented migrant wi 1 1 go north,
into terrain where primarily rice and bananas are. grown.
Here land is still within reach of the peasant, and rice
can be grown both for profit and subsistence. Further-
more, each tract can be multiple-cropped, giving the
campesino a year-round income, albeit small, in contrast

178

to the monocropping practices common to the Warnes
region.

For the urban dweller Warnes can also offer only
limited opportunity. Because it is located just 30
kilometers from the departmental capital, Warnes has
never grown into either a commercial or governmental
center. The advent of the influx of highland harvesters
on a seasonal basis allowed for a substantial but brief
expansion of the town's economy, and a few migrants
began to settle in Warnes. But because of the scarcity
of, farmland, Warnes has not attracted a significant
rural immigrant populace'to support increasing numbers
of urban highlanders engaged in service activities.
Once the saturation point in permanent income possibili-
ties had been reached, the town's growth of urban highland
immigrants began to taper off. Including both market
areas and the Villa Tunari barrio, the entire highland
migrant populatiion of Warnes probably does not exceed
60 families. The majority of these persons are engaged
in marketing, chicherfa operation, or are employed on
nearby farms.

As discussed earlier, the principal residential
area for highlanders in Warnes is across the highway in
the Villa Tunari neighborhood. The highway is ^^ery much
of a social boundary, and most of the town's Cambas
refer to the terrain on the other side as "Kolla

179

territory." The highland barrio is the result of the
dissolution of a larger landholding in the area. Because
of community pressures to locate those migrants intending
to remain in Warnes outside of the town proper and the
requirements of the Urban Reform Law, the property owner
was obliged to subdivide and sel 1 . From the outset it
was understood that the resulting lots would be allocated
to highlanders. Some paid for their homesites outright,
but provisions were made for those who did not have ready
cash. Lots were sold at about 2 pesos (US $.10) per
square meter in the Villa Tunari barrio, and about half
of the allotted area remains unsettled to date.

Unlike the Santa Cruz migrant settl ement areas ,
the Warnes highland barrio is in no way a reflection of
urban growth trends, transportation routes, or settlement
sequences. The barrio exists where it is simply because
the land was available and was far enough out of town.
The construction of permanent dwellings has also failed
to follow any discernible pattern, primarily as a conse-
quence of almost simultaneous settlement of the area.
Hence there is no system of linear progression from
nonpermanent to permanent dwellings in the Warnes highland
barrio as was found in Santa Cruz. It is notable, however,
that very few of the houses in the barrio are of temporary
construction. Once outside the city of Santa Cruz, high-
land migrants in urban localities generally move rapidly

180

toward the completion of a permanent structure. One
reason for this is the lack of Icfmina factories in the
department other than those in the city of Santa Cruz,
so the inexpensive ISmina dwelling is unknown in out-
lying areas. Also, rental housing, at least in Warnes,
is not in any great demand. There is no continual influx
of migrants seeking residence in the town, and those who
do live there have initially constructed small masonry
dwellings. The only rental group is the chicherfa owners,
but the buildings that they occupy are also of masonry
construction. In the eight-block area of the barrio,
there are only four temporary houses, three of which
are lowland-style pauhuichis of wattl e-and-daub. The
fourth is also a pauhuichi, but instead of constructing
wattl e-and-daub walls, the owner has enclosed the house
with adobe bricks--a nice syncretization of highland
and lowland architecture. It should be mentioned that
all of these temporary dwellings were built by ex-
harvesters who had worked in the lowland countryside
for some time before moving into Warnes. They had, there-
fore, acquired the necessary expertise to erect a lowland-
style structure. Still, the lack of this housing type
within the barrio confines is an interesting comment on
the settlement rationale of the residents. Some infor-
mants stated that they saved their money from fieldwork
to build a brick house because they were tired of "living

181

1 i ke animal s . " Others were very much aware of the desire
to impress the Cambas in Warnes that highlanders are
"better" than lowlanders. A final segment of the popula-
tion was simply interested in increasing the property value
of their land should they decide to move elsewhere.

Twenty interviews of highland migrants were con-
ducted in Warnes which included fifteen females and five
males. Interviews were carried out in both markets as
wellas in the Villa Tunari barrio.

Table 16
Informants - Sex

Sex Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Male 5 25.0

Female 21 75.0

Total 20 100.0

Informants in the markets were selected by availability.
If a person was busy selling, another nearby who was not
engaged was interviewed. Three return trips were made
to the central market, and a total of seven interviews
was obtained. This represents about one-third of the
permanent weekday vendors at that locality. Four infor-
mants were questioned in the new market, which was

182

50 per Gent of that clay's seller population. There were
eight interviews conducted in the Villa Tunari barrio,
and these selections were made by location within the
barrio to include each quadrant and both permanent and
temporary dwelling types. Two of the eight interivews
here were in chicherlas. The final informant was an old
woman who lives in the town, although not in the central
area. She is a folk doctor, a curandera, and has a
special position in the social scheme of Warnes. Her
story will be related in a later section of this chapter.

Of the 20 persons contacted, only three did not
enter Warnes via harvesting. One of these is an elderly
man from La Paz who was sent to Santa Cruz by his doctor
as a health measure. Although he had lived most of his
life in La Paz, this informant is of rural origin and
wanted to return to a small agricultural town. He owns

Table 17
Occupation Upon Arrival in Lowlands

Occupation Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Harvesting 17 85.0

Chicherfa Operation 2 10.0

Retirement _1^ 5.0

Total 20 100.0

183

a large store in the new market. The other two individuals
who have not worked in the fields are a chicherfa operator
and a young girl employed in a chicherfa.

The proprietors of chicherfas proved to be a
unique group not only in their fortitude to stand up
against the entire town, but also in their migration
histories. Although they generally resisted interviews
because of fear and uncertainty about the mission of the
researcher, the chicherfa owners as well as their life-
styles are well known by other barrio residents. They
are all women, of course, for the making of chicha is a
woman's art. Many of them are also heads of matrifocal
households which include any children of the owner as
well as female help and their offspring. Although they
may outwardly appear as such, most chicherfas are not
formal houses of prostitution. It is common for a chi-
cherfa proprietor and her employees to "entertain" a
client if they are so inclined, and children may result
from these brief unions, but the chicherfa remains pri-
marily a drinking establishment. These women are tough
and shrewd and make good incomes. For many, the prospect
of a permanent male in residence could be viewed only as
a nuisance.

The female-headed households centered around
chicherfa operation arealso interesting in that they
comprise a group of itinerant chicha vendors who

184

continually move from place to place. A house is rented,
the chicha cauldrons and vats are set up, and business
commences. When the customers begin to decline in number,
the household paraphernalia are loaded on a truck and
transported to a more prosperous locality. One chicherfa
owner reported that she was going out to the Yapacanf
agricultural colony the fol 1 owi ng weekend to look the
place over. Business in Warnes was beginning to slack
off, there had been trouble in town, and word had spread
that there was money to be made in the Yapacanf. This
woman is the daughter of a chicheria proprietor and
stated that she and her mother and brothers and sisters
had always moved from one highland village to another.
When the agricultural boom hit Santa Cruz, they came east.
These women are in a sense the "professional" chicheras,
not individuals who have fallen into the chicha business
asan alternative to field work.

The remaining chicheras in Warnes definitely
chose the profession as a means of deriving income from
some source other than harvesting. Many of these women
had prior knowledge of chicha preparation and felt more
comfortable in this domain than in marketing. Barrio
residents confirmed that all the female highland migrants
living in Villa Tunari were either unemployed, engaged
in marketing or associated with a chicha establishment.
A few knew of women employed in town as empleadas

185

(servants), living with their employers, but household
service is Viewed as only a temporary occupation. Two
informants stated that they had also worked initially as
empleadas after coming out of the fields, but only as a
means of making enough money to begin marketing. Both
were adamant in their dislike of the occupation of
empleada and commented that what they hated most was
being mandada (ordered around) by Camba women. Of the
15 females interviewed, nine are market vendors and five
are owners or employees of chicherfas. The remaining
female/is the curandera.

Table 18
Female Informants - Present Occupation

Occupation Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Marketing 9 60.0

Chicheria Operation 5 33.4'

Curandera _[ 6.6

Total 15 100.0

Male informants' occupational special ties are
selling, tractor driver, part-time mason/f iel dhand , and
fieldhand. Four of the five have spouses, two of which

186

Table 19
Male Informants - Present Occupation

40

0

20

0

20

0

20

0

Occupation Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Marketing . 2

Tractor Driver 1

Masoh/Fieldhand 1

Fieldhand 1

Total 5 100.0

remain at home in Warnes to care for young children and
two who are engaged in marketing. Of the female infor-
mants, seven have spouses, four are presently unattached
but have had previous alliances which resulted in off-
spring, and four are unmarried. Of those seven women
with spouses, three have husbands who do not live in
Warnes. They work agricultural land to the north and
visit their families on weekends. The women remain in
Warnes to engage in commerce and to school their children
Thus, out of the total sample population of 15 female
informants, only four have spouses continually in resi-
dence. In terms of permanent migrant inhabitants, then,
Warnes is primarily a woman's town. A rural -oriented
male does not have much promise of year-round agricul-
tural employment, and for those who aspire to owning a
farm, Warnes has little land to offer.

187

As in Santa Cruz, illiteracy among the Warnes
migrants is high. Thirteen of the female informants
cannot read Or write and two of the five males lack
s i m i 1 a r s k i 1 1 s .

Table 20
II 1 i teracy

Male

3

Female

2

Total

5

Literate Illiterate

- . Absolute Relative Absolute Relative

^^ Frequency Frequency (%) Frequency Frequency (%)

15.0 2 10.0

10.0 J3 65.0

25.00 15 75.0

The disadvantages of being illiterate seem to be strongly
felt among migrants, and the schooling of their children
is consequently of primary importance in their lives.
A Warnes schoolteacher reported that absenteeism among
the children of highland migrants was much lower than that
among Camba children.

Unlike Santa Cruz, which is attracting a pre-
dominance of urban migrants, Warnes and the surrounding
areas are recipients of individuals from rural situations.
Fourteen of the 20 informants originate directly from a
rural setting; three have rural highland origins but

188

moved into a city in the interior prior to coming to the
lowlands. Only three are urban-born people who entered
the Santa Cruz region as harvesters but quickly rein-
stated themselves as urban dwellers in Warnes.

labile 21
Migrant Origins

Origin Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

70.0
15.0
15.0

Rural

14

Rural-Urban Highland

3

Urban

_2

Total

20

100.0

One of the three is a woman married to a Warnes Gamba.
This couple represents one of the very few cases of
regional intermarriage encountered during the course of
the study. The other two are a brother and sister from
Oruro. The sister arrived first with the mother and
several siblings. When queried as to her reasons for
remaining in Warnes rather than locating in Santa Cruz
or Montero she replied, "Hey mucha competencia en Santa
Cruz y no me gusta vivir en Montero" (There is a lot of
competition in Santa Cruz and I don't like living in
Montero). The brother followed the family within a few

189

weeks of thei r am" val . His flight from the interior was
the result of some political difficulties. He is not fond
of Warnes or of the lowlands, but he cannot safely return
to the highlands.

The dual nature of highland population flows into
the department of Santa Cruz may be attributed to differ-
ing strategies of migration based on either rural or
urban orientation. When a rural agriculturalist is faced
with economic ruin or the slow disintegration of natural
and capital resources, migration often becomes the only
solution to increasing economic pressures. Urban migra-
tion tends to be viewed with some anxiety, but with no
other reasonable options available, the farmer will move
to a city. The Department of Santa Cruz, however, does
offer alternatives which remain within the realm of
experience of the ruraT inhabitant: harvesting and the
opportunity to obtain good farmland at affordable prices.
Thus the perceived risks involving a rural-rural move are
not as great as those of a rural-urban migration. In the
former, one's lifestyle can- continue basically unchanged,
and only the physical environment becomes an unknown
factor. With the latter option, adaptations must be
made to both a new lifestyle as well as to totally dif-
ferent physical surroundings. Thus the city of Santa
Cruz is attracting a significant number of urban-oriented
individuals as could be expected, while the rural

190

highlanders are selecting either the northern countryside
or agriculturally based population centers such as Mon-
tero, Warnes, or other small communities.

A statistical test revealed that the mean age
of the sample population in Warnes does not differ sig-
nificantly from that of Santa Cruz. The latter mean
is 31 while Warnes has a mean of 37, The Warnes popula-
tion does have a greater variance, however, with a
standard deviation of 19.58 as opposed to 12.78 for the
city of Santa Cruz. The greater variance of the Warnes
population is due in large part to sample size but is
also a reflection of a more numerous group of informants
inthe upper age range. Thirty -five per cent of the
Warnes population is over the age of 35 as compared to
23 per cent for the Santa Cruz sample.

In terms of regional originsof the Warnes
mi'grants, they hold to a similar pattern as was found
for the city of Santa Cruz. Exactly 50 per cent of the
Warnes sample population originates in the Department
of Cochabamba. Fifty-six per cent of Santa Cruz migrants
are from this district. Once the Cochbamba sector is
eliminated from the Warnes sample, the remaining areas
do not vary greatly in the relative numbers of migrants
they supply. As was found in the city of Santa Cruz,
Cochabamba, both from propinquity and its function as a
jumping-off place for highland migrants, is providing a

191

Table 22

Place ofOrigin
(Department or District)

Place Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

La Paz 1 5.0

Cochabamba 10 50.0

Sucre 2 10.0

Potosf 2 10.0

Oruro 3 15.0

Other _2 10.0

Total 20 100.0

substantial portion of the migrant population. With
regard to Warnes, Montero, and other agricultural locali-
ties, however, an additional element must be taken into
account in analyzing the Cochabamba concentrations . The
majority of chichertas in the Department of Santa Cruz
operate in the countryside, not in the city, and most
chicheras are Cochabambinas. The possibility does exist
that the rural sample may not have been influenced entirely
by differential regional volumes of migration but by the
abundant presence of a particular occupational group.

Additional Warnes migrant characteristics which
compare positively with responses of the Santa Cruz sample

192

are economic motivation for leaving the highlands and
multiple migrations. Reasons for migrating to Santa Gruz
among Warnes informants are shown in Table 23,

Table 23
Motives for Migration

Motive Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Economic 17 85.0

Runaway 1 5.0

Other _2 10.0

Total 20 100.0

Those who are migrating for the first time number four, or
20 per cent, while 16, or 80 per cent, have migrated prior
to their move to Santa Cruz.

Dress patterns among female migrants in Warnes
do differ from those of the Santa Cruz population in
that 13, or 86 per cent, continue to use traditional
dress ( pol 1 era ) as . opposed to 62 per cent for the city
migrants. Since Warnes constitutes a rural -oriented
population, these latter results would seem to be in
keeping with the more conservative attitudes of rural
folk.

193

With regard to housing, once again the Warnes
sample diverges from the Santa Cruz group. Primarily
because of the lack of incoming migrants whose intention
is to remain permanently in Warnes, there is little rental
housing available in town. Consequently, the majority
of the Warnes informants own their dwellings.

Table 24
Housing

Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Own 14 70.0

Rent (Chichertas) 3 15.0

Roomer 1 5.0

Live in Market _2 10.0

Total 20 100.0

Finally, 14 of the 20 migrants interviewed know,
or are aware of, having other relatives in the lowland
region. Kinship networks are maintained much as they
would be in the highlands. Informants often mentioned
that some of these relatives had not been seen or visited
in years, but their whereabouts are known. If necessary,
these relationships can be rapidly reinstated to provide
mutual aid. Some migrants, nevertheless, may arrive alone

194

in the lowlands or may become temporarily separated from
assistance networks. It is in relation to this latter
migrant group that the curandera of Warnes enters the
migration arena.

Sandal i a

Sandalia Rosado Vega is a 97-year-old folk doctor.
Her mother died when she was a baby and a neighbor woman
took her in, chose her given name, and taught her the art
.of curing. Sandalia is from Vallegrande and is therefore
a "Camba-Kol la. " Vallegrande is within the Department of
Santa Cruz but is located in the area where the mountains
begin to rise up off the plain. Many Val 1 egrandina women
dress in the traditional pollera and wear their hair in
double braids as does Sandalia, but they do not speak
Quechua or truly identify with highland culture. At the
same time, they are not lowlanders and do not regard them-
selves as Cambas. The Val 1 egrandino is medio camino,
middle of the road, straddling both cultures but not
actually belonging to either. It is because of Sandalia's
age, origin, and her profession that she occupies what
could be termed a broker position in Warnes society.

Sandalia lives in an adobe block house with a
tile roof which was built by a highlander and which is
the only dwelling of its type in Warnes. The house

195

consists of three rudely furnished rooms, a separate
kitchen to the rear, and an outbuilding where Sandalia's
chickens spendthe night. Sandal i a and her 5 7 -year-old
daughter occupy only orte room of the dwelling since
patients are housed in the remaining two. These patients
are both Cambas and highlanders, Sandalia cares fo^r them
both and seems to relate as well to Towlanders as she does
to the highland migrant. Her patients are of all ages,
some traveling great distances to seek Sandalia's remedies,
She is a \/ery successful healer, and much of her success
may be attributed to her great concern for the well-being
of others. Sandalia concentrates on healing the body
as well as the spirit, taking in people who have given
up hope and who have no one to care for them.

Often at her own expense, Sandalia will feed and
nurse a patient back to health, even if the individual
is suffering from no greater illness than mal nouri shment ,
neglect, and depression. In many instances these indi-
viduals are highland harvesters. They have come to the
lowlands alone or have become separated from their fami-
lies. After working long hours in the heat and humidity
of the lowland cotton or canefield, they return to a
damp galp6n to eat a miserable meal. They fall ill and
are brought to Sandalia by the farm owner or a fieldhand
friend. Using her curing practices and constant personal
attention, Sandalia will have the average harvester back

196

on the job in three weeks. Fees are charged according
to the ability of the patient to pay, and Sandal ia depends
on her more affluent clients to cover the costs of those
who are too poor to reimburse her for her services.

Sandalia came to the lowlands in search of her
daughter who had been contracted to work for three months
for the harvest at La B^lgica. The three months went by
and Sandalia's daughter failed to return. After six
months the curandera packed her things and came to Santa
Cruz to locate her only child. It took her almost two
weeks to find her way out to the mill where she and her
daughter were reunited. Sandalia's daughter had been
hired for some additional work and had no way to inform
her mother that she would be remaining in the lowlands.
Sandalia decided to stay with her daughter and set up
an eating establishment to serve meals to the harvesters.
At the same time, she began to treat those fieldhands
who fell ill or were injured. Gradually her curing
business began to grow, and Sandalia and her daughter
finally moved into Warnes where they purchased their
present homesite.

Her healing business continued to prosper in the
town, and Sandalia was soon able to discontinue most of
her other activities such as selling along the roadside.
She still makes bread every three days since she enjoys
this chore and believes that her bread is much better

197

than any made in Warnes. Perhaps it is, for when Sandalia
is baking there is a constant stream of townspeople stop-
ping by her house to buy a few pesos' worth.

Sandalia cures with the baho seco (dry bath)
method, and depends upon purgatives, herbs, and good food.
Although she does not use the term "tuberculosis," San-
dalia treats many highlanders whose symptoms would seem
to be indicative of this disease. She claims that she
can cure people who are enfermo de los pulmones (sick
in the lungs) in three weeks. The first treatment in-
volves a bano seco given every other day for three days.
The. bano seco consists of filling gourds with boiling hot
water and placing them around the patient who is covered
with blankets. Profuse sweating results and Sandalia
must change her patient's bedclothes three times before
the bath has ended. Afterward the ailing client is
given broth prepared from white (meatless) beef bones.
When the third and final bath has been administered,
a purgative is given and the patient is allowed to rest.
During the following days special foods are prepared
such as eggnogs and gelatin. When recovery begins,
heavier solid foods are introduced.

For illnesses which are not readily discernible,
Sandalia makes use of a diagnostic method involving
divination through a shogma, though she does not use
guinea pigs as is common in other Andean areas. Sandalia's

198

shogma must be a young chicken, which she herself raises.
The patient is then told to blow in the bird's beak
which, according to Sandal ia , wi 1 1 cause the illness to
pass from the patient into the body of the chicken. Then
shekills the animal, opens it up, and beg ins to inspect
the entrails of the chicken for signs of disease. San-
dalia is normally concerned with the condition of the
bird's blood and explains that there are three types of
blood sickness: (1) sangre negra or enfuegada (black
blood or hot blood), (2) sangrasa de resfrio (corrupt
blood from a chill), (3) sangre d^bil (weak blood) which
is light red or pink in color. All of these blood
pathologies are cured primarily with the application
of a bano seco--"con los bafios se componen todas las
sangres y se quedan en una" (with the baths all bloods
are made well and become whole).

The remainder of Sandalia's cures consist of
herbal preparations and. the sacred power derived from
religious articles. Sandalia is a devout Catholic and
believes that all of the successful treatments are a
result of her faith in God and the support of the
Saints. She has a constant supply of bottles of holy
water on hand, and goes to the parish priest to replen-
ish her stock when it runs low. The holy water is often
mixed with the dust which collects on her numerous
religious statues, and the potion is then fed to patients.

199

This particular remedy is used for heart problems and
nervous attacks. Sandalia will also have some of her
homemade bread blessed by the priest to be used as nourish-
ment for herpatients.

The mystical number three, so important in Christ-
ian theology (the Tri ni ty , Chri St ' s ascension on the
third day, the triple denial of Christ by Peter, the
three crosses on Calvary, etc.) has obviously been incor-
porated into Sandalia's healing format. Thus three bafios
must be given, the bed is changed three times, most curing
is put on a three-week schedule, bread is baked e^ery
third day, and the blood diseases are tripartite in
nature. In spite of all her curing expertise, Sandalia
believes that it is the sacred power of diety and saints
which pulls the patient through. "Primero ruego a Dids
y a la Vfrgen que pongan su mano y sobre esa pongo la
mfa" (First I pray to God and the Virgin to lay on their
hands, andovertheirs I lay mine).

Sandalia views her role as primarily that of
healing physical afflictions, but she is also attuned
to the importance of dealing with illness whose origins
would seem to be psychosomatic. Many of the highland
migrants who cross her threshold are in need of psycho-
logical reinforcement against the disorientation brought
about by having to deal witha new natural and social
environment. Because Sandalia is herself a "neutral"

200

person, she has become an agent to assist the foundering
migrant in making some difficult adjustments to change.
David Jones has written of Sandalia's counterpart among
the Comanche Indians who also are making oftentimes pain-
ful adaptations to acculturative pressures. The woman
is Sanapia, a folk doctor.

Perhaps the most significant points this
study has illustrated are the psychothera-
peutic functions which Sanapia possesses
in contemporary Comanche culture . . . [in
treating] a conversion reaction whose nega-
tive emotional basis is founded in the
cultural and personal confusion and tension
produced by the increasingly efficient suc-
cess of acculturation in corroding the
traditional basis of Comanche society. It
then appears that Sanapia is the curer of
a dynamic and functional human disorder.
Sanapia treats the individuals rather
than a specific static human affliction.
(Jones 1968:104)

Jones attributes Sanapia's continuing success,
in spite of the presence of white doctors, to her holis-
tic approach to healing. It is in this respect that
Sandalia has also prevailed over the practitioners of
"modern" medicine. She views the illness of each patient
as something entirely idiosyncratic to that individual
and as a disease which must be treated on various levels
of understanding. In essence, Sandalia does not separate
mental from physical illness. Hence a highlander suffer-
ing from some unknown sickness which has been trfeated
unsuccessfully by a mestizo phys ici an wi 1 1 often seek
out Sandalia's aid and be cured. Her astounding success

201

in many of these cases appears to be based in her ability
to deal with depression and alienation as expected com-
ponents of disease. For not a few highlanders, then,
the decision to remain in the lowlands has been influenced
in no small way by the careful ministrations of an aging
Val 1 egrandi na .

CHAPTER FIVE
MONTERO: AGRICULTURAL CROSSROADS OF THE NORTH

National interest in opening the lowlands for
exploitation resulted not only in the completion of the
Santa Cruz-Cochabamba highway but also in the construc-
tion of an additional stretch of paved road leading
north from Santa Cruz. The purpose of this highway was
to service the first government-built sugar mill, Guabirci,
which began operations in 1956. The Guabirci sugar re-
finery was located at a site just northeast of the town
of Montero, 30 kilometers north of the city of Santa Cruz
and the center of the best agricultural lands of the
department. This region soon was to become the focus
of population relocation programs, foreign as well as
domestic, multinational development projects, and
large-scale commercial agricultural enterprises.

At a point not distant from Montero and the
Guabirci mi 1 1 , the asphalt highway terminated and the old
dirt track continued a short distance and then split into
two branches, one heading west across the Yapacanf River
and the other east to the Rfo Grande. Along these two
roads new colonization zones were opened, and highlanders

202

203

as well as groups of Japanese and Okinawans were granted
tracts of farmland. The paved highway along with the
offer of free land brought more people into the north.
Montero's good fortune in being situated near the junc-
tion of these roads meant instant prosperity, and as
commercial agriculture took hold in the region, the
town's economy surged beyond even the most optimistic
expectations.

The City

The northern Santa Cruz region has a history of
settlement as old as that of the department itself,
but like most of the lowlands prior to the 1950's, life
proceeded at a leisurely, unhurried pace. Camba agri-
culturalists planted rice, coffee, bananas, and manioc
and then loaded their produce aboard oxcarts to make
the long trip into Santa Cruz. They often formed cara-
vans to protect their cargoes and their lives against
attacks by bandits who roamed the area in search of the
unwise lone traveler. At this time Montero was just
another Camba village along the route to the urban cen-
ter of Santa Cruz.

With the construction of the Guabirci mill and
the aphalt highway leading to it, Montero was given
unprecedented opportunity for economic development.

2 0,4

As would be expected, the town began to grow rapidly in
area and population. In 1950 the town's population num-
bered 2,700. By 1967 the inhabitants had swollen to
13,500 (Solfz 1974:3). As the last urban concentration
on the Santa Cruz-Guabir^ highway, Montero soon became
the commercial and governmental headquarters of the nor-
thern provinces. The National Colonization Institute
(Instituto Nacional de Col oni zacidn ) established its
regional headquarters there along with the office of the
Agrarian Judge in charge of resolving land disputes. In
addition, several banks opened branch offices in Montero,
and many of the larger Bolivian chain stores such as
Manaco shoes acquired plaza locations. To the south of
the city, the U . S. Point Four program constructed a
multimillion dollar experimental farm, Muyurina, with
the intent of providing agricultural assistance to the
newly developing region. Muyurina was subsequently sold
at a loss to the Salesian Fathers who have since con-
verted the complex into a boarding high school for
campesino youth.

North of the city, the Methodists established
their lowland religious center and school. In addition
to the school and church on the outskirts of the city,
the Methodists constructed a hospital in central Montero
which they continue to administer. In other areas of
the city the Baptists and Jehova's Witnesses have also

205

erected churches and together with the Methodists and
Mennonites are vying with the Catholics for converts.
In the spirit of ecumenism a group known as the Iglesias
Unidas (United Churches) has been formed to attempt to
coordinate the acti vi ties of all of these religious
organizations. Each denomination is a member, and regu-
larly scheduled meetings are held to discuss plans for
the spiritual as well as economic development of Montero
andsurroundingregions.

In 1968 the roads branching east and west from
Montero were also paved, opening these agricultural
zones for more intensive settlement as well as providing
them with all-weather market routes. Again, Montero's
growth was given additional impetus, and the once insig-
nificant Camba village was converted into a boom town
rivalling even the city of Santa Cruz. By 1973 the
northern city's population had reached 22,000 with a
growth rate of over 9 per cent per year (Reye 1974:107a).

Today, Montero boasts telephone service with the
rest of the nation, sewers, loceta-paved streets, and a
recently completed poured-in-place concrete water tank
with a mi 1 1 ion-1 i ter capacity. Next to the Methodist
school there is a new hotel financed jointly by the
Corporaci6n Boliviana de Fomento and the Interamerican
Development Bank at a cost of US $321,000. The Hotel
Asa hi is complete with swimming pool , dining rooms.

206

air-conditioned guest cottages and a daily room charge
of US $20.00.

Montero is swiftly becoming a highl ander ci ty .
Although the Cambas at present remain in control of the
governmental bodies of Montero, highlanders are quickly
gaining economic domination of the city. It is also
quite probable that highlanders in Montero now outnumber
the lowland inhabitants. One authority has estimated
that during the height of the harvest season, the city's
population may be augmented by as many as 7,000 persons,
most of whom are natives of the Bolivian interior (Solfz
1974:4).

Like Warnes, Montero was also bypassed by the
highway which skirts the eastern periphery of the city
before once again proceeding north five kilometers to
the Guabirci mill. Unlike Warnes, however, Montero has
not been adversely affected by the bypass. Within a
relatively short time, the city had grown to the limit
of the highway and has now extended beyond it. Also, as
a road- junction urban site, Montero has the advantage
of being strategically situated, and its distant location
60 kilometers from the city of Santa Cruz makes it an
important regional servicecenter.

In spite of increasing marketing and commercial
activity in the areas contiguous to the highway, Mon-
tero's central plaza zone continues to be the most

207

desirable and prestigious business property in the city.
A few old families still reside in homes fronting directly
on the plaza, but even these individuals have converted
parts of their dwellings into commercial enterprises or
restaurants. In many respects, the main square of Mon-
tero resembles its larger counterpart in Santa Cruz.
The Catholic church dominates one side of the plaza along
with the offices of the church-operated savings and loan
cooperative. The remaining three sides are filled with
banks, governmental bureaucracies, stores and eating
establ i shments .

Downtown Montero is lowlander territory, but it
is surrounded by ever- increasing numbers of highlanders
who are inexorably pushing their way into the sanctity
of the Camba stronghold. When the first colonization
projects commenced northwest and northeast of the city,
a few highlanders moved into the city to begin trading.
An open area just east of the plaza was soon converted
into a small open market place. Successful rice pro-
duction, the cane, and later, the cotton industries
attracted more settlers and even greater numbers of
harvesters from the highlands. The market area also
began to expand and soon was overflowing into neighbor-
ing streets to accommodate the new arrivals.

The Montero Cambas were distressed at the num-
bers of highlanders pressing in around the plaza and also

2 08

at the sudden appearance of chieherfas within the town
proper. Complaints by townspeople concerning the market
and the presence of chichertas in town brought about a
city ordinance which effectively exiled both from central
Montero. A new market place was secured by the alcaldfa
to be situated along the highway on the inner periphery
of the bypass. The chieherfas were forbidden to operate
within the boundary of the asphalt road and consequently
have moved into Villa Cochabamba, the highland neighbor-
hood on the other side of the highway opposite the new
market. There are a few still functioning near the
hospital, but since most of the residents in this area
are highlanders, these chieherfas have been permitted
to remain.

As in Santa Cruz and Warnes, the highland segment
of the town's population is concentrated in its own
district. As previously mentioned, the entire zone east
of the highway, known popularly as Villa Cochabamba, is
inhabited by highlanders. In addition to this settlement
area, there is a Camba-Kolla continuum from the paved
road toward the center of town, with highlanders in the
majority at the highway end and Cambas still clinging
to the sector around the plaza. It is the highlanders,
however, who are gradually moving along this continuum
as they acquire property vacated by the Montero Cambas.
The lowlanders in turn are migrating to Santa Cruz.

209

MONTERO

Figure 5. Montero

210

This same pattern of successive migration is occurring
throughout the northern Santa Cruz region. As Cambas
leave towns and countryside to migrate to the city of
Santa Cruz, highlanders move ir\ behind them.

To the west of Montero, a new market has been
constructed and named after the man who donated the
property, Rosendo Paz. Paz continues to operate a tannery
in the property contiguous to the market. Because of
its location at a point distant from the highway and
the competition presented by its counterpart to the
east, the Paz market is struggling for existence. Unlike
the large Villa Cochabamba market which is totally con-
trolled by highlanders, the western market has a few
remaining Camba vendors. A scattering of highland
families has settled around the Paz market in anticipa-
tion of its possible future prosperity.

As a lowland trade center, Montero is second only
to Santa Cruz. Until recently, prices in Montero had
been somewhat higher than those of the departmental
capital, but for many, the saving of a few pesos did not
make the longer trip worthwhile. It was only when
specialty items such as mechanical parts, appliances,
or clothing were needed that the journey into Santa
Cruz became necessary. Nowadays, however, there is \/ery
little that Montero cannot provide. In addition, with
the city's increased growth and subsequent rise in volume

211

sales, prices in Montero have fallen within competitive
range of Santa Cruz. In fact, it is now common for many
highland truckers to bypass Santa Cruz and go directly
to Montero to sell their cargoes.

Because of its function as a regional service
center for primarily rural highlanders, Montero has many
items which are campesino specialties and which are
therefore somewhat more difficult to obtain in Santa
Cruz. The market place in Montero has a much better
selection of hand-woven woolen articles and polleras,
for example, than do any of the Santa Cruz markets.
Most interesting is the coca vendor's street directly
behind the main Montero market. The chewing of coca
is a custom practiced by a large segment of the highland
population, men and women alike, but it is a tradition
linked with the indigenous substrata. Hence, coca use
tends to be more prevalent among the campesino group than
among urban dwellers.

Coca can be purchased in the city of Santa Cruz,
but vending areas are small, and selection is limited--
a reflection of the relative lack of demand for the product
in the city. For good coca in the lowlands, one must
travel to Montero. On the coca street, female vendors
are lined up under their sunshades, each woman with a
small table and a chair or box to sit on. Every vendor
will have several large sacks filled with coca from the
different production areas of Bolivia. Prices vary

212

according to freshness and place of origin. The most
prized coca is from the La Paz Yungas, east of the
national capi tal , and consequently is more expensive
than other varieties. The Pacenan coca is said to be
more potent and sweeter to chew. Most coca trucks from
the highlands will reserve a large part of their cargoes
for Montero. When they arrive at the market there is a
frantic scramble by the coca vendors and their helpers
to purchase the best product ahead of their competitors.
Prices for coca vary only according to quality so it
behooves a vendor to have a good supply of the best.
Rural highlanders will appraise the coca at each stand
before deciding on the type and the amount they acquire.
For the highland campesino, a trip to Montero would be
incomplete without a stop at a coca vendor's table.

In addition to its importance as a marketing
and service center, Montero is also the northern
region's principal location for secondary education.
Most settlements, including the agricultural colonies,
have some provision for primary education, but until
recently the inhabitants of the area were required to
send their children into Santa Cruz for secondary educa-
tion. Only the wel 1 -to-do of any community could afford
this expense. Today Montero offers numerous choices in
secondary schools, both church-affiliated and public.
For those in nearby towns, daily commuting to a colegio

213

in Montero is now possible. For example, a group of
Warnes parents have formed a transportation cooperative
to siend their children to Muyurina each day. Those stu-
dents who live a good distance from Montero will find
their education expensive, but still less than having
to live and study in Santa Cruz. It is also important
to note that at least two of the secondary schools,
Muyurina and the Methodist colegio, are geared toward
educating the children of campesinos and include agri-
cultural studies in their curricula.

Agriculture, commerce, education, and finally,
light industry have all combined to make Montero the
fastest growing urban center in the lowlands. Although
the city has only 4 per cent of the departmental popula-
tion, Montero can lay claim to over 19 per cent of the
total number of selected industrial complexes in the
Department of Santa Cruz.

In overall industrial development, the city of
Santa Cruz still leads by a very wide margin, and in
many cases it isthe sole location ofa particular
industry such as the oil refinery. Still, in a region
which has been dominated traditionally by a single cen-
tral place, Montero is a fast-rising star and may prove
a substantial threat to the economic hegemony of urban
Santa Cruz. The more optimistic Monterenos and the more
pessimistic Crucenans believe that in the near future

214

Table 25
Selected Industries

Industry

Department

Montero

Sugar Mills

3

2

Saw Mills

43

6

Rice Mills

19

5

Cotton Mills

15

2

Beverages

11

2

Tanneries

_5

_1

Totals

96

19

Per Cent of Total

66.6
13.9
26.3
13.0
18.1
20.0
19.7

Montero may supplant Santa Cruz as the dominant urban cen^
ter of the region. The highway leading westward from
Montero will one day connect with another paved road
pushing east from Cochabamba. When the two highways are
linked, a new and shorter route to the highlands will be
available. Some lowlanders believe that this will result
in even greater importance for Montero which will then
be the cl oser ci ty .

Migrant Center of the North

Fanning out in all directions from Montero are
the most productive agricultural lands of Santa Cruz.

215

To the south are cotton and sugarcane; to the east and
north are rice and cane fields. The wetter zone approach-
ing the mountains to the west is prime rice territory.
Throughout the northern Santa Cruz region, in areas where
grassland has taken over the forest, cattle are raised
along with crops. Just ahead of the line of farmers and
frontiersmen clearing land, loggers are moving relent-
lessly farther into the virgin wilderness in search of
the lowland hardwoods.

All of these endeavors require people--peopl e
to farm, people to plant, people to harvest. There
must be indi vidual s to drive logging trucks and farm
tractors, to haul cane and rice and cotton. Highland
Bolivia is furnishing the majority of laborers and
settlers necessary to keep the lowland agricultural
machine operating at its present rate. At the hub of
the labor pool is Montero, the region's manpower broker-
agecenter.

Three blocks east of the Montero main plaza is
located the office of the Federacidn de Campesinos del
Norte, housed in an old building constructed of white-
washed wattle-and-daub with a tile roof. Behind the
office is a large walled-in dirt courtyard. A few
mango trees shade the area. The clay patio serves
much the same purpose as a holding pen at a stock yard,
only here it is highland migrants who are waiting to be

216

hireci as harvesters or fi el dhands .. When night falls
the area becomes a campground for those highlanders in
search of work who have no other lodging place. At the
front of the Federacidn office there are also groups of
men and women standing or sitting next to their few
belongings waiting in anticipation of a job contract.
They too may be found at night sleeping in the open for
want of, shelter in the city.

The Federacidn de Campesinos is a multipurpose
organization under the control of the national government
and managed by the military. In 1974 the Federacidn de
Campesinos had 34,000 members on its rolls who were
classified as flotantes (seasonal migrants) and 20,000
asentados (settled farmers). Of the 34,000 migrant
laborers it is estimated that approximately 14,000 re-
mained in the lowlands. In 1975 an expected 60,000
migrants will enter Santa Cruz, and of these perhaps as
many as half will decide to settle in Santa Cruz
(Federacidn de Campesinos 1975). Aside from its stated
functions of labor management and worker protection,
the Federacidn has set out to undermine and eventual ly
exterminate the labor unions or sindicatos. The Federa-
cidn is only one of five bureaucracies* which in concert

*Linked to the Federacidn are the Banco Agrf-
cola (Agrarian Bank), Desarrollo de Comunidades (Com-
munity Development), Accidn Cfvica Militar (Military
Civic Action) and the Instituto Nacional de Colonizacidn
(National Colonization Institute).

217

maintain effective control over highland campesinos in
the rural areas of the lowlands. It is notable that
these efforts have been directed primarily toward the
highlander who has a recent history of unionization.
The Camba campesino has generally displayed indifference
to organizing attemptsby political parties orother
groups.

The Federacic5n currently is spearheading a move-
ment to organize the highland campesinos into nucleos,
or cell groups in each community or settlement area
where migrants are present. The nucleos are reportedly
a first step toward the creation of cooperatives in the
farming community. The internal organization of the
nucleos, however, does not seem to differ significantly
from the sindicato predecessor. In fact, many of the
same personnel are holding positions in the nucleo com-
parable to those of the old union. One nucleo member
did state that the reorganization of these campesino
bodies has diminished some of the autocratic power pre-
viouslyheld by union leaders,and thatmembersnowhave
a greater voice in the decision-making process.

The past history of union movements in Bolivia
and their efficacy in revolutionary upheavals hasgiven
the present government some cause for concern. By
bringing them the direct jurisdiction of the ruling party
and the mi 1 i tary (actual ly one and the same), the national

218

government has reduced the threat of insurrection. As
a lowlander, the President of Bolivia no doubt is quite
uncomfortable with the thought that the highland sindi-
catos are diffusing into the pristine 1 owl ands . Although
union leaders worked diligently to unionize campesinos
in Santa Cruz after the 1952 revolution, the idea never
quite caught on among Cambas as it did among highlanders.
Consequently, Santa Cruz remained relatively unaffected
by organized labor movements in the nation, and the
efforts of the Federacidn eventually to transform the
labor unions into cooperatives have been directed pri-
marily at the highland campesino migrant.

Groups of migrants such as ex-harvesters commonly
form leagues for the purpose of pressuring the government
for: farml and . These leagues are also called cooperatives
in keeping with the accepted terminology of the moment.
Working through the Federacidn or another governmental
agency, a cooperative will present a formal petition for
the occupancy of a particular tract of land. Membership
in the Federacidn does not guarantee settlement assist-
ance, but it is one means of gaining access to those
bureaucracies which control 1 and al 1 ocati ons .

The larger the cooperative formed, the more
power and money it will have toconfront the politicians
who authorize land grants in the lowland territories.
It is therefore a common practice for active recruitment

219

to be carried on among prospective highland settlers while
they are in Montero. Each new cooperative member must
pay an initial quota of US $50.00 to $100.00. For most
migrants, this sum represents a substantial outlay, but
if the organization is successful in its petition for
land, the returns are well worth the investment.

Along with their interests in organizing campesino
cooperatives, the Federacidn offices also preside over
the exchange of labor in the northern Santa Cruz region.
Since a large majority of volutarios, farm workers not
under contract, will go directly to Montero and the
Federacidn office to find work, contratistas and other
i ndi vidual s in need of laborers will frequent the estab-
lishment. Fees must be paid for the use of this broker-
age service by the person doing the hiring, but the
newly arrived migrant naive to the rules of the game
will often fall prey to the unscrupulous labor operative.
Supposedly to prevent such occurrences, there is a work
inspector (Inspector de Trabajo) present in the Federa-
cidn office. His duties include the protection of
laboriers' rights, and a large portion of his day is
spent in resolving minor disputes between management
and labor or among groups of farmhands. In many cases
equitable agreements are reached, but it is not uncommon
for the Inspector to pressure the workers rather than the
employer to cease hostilities.

2 20

The Federacidn is the primary formal labor broker-
age center in Montero, but there are numerous informal
locations which serve as nexus for workers and farm
management. Many migrants s imply hang around the plaza
waiting for a truck to stop and pick" them up. Others
stand across the street from the Federacidn office
hoping to find jobs while avoiding bureaucratic red tape
and membership fees. The market zone and highland neigh-
borhood, especially in the vicinity of the chicherfas,
also, provide meeting places for laborers and their clients.
The latter situation is reminiscent of a similar pattern
in the United States where farm buses make morning rounds
of all the town bars to collect the day's contingent of
migrant harvesters. The same informal system of labor
exchange occurs in other lowland localities, as in Warnes,
but on a much smaller scale. For anyone in the labor
market, buyer or seller, Montero remains the best broker-
agecenterinSantaCruz.

Montero attracts not only seasonal migrants
from the highlands, but also many ex-harvesters who
have become lowland farmers and are in need of work
between plantings. This is especially true of the rice
farmer whose harvest in April, and May will not normally
conflict with the later cane and cotton season. The
three-month slack period between the end of rice harvest
and the next planting in September and October leaves

221

many small farmers idle and in short supply of ready
cash. Many will head for Montero to hire on as day
laborers in the harvests. Once again, it is primarily
highlanders who avail themselves of the opportunity to
supplement their farm incomes with outside work. The
Camba generally does not participate in this activity,
preferring instead to seek work locally or simply wait
out the lean period by living on credit.

On the other side of town from the Federacidn
de Campesinos office is situated the regional headquar-
ters of the Instituto Nacional de Colonizacidn (INC).
This site is another focal point of interest for the
migrant in Montero. It is through the INC office that
recruitment of colonists for new agricultural settlements
i s conducted .

In comparison to previous years' activities,
the colonization bureaucracy has diminished significantly
its administrative role in the colonies. From its
capacity as sol e control 1 i ng agent, the Institute has
now begun to wi thdraw gradual ly from its position of
absolute autonomy in colonial matters. The older colo-
nies presently are under the fiscal administration of
the Department of Santa Cruz, and public officials are
selected from among the resident settlers. The Yapacanf
colony shortly will be divested of its colony director
(Jefe de Zona), and transferred to public control under

222

the departmental government. Two more recent colonies,
Buen Retiro (Antofagasta ) and San Julicin, remain under
the auspices of the INC, but much of the actual fact-
to-face contact with colonists is being carried out by
the Iglesias Unidas (United Churches) group which is
composed of Catholics, Methodists, and Mennonites.

The Bolivian government and its settlement agency,
the INC, have a long and somewhat torturous history of
involvement with colonization projects and have witnessed
the expenditure of millions of dollars in loans without
much vi si bl e resul t , Not necessarily having learned
from its errors, but no longer having the almost limit-
less funding for colonization efforts, the Institute has
been forced to limit its input into such projects. Now,
the major government commitment is to provide land in
surveyed parcels, an access road, and water pumps at
four-kilometer intervals. The colonists must rely on
their own resources for any additional services or depend
on the Iglesias Unidas.

The Iglesias Unidas of Montero arose as the
result of the disastrous lowland floods of 1967. In an
effort to coordinate rescue, temporary shelter, and relo-
cation operations, the major church groups of the city
formed a combined assi stance unit , later to be called
the United Churches of Montero. Involvement in the re-
settlement of flood victims became the backdoor entry
for this group into the colonization arena.

223

In order to relocate the displaced victims, two
new tracts of land were opened in 1968 for colonization.
These became known as the Colonia Piray and the Colonia
Hardeman (the latter named after the American road com-
pany whose camp was used as a temporary shelter site).
The Maryknoll nuns along with Methodist and Mennonite
volunteers worked with the colonists to start anew.
Along with the, original flood victims, ex-harvesters
were also recruited by the INC and church organization
to fill the settlements. From that point on, the Iglesias
Unidas played an active role in colonial development.
The Bolivian government was financial ly unable to provide
comparable services, and the two groups began working
in complementary capacities. When the new San Julicin
colony was initiated, the Iglesias Unidas was charged
with the task of planning and executing an orientation
program for incoming colonists and providing them with
volunteer technical assistance; The INC supplies the
infrastructure for the fledgling settlement.

Recruitment for San Julicin was carried out at
the Institute office and at tables set up in the areas
of Montero where highlanders tend to concentrate.
Rather than follow precedents of the past and recruit
directly from the interior, the two agencies sought
highland migrants who, because of their preadaptation
in the lowland harvests, were considered to be better

224

risks for the project. Thus a large majority of the San
Julian settlers are ex-harvesters who had been visiting
Montero at the time of recruitment. Although land in ■
the colonies is now available only on occasion, migrants
continue to pass by the INC office to inquire about
colonizing opportunities. If none seem forthcoming,
prospective agriculturalists must turn to a land coopera-
tive or purchase their land from a private individual--
both much more costly propositions than obtaining a plot
from the government.

During the harvest season and to a lesser extent
during planting and weeding times (what amounts to almost
three-fourths of the calendar year), Montero becomes the
meeting ground for the highland agricultural populace
of the northern Santa Cruz region. Farmers in the area
market much of their produce in Montero, where prices
paid for agricultural products are competitive with
those in Santa Cruz. They also make use of the oppor-
tunity to replenish their larders, buy seed and equipment,
and visit the chicherfas. Most marketing activities are
carried out on weekends, especially on Sunday when the
city is overflowing with harvesters, merchants, farmers,
hucksters, and hundreds of visitors eager to share in
the festivities. Passenger trucks, buses, and private
vehicles are filled to capacity transporting people to
and from Montero on Sunday. At times the transient

225

population reaches such proportions that crowds turn
into angry mobs fighting for space on a truck or bus in
order to return home by late evening. The renown of
Montero is such that on Sunday persons from as far away
as the city of Santa Cruz will eagerly make the 60-kilometer
excursion into the northern province to participate in the
marketing and drinking activities or to simply sit in the
plaza and watch.

The carnival atmosphere of Montero on Sunday
pervades the entire city and is highly contagious to
anyone who may venture into town. Migrants disembark
from vehicles with eyes wide and mouths agape. Soon
they are caught up in the swirl of buying and selling,
drinking, dancing, and animated conversation. Nowhere
is off-limits to the migrant throng, much to the dis-
pleasure of the Camba residents. Highlanders sit and
talk in the plaza, they line the street curbs; hawkers
are everywhere shouting and pleading with passersby to
stop and survey their merchandise. This is the day when
newly arrived migrants meet and talk with older town
residents and settlers from the hinterlands. The neo-
phyteis given information about land, business opportuni-
ties, employment or perhaps news of a long -lost relative
known to have traveled east. Cooperatives are organized,
or already established groups seek to interest new mem-
bers. Agriculturalists look for farm help, and laborers

226

search for possible employers. Widely dispersed families
will often meet in Montero to renew old ties and pass
on gossip. Even soccer games between rival communities
of highlanders are often brought to Montero to dispute
the match. Business is conducted in the markets, on
sidewalks, or in chicherfas. By nightfall the city is
ablaze with 1 ight and throbs with the sound of amplifica-
dores pounding out strains of highland music.

The following morning a semblance of normalcy
reigns. Most of the visitors have returned to homes
and farms for another week of work. A few chicherfas
remain open, serving the die-hards trying to squeeze a
little more mileage out of their Sunday. Many of the
streets near the chicherfas are littered with the inert
bodies of the previous day's drinking casualties, high-
landers who will later contend with the wrath of wives
or employers, or both.

Montero' s Migrant Barrio

The Methodist hospital, located about four blocks
east of the plaza, is the present Camba-Kolla settlement
boundary in Montero. Dispersed highland families live
in other areas of the city as well, but as yet they have
not formed any major barrio concentrations. To date, the
primary highland residential areas are east of the hospital

227

and in Vil 1 a Cochabamba whi ch i s si tuated di rectly facing
the market on the far side of the paved road.

Although highlanders are living within the inner
boundary of the highway, the road once again has become
a social marker as is the case in Warnes. Those high-
landers west of the highway work in the market, own
small stores, or are employed as day laborers. Buildings
in this area are constructed of permanent materials and
generally conform to the urban style of the surrounding
Camba neighborhoods. Rental housing is common here,
especially in the form of "long houses," single rectangu-
lar dwellings housing numerous families in individual
rooms. Unlike those found in the city of Santa Cruz,
these rental complexes are well constructed of brick
and tile. Absentee landlords are also prevalent in
Montero, but are of a different genre than their Santa
Cruz counterparts. Many of the Montero rental housing
owners are campesinos who maintain dwellings in the
city to provide inexpensive shelter for themselves while
marketing. In the interim, the property both is pro-
tected from abuse and provides a small additional income
for the farm family. It is common for one or two members
of an extended or a nuclear campesino family to reside
in one room of such a complex while the remaining kin
continue to work their land.

228

A few chicherias may be encountered in the inner

I ■ ■

! - .

highland zone, but as one informant remarked, pressure
by the lowland citizens is such that yery little open
drunkeness exists here. These chicherfas are primarily
dance halls and gathering places rather than actual
drinking establishments. -

West of the highway lies Villa Cochabamba, un-
equalled anywhere in the lowlands, and perhaps even in
the highlands, for its multitude of chicherfas. Villa
Cochabamba, like Villa Tunari in Warnes, is the result
of both highland pressure for living space and lowland
desire to remove the highlanders from central Montero.
Once again, the Urban Reform Law was invoked to obtain
the property which subsequently has been subdivided into
urban dwelling sites. At present, the barrio is concen-
trated into an area four by three blocks square, with
the longer side running along the highway. There are
other houses scattered outside of this main settlement
area, but they remain few in number, and many are in
various stages of completion. What is most notable <
about the central district of the Villa is the prolifera-
tion of drinking establishments. In the entire 12-block
area there appear to be only two dwellings which are not
involved in the preparation or serving of chicha. One
of these two is a pauhuichi inhabited by a Camba family.
The Cambas are original residents of the property who

229

have chosen to rem-ain in their home. The pauhuichi is
totally surrounded by chicherfas and is definitely the
neighborhood anomaly.

Within the confines of Villa Cochabamba are 80
chicherfas (Munici pal idad de Montero 1975). This repre-
sents an average of over six drinking establishments
per square block. The architecture of the Montero
chicherfas seems to be a combination of both traditional
highland styles and lowland adaptations. Many of the
smaller chicha bars are built directly facing the street
with the drinking parlor visible to passing traffic.
Some of the larger chicherfas have elaborate "fortifica-
tions" consisting of high walls with broken glass along
the top and impregnable wooden or metal doors, a style
commonly found in the city of Santa Cruz. All are adorned
with small hanging signs or painted wall advertisements
extolling the virtues of the brew served wi thi n--"chi cha
buena," "chicha clizena," or "chicha punatena."* The
city of Montero collects a healthy tax from the chi-
cherfas, so, for the moment, their presence is tolerated.
It would seem, nevertheless, that many bar owners, espe-
cially the "professionals" who have had previous negative
encounters with the authorities, are diligent in

*Cliza and Punata are villages in the Cochabamba
Valley renowned for their excellent chicha.

230

protecting their property and go to great expense in
barricading themselves from unwanted intrusion. These
women are taciturn and distrustful, as well they might
be, since hostility and deceit directed from the dominant
society are a daily part of their lives.

As in Warnes, the chicherfa owners are a mixed
group of females consisting of those who have come
initially to Montero for the express purpose of opening
a drinking establishment, and others who entered the
business as an alternative to fieldwork or farming.
The structures which house chicherfas are both owned
and rented, the latter option preferred by the profes-
sional chicheras who will move on if their customers
begin to slack off. Some chicheras who entered the busi-
ness fol 1 owing other occupational experiences engage in
part-time activities such as marketing. Since weekdays
tendtobea slowperiod,chicha vendors will often
make use of this time to operate a market stall or
prepare food to sell to shoppers.

Buildings are permanent in the main settlement
area of Villa Cochabamba as would be expected with the
number of drinking establishments present in the district.
All are constructed of brick and have tile roofs. Many
of the chicherfas have minimal finishing, some lack
windows or floors, and the brick wal 1 s have not been
stuccoed as is the custom for a completed building.

231

It would seem that the major concern in many cases is
to erect a structure as quickly as possible to accommo-
date one's drinking clients. Some chicherfas will be
completed as time and money permit, but others may remain
much as they are since they adequately serve their pur-
pose . '

The Villa is expanding to the east and south,
so as one moves farther in these directions, dwellings
become more scattered and a greater number of temporary
structures are in evidence. The major nonpermanent:
building material in Montero consists of the rough,
first-cut boards which are discarded by lumber mills in
the area. Lap-sided shacks are erected from the refuse
lumber, and most will have corrugated iron roofs making
them extremely uncomfortable during the warmer months
of the year.

The southernmost boundary of the highland settle-
ment is presently marked by two parallel dirt roads
leading to the new railroad station east of the city.
At the moment, the railroad extends some 80 to 100
kilometers north of the city of Santa Cruz and will
ultimately reach the Department of Beni to export beef
from the region. Along the two dirt tracks numerous
houses have sprung up, most of permanent construction
but others of wood.. Because of the transit through the
area, several of these structures are chicherfas, and

232

others have a store in a front room. It is interesting
that this zone has become the settlement site for many
families from the agricul turaT col onies to the north,
and especially for those from the Buen Retiro Colony.
It is also significant that many of these inhabitants
are females and children, the families of men who con-
tinue to live and work on their land. In other words,
Montero has become an additional place of residence for
many families rather than one which is subsequent to
colonization.

The Phenomenon of Multiple Resource Migration

Throughout the rural lowland area, highlanders
are engaging in what appears to be a unique form of migra-
tion, but one which when viewed in terms of cultural
persistence is yery much in keeping with traditional
highland lifestyles. As was outlined in the first
chapter, migration has been categorized into numerous
types. These include rural-urban, urban-urban, rural-
rural, urban-rural and all of their variations. There
are also seasonal migrations, step migrations, migra-
tions of a transitory nature and migrations which are
permanent. All of the preceding normally have one ele-
ment in common: the migratory unit, be it the individual,
family, or community, is exploiting its resources

233

sequentially. That is, one habitat is abandoned in order
to exploit the next. Granted, in many instances kinsmen
and landholdings may be left behind, and periodic visits
may be made, but in general the act of migration, accord-
ing to the British sociologist J. A. Jackson, "implies
an element of di sassociation from the usual and familiar
world, a transition and an involvement with a new environ-
ment, a new context of physical space" (Jackson 1969:9).
In the case of rural Santa Cruz, a new dimension has
been introduced to migration processes. Many highland
migrants are entering into a system of multiple resource
migrations in which several economic niches are exploited
simultaneously. As succeeding migrations are made, each
preceding place of residence is not abandoned but con-
tinues to be maintained as a source of income with the
result that di sassoci ation f ai 1 s to occur. The following
account is presented as an example of this pattern.

Jorge Mamani, his wife, Susana, and their two
children were contracted in their highland village to
work in the cotton harvest. Jorge left his small house
and one-half hectare of land in the care of his eldest
brother who had the land contiguous to that of Jorge.
During the harvest season the Mamanis were careful with

their wages, buying \jery litjtle food and no luxuries.

I ■ ■ .

Thus they were able to save enough money to purchase a
small farm near the Yapacan f agricul tural colony. After

234

two years, Jorge joined a land cooperative and through
this organization was able to acquire an additional 50
hectares of land in the col ony i tsel f . He worked both
parcels simultaneously, and Susana moved the family back
and forth to help with the planting and harvesting.
After five years in the lowlands, Susana and the children,
now numbering four, migrated to Montero where Susana set
up a vegetable stand in the central market. She rented
a room for a few months from another highlander while
Jorge built them a house in Villa Cochabamba. When the
two-room structure was completed, one of the rooms was
rented to a migrant and his family who had recently
arrived in the lowlands.

Jorge continues to spend the majority of his
time on their land, and Susana periodically visits the
farm to bring in produce to sell in the city, Jorge
comes into Montero on weekends to see his family and
drink chicha in one of the many bars located in their
neighborhood. Recently the Mamanis purchased an addi-
tional urban lot in the Villa and constructed from scrap
lumber a small shack which is also rented to highlanders.
Susana has secured a vegetable kiosk in the market area
of the main settlement in the colony and pays a female
cousin a percentage of the profits to run it for her.
When Susana visits the colony she usually sleeps in the
kiosk with her cousin rather than out on one of the

2 35

parcels because, as she complains, "it's too buggy out
there."

Although the preceding case represents one of
the more successful migrant families which has been
accumulating capital over a period of several years,
many other migrants are working toward similar goals
and may be found at varying stages of property acquisi-
tion. Perhaps the most di f f icul t transi tion for the
migrant is from the initial sta.ge of single resource to
that of multiple resource exploitation. One migrant
family interviewed labored six years in an agricultural
colony before accumulating enough capital to purchase
an additional house in a nearby town where the wife set
up a store. Others may never make that initial transi-
tion, but when one talks with newly arrived highlanders,
it is evident that most have aspirations of moving parts
of the family to other 1 ocal i ties in order to diversify
and expand their earning capacity.

Whereas the Camba may participate in the custom
of having both a rural and an urban residence, it is
rare that the city home is conceived of primarily as a
source of income. Rather, having the additional home .
represents both a convenience in that it provides an
inexpensive shelter for children who may be studying in
town, and a status symbol for an upwardly mobile farm
family. The highlander, on the other hand, seems to be

236

concerned with the economic potential rather than the
intrinsic value of the properties he obtains. As ex-
plained in preceding chapters, entrepreneurshi p is a
characteristic of most highland migrants regardless of
age, sex, or social status. However, in analyzing the
particul ar case of rural Santa Cruz, multiple resource
exploitation can be attributed not only to the tendency
toward commercialization and capital accumulation, but
also it would seem to be rooted in Andean culture history
itself.

Although conquered and subjected first by the
Inca and then by the Spaniard, the highland Indian
retained intact what Murra has described as the vertical
exploitation of numerous ecological niches (Murra 1972).
Thus a single village would have access to products from
the humid lowlands, grazing land on the high puna, farm-
lands in the fertile mountain valleys, and perhaps an
oasis along the Pacific coast. Murra emphasizes that
each zone was exploited by a permanent colony, or archi-
pelago, sent out from the original nuclear settlement,
and that a certain segment of the population remained
in these archipelagos continually. Vertical ecological
exploitation, then, was not a matter, of seasonal migra-
tion or nomadic moves, but a system of simultaneous
control of ecological levels (Murra 1972). Similar to
Vayda and Suttles' interpretation of potlatching on the

237

northwest coast of North America as a "functional response
to the problem of minimizing the effects of seasonal and
long-term fluctuations in the productivity of the local
group" (Harris 1968:313), Andean vertical ity gave each com-
munity access to a variety of staple foods and other
commodities.

The basic structure of multiple resource exploita-
tion as practiced in the Andean situation has been trans-
ported by highland migrants into the Bolivian lowlands;
but elements within the structure have undergone a trans-
formation. In a totally different cultural and environ-
mental context, highland vertical i ty has been converted
to lowland horizontal ity . For the migrants are not faced
with a need to exploit several ecological niches in dif-
ferent natural environments but rather are utilizing
various economic niches within the same natural environ-
ment. Their resource exploitation is thus extended over
a horizontal plane based on economic differentiation and
not a vertical one of zonal ecological variation. The
underlying structure, or that of permanent archipelagos,
as Murra terms them, has not been altered. The highland
migrant is not engaging in a type of seasonal migration
or a typical rural-urban progression, but has established
permanent residences in different locations in order to
exploit simultaneously several economic niches. Thus a
significant aspect of Andean culture has demonstrated not

238

only its persistence through time and space but also the
ability to adapt successfully to a contextual change.

The system of mul ti pi e migration may follow any
one of several strategies, combining urban and rural
residence with variations in economic maintenance schemes
Hence numerous 1 ocal i ties throughout the lowlands are
participating as shared residences of highland migrants.
It is Montero, nevertheless, which most often appears
as an additional site of settlement in the phenomenon
of multiple resource migration. Because of the combina-
tion of available and inexpensive urban land and commer-
cial potential, Montero is high on the list of collateral
settlement priorities.

Migrants in Montero

Twenty-six individuals were interviewed in Mon-
tero, selected from four areas of the city. The large
market at the edge of the highway provided nine infor-
mants, the smaller Rosendo Paz market supplied five.
Two female vendors selling in the streets near the plaza
and 10 persons from the Villa Cochabamba sector completed
the sample. Included in the migrant sample population
are 20 females and six males.

Informants in Villa Cochabamba were chosen to
include residents in the central neighborhood as well as

239

Table 26
Informants - Sex

Sex

Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Male

Female

Total

6
20
26

23.0

77.0

100.0

those in peripheral areas to the east and south of the
barrio. Although it would have been much more repre-
sentative to have obtained a larger proportion of
chicherfa operators, it was extremely difficult to gain
entry to these establishments. All outsiders are suspect
and, if not actually denied admittance, are simply ig-
nored. Consequently, only two chicheras were inter-
viewed, and much of the information concerning chicherfas
in Montero was supplied by these individuals or by other
neighborhood residents. In the market areas, informants
were selected by availability of the vendors and diver-
sity of selling activities. The main market provided
various types of informants including thoseselling
produce, those engaged in merchandising, food and drink
hawkers, and two coca sellers. Of the five individuals
questioned in the Paz market, two were selling vegetables.

240

two dealt in dry goods, and the fifth operated a small
brick kiosk on the east end of the market place. Two
street vendors working in the plaza area were also in-
cluded in the sample. Both were females sitting on the
curb hawking produce. They were doing an excellent
business and were not burdened with the nuisance of having
to share their profits with the city treasury as did their
market place counterparts. One did comment, however, that
street vending is illegal and that she must move around
a great deal to stay ahead of the authorities.

Because of its dual importance as a service
center and as a gathering place for rural migrants,
Montero should be attracting both urban and rural high-
landers. Although the nonrandom sample may not be repre-
sentative of the larger Montero population, it does point
to the mixed nature of Montero migrants. Origins of the
sample population are evenly spread over the categories
of urban highland, rural highland, and rural-urban high-
land. The rural migrants slightly outnumber urban indi-
viduals as would be expected for an agriculturally
based community such as Montero. The mean age of the
sample population is 33.5 and lies mid-range between the
Santa Cruz sample mean of 31 and the VJarnes sample mean
age which is 37. The age variance for the Montero in-
formants is 9 . 1 .

241

Table 27
Migrant Origins

Origin

Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Rural

Rural -Urban

Urban

Total

10

26

38.0

31.0

31 .0

100.0

Half of the sample population entered Montero via
the harvest, and three of those eight persons with strictly
urban backgrounds came to the lowlands initially to work
as fieldhands. Four informants went directly into an
agricultural colony where they continue to hold land,
but they have also purchased or are in the process of
purchasing urban dwellings in Montero. Another three
had lowland farms but subsequently disposed of them to
migrate to the city. Five individuals began marketing
immediately, and one of the two chicherfa owners came to
Montero expressly to set up a drinking establishment.
The other is one of the three persons who began as
agriculturalists,' but she and her spouse have since
liquidated their farm holdings to come to Montero to
openachicherfa.

242

Table 28
Occupation Upon Arrival in Lowlands

50

0

27

0

19

0

4.

0

Occupation Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Harvesting 13

Farming 7

Marketing 5

Chicherfa Operation 1

Total 26 100.0

Montero, 1 i ke Warnes, has the disadvantage of
having a scarcity of agricultural land for the small
farmer. Once again, agribusiness has introduced the
trend of consolidating small landholdings to permit the
more efficient exploitation of agricultural properties.
The small farmer in Montero now works only the more
marginal areas where, for one reason or another, plow
agriculture is not economical ly feasi bl e. Single males,
therefore, or heads of families interested in establishing
a small farm, must go elsewhere.

What Montero can provide is available employment
for those rural individuals desiring to settle in an urban
situation. At the moment, the laying of sewers and
streets is occupying much of the unskilled labor coming
out of the harvests. Two of the six males interviewed

243

are presently engaged in the loceta project, and five
of the 14 spouses of female informants are similarly
employed. Thus one-third of the total male sample popu-
lation is working in the laying of sewers and streets
in Montero. The remaining male informants and husbands
of females interviewed fall into various occupational
categories with farming (in absentia) and marketing
. most often cited .

Table 29
Male Informants - Present Occupation

Occupation Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency {%)

Marketing 3 50.0

Albanil 2 33.0

Brick Maker j_ 17.0

Total 6 100.0

It is also noteworthy that, as was the case in
Santa Cruz, the word albanil (mason) is a generic term
for anyone employed in the construction industry. Of
the seven males who claimed albanil as a profession,
only one was actually a mason. The others were working
in the street project in any capacity from ditchdigger
to hodcarrier.

244

Table 30
Occupation of Male Spouse

Occupation

Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Albafiil

Farmer

Chicherfa Operation

Barber

Brick Maker

Marketing

Unemployed

Total

14

36.0
29.0
7.0
7.0
7.0
7.0
7.0
100.0

Among the 20 females interviewed, 17 are employed
in part-time or full-time marketing. Two are chicherfa
operators and one is unemployed. The informant who
presently is not working stated that she had been a mar-
ket vendor, but that with four small children her market-
ing activities have been temporarily curtailed. Her
husband is also a vendor and at the moment his income
is adequate for their needs, she said. This informant,
however, was adamant that she would return to her pro-
fession as soon as the children were older and could care
for one another. Four of the spouses of married male
informants are engaged in marketing, and the fifth is

245

unemployed. Thus 21 of the total female sample popula-
tion of 25 are vendors in the markets of Montero.

Table 31
Female Informants - Present Occupation

Occupation Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency {%)

Marketing 17 85.0

Chicherfa Operation 2 10.0

Unemployed _]_ 5.0

Total 20 100.0

Both chicherfa operators have a male in residence,
one an ex-farmer who helps his wife in their drinking
establishment and the other an albanil on the street
project. This latter male is evidently a current para-
mour of the professional chichera since she did not once
refer to him as her husband (esposo, marido), but em-
ployed more circumspect terms such as "el hombre que vive
aquf" (the man who lives here) or "^1 que me ayuda"
(he who helps me). The professional chicha vendor con-
firmed that many of her chichera neighbors came to Montero
not to harvest butto take advantageof the business
boom resulting from a large influx of seasonal migrants.

246

She also stated that other barrio women had opened
chicherfas only after spending time on a farm or in the
fields. It would seem, then, that Montero and Warnes
are attracting both the itinerant chichera group as well
as rural females who fall into chicha production and sale
as an alternative occupation to field labor. According
to other informants and the two chicheras, matri focal ity
along with sequential monogamous unions seem to be a
pattern prevalent among many of the professional chicherfa
owners in Montero as was also the case in Warnes.

Three of the female informants and their families
are involved in some phase of multiple resource exploita-
tion. They own a house and property in Montero but con-
tinue to work and reside periodical ly on the family's
rural agricultural land. A fourth woman interviewed
does not yet have a home in Montero but is in the pro-
cess of purchasing a lot in addition to the farm holdings
she and her family have in an agricultural colony. Two
of the three resident females in this group rent out
part of their dwellings to other migrants, and one owns
another lot with a wood shack which is presently rented
to a migrant family. All four informants knew of, or
were acquainted with other inhabitants of Villa Cochabamba
who are also involved in multiple residence ownership.
One woman stood in her doorway and pointed to three houses
nearby those owners travel back and forth among their
various property holdings in town and country.

247

As one might surmise from the name of the high-
land barrio in Montero, Cochabamba is well represented
in the city. Almost half of the migrants sampled listed
Cochabamba (city or department) as their place of origin.
Eight persons are from other highland regions but had
lived in the city of Cochabamba before coming to Santa
Cruz, underscoring this locality's importance as the
jumping-off place for many highlanders who make their
way to the lowlands. The remaining departments are fairly
evenly represented, with Chuquisaca (Sucre) contributing
a few more migrants than the others, a situation similar
to that of Warnes and Santa Cruz.

Table 32

Placeof Origin
(Department or District)

Origin Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Cochabamba 12 46.2

Chuquisaca (Sucre) 4 15.4

La Paz 2 7.7

Tarija 2 7.7

Oruro 3 11.5

Potost ^ 11.5

Total 26 100.0

248

For a large segment of the individuals interviewed
in Montero, migration to Santa Cruz was not their first
experience with moving. Sixteen informants stated that
they had lived in other areas of the Bolivian highlands
since leaving their place of birth. While these moves
on the analytical level may appear to be "steps" in
either a geographic or economic sense, informants were
not consciously aware of such a process. Although the
migrant progression may be one which demonstrates a
rural-urban trend or one which entails continual eco-
nomic betterment, informants commented that they moved
because their financial situation began to deteriorate.
In other words, they viewed their movement as the result
of negative factors rather than positive ones of eco-
nomic improvement. Even so, many of those migrants
interviewed who had experienced multiple changes of
residence stated that they will freely move again should
the need arise. These individuals did not consider
frequent migrations either pathological or undesirable.

Once again, illiteracy was high among the migrant
sample with 14 of the 26 informants in Montero reporting
a lack of reading and writing skills. As was true for
Santa Cruz and Warnes, females had a much higher rate
of illiteracy than males, the result of differential
access to education.

249

Table 33
nil teracy

Male

5

Female

2_

Total

12

Literate Illiterate

t- Absolute Relative Absolute Relative
^^ Frequency Frequency (%) Frequency Frequency (%)

19.0 1 4.0

27.0 T3 50.0

46.0 14 . 54.0

As was reported in the previous chapters, reasons
for migrating to Santa Cruz were overwhelmingly economic.
A. large percentage of those individuals interviewed in
Montero entered the lowlands via harvesting as would be
expected for this area. Seven informants, however, com-
mented that they also had come to the lowlands to find
work, but that they preferred not to enter into field
labor. This group is composed of market vendors and the
professional chichera. Four persons cited the availa-
bility of land as their principal incentive for moving
east; three of these individuals continue to hold rural
as well as urban properties, while the fourth has severed
economic ties with the hinterlands.

Family networks among highlanders in the lowlands
seem to be well established, and only seven migrants in

250

Table 34
Motives for Migration

Motive Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

To Find Work 7 27.0

To Harvest ^^ 46.0

To Obtain Land ^ 15.0

To Accompany , 19 n

Relatives — -^^^

Total 26 100.0

the sample reported no known kin in Santa Cruz. The
presence of more than one member of any family in the
lowlands may be attributed primarily to chain migration
practices. It was ^ery common for informants to state
that, during visits to the interior, they would interest
an uncle or cousin in accompanying them on the return
trip. These relatives were often successful in obtaining
employment in Santa Cruz and would later send for the
remainder of the family.

Dress patterns among women interviewed followed
the more rural orientation of Montero. In fact, one
rarely sees a mature highland woman on the streets of
Montero wearing mestizo dress. All of the men wore
mestizo-style cotton clothing as is customary among

251

highland males in Santa Cruz. The pollera was preferred
by the large majority of female informants, and in a
city such as Montero, where highlanders are so numerous,
there is little stigma in wearing traditional highland
dress.

Table 35
Dress Style

Sex

Male

0

Female

18

Total

18

Traditional Mestizo

Absolute Relative Absolute Relative
Frequency Frequency {%) Frequency Frequency (%)

0.0 . 6 23.0

70.0 2 7.0

70.0 8 30.0

Rental and home ownership among the sample popula-
tion in Montero areabout equal, a situation similar to
that encountered among the Santa Cruz informants. Both
cities are recipients of a large influx of recent arrivals
in the lowlands and current housing patterns would seem
to be a reflection of this. Both localities also offer
types of employment opportunities which permit continued .
urban residence for nonskilled laborers. Conversely,
Warnes has little to offer in urban employment and can
absorb only a limited number of permanent residents from

252

Table 36
Housing

Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Own

12

Rent

11

Live with Relative

1

Live in Kiosk

1

Not a Montero Resident

_L

Total

26

46.0

42.0

4.0

4.0

4.0

100.0

the migrant ranks. Consequently, rental housing is not
prevalent in Warnes . The relationship between housing
patterns and migrant influx becomes even more apparent
in rural communities which are not tied into the harvest-
ing cycle or the wage labor market. Migrants in these
towns tend to be few in number, unsegregated in housing
patterns, and must, in a sense, move in on a space-
avail abl e bas i s . Highlanders can acquire farmland or
urban property only as Cambas leave to make room for
them^ The following chapter will explore the problems
of highland migrants in a small rural town and how
their survival is dependent upon participating in an
already-established socioeconomic system and not upon
the creation of one parallel to it.

CHAPTER SIX

SAN CARLOS:
THE HIGHLAND MIGRANT IN A LOWLAND VILLAGE

Old Camba communities are probably the last
domain in the lowlands to receive migrants from the
interior of Bolivia. For many rural highland migrants,
village life is a comfortable alternative to the urban
pressures of larger centers such as Montero and yet
affords many of the amenities which are absent in the
colonies or on dispersed farmsteads. Any number of
small northern Crucehan communities would provide ex-
cellent insights into the process and impact of highland
migration in a village situation, but because of the
researcher's long-time acquaintance with one particular
locality, it has been chosen to serve as an example
of current settlement trends.

The township of San Carlos is situated 80
kilometers northwest of the city of Santa Cruz. At one
time it had been a point of disembarcation for cattle
drivers and rubber tappers heading north into the Beni
and Pando regions. Now it must be content to be counted
among the many small roadside communities scattered along
the western branch of the paved highway from Montero.

253

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255

San Carlos was founded in 1797 as part of a
missionary effort spreading outward from Santa Cruz.
The inhabitants of the village are the descendants of
Yuracare Indians, blacks from Brazil, Spanish settlers,
and other indigenous and European groups who passed through
the area from time to time. The community's population
does not exceed 2,000 persons (Solari 1975) and almost
all are campesino farmers. In its physical appearance,
San Carlos is not much different from scores of similar
Camba settlements. It has a main plaza, church, alcaldta,
and streets set out on a grid pattern. The houses in
the more prestigious plaza area uniformly are of masonry
or whitewashed wattle-and-daub construction with Spanish
tile roofs. As one moves farther from the center of
town the houses become smaller and more rudely built.
Unplastered pauhuichis with thatched roofs are the rule
in the outskirts of San Carlos.

On the surface, Warnes and San Carlos are very
similar to one another, but there is a significant dif-
ference between the two settlements. Warnes has become
a town of commercial farmers, tied directly to the agri-
business enterprises inthe surrounding regionand
dependent upon contract harvesting and wage labor. San
Carlos, however, remains a community of small, independent
farmers and ranchers, and only a handful of villagers
have given up swidden horticul ture in favor of mechanized

2 56

plow agriculture. Cotton has not yet made an appearance,
and only one agricul tural i st is exploiting sugarcane
commercially. Local labor and family effort provide the
necessary workers for the rice crop so there is no need
for contract harvesters. The economic carrying capacity
of the village is relatively stable, and population in-
crease must be dealt with primarily through out-migration.
In order for a highlander to move into San Carlos or
its environs, a Camba must first vacate a house or farm.

Before 1969, not one hi ghl and fami ly lived within
the three-kilometer radius of San Carlos. By 1975 there
were seven highland households present. Most of these
migrants have taken up residence along the highway on the
periphery of town, but one family has succeeded in pur-
chasing a house on the corner of the plaza where a small
store is now in operation. For highlanders to survive
in a village which has no market place, no need of migrant
farm hands, no chicherfas, and no public projects to
absorb unskilled laborers, they must be competitive with
Cambas in Camba areas of endeavor. Hence occupational
options largely are limited to farming, storekeeping ,
or crafts, and economic expansion in San Carlos proceeds
at such a negligible rate that most newcomers are replace-
ments for urban-bound Cambas and not actual additions
to the village. This implies at least partial integration
into the community's social, and economic structure, which

257

is no mean feat given the closed nature of San Carlos
and the prejudice against highlanders which pervades the
town.

Those highland residents who have secured small
farms near San Carlos remain somewhat marginal in village
society because the land provides for many of their needs,
Still, the vagaries ofagri culture and limited cash re-
serves will often require that food, medicine, or other
supplies be acquired through a credit agreement with a
storekeeper. The two migrants who have become store
owners must participate more fully in the established
socioeconomic system of the community in order to main-
tain their commercial viability. Since there are only
seven highland families living permanently in San Carlos,
highland storekeepers cannot depend merely on other
highlanders for their clientele as is possible in such
places as Santa Cruz, Montero, and even Warnes, where
migrants are numerous. Whether store owner, farmer, or
craftsman, then, the highland migrant in San Carlosis
required to enter into village socioeconomic relation-
ships.

Socioeconomic Structure of the Lowland Village

The socioeconomic system in the Camba village
is at once, for the migrant, both difficult and easy to
penetrate. The dif f i cul ty arises in establishing initial

258

relationships which, for an outsider such as a highland
migrant, takes time and effort. The relative ease in
entering the system lies in the integrative nature of
the social and economic components. Thus, by moving
into the social sphere through kinship or fictive kin-
ship, or into the economic realm through commercial
activity, both domains become readily accessible. It
is a complex model but one which is well adapted to the
particular demands of the village situation in the northern
Santa Cruz region.

San Carlos rests atop a hill of red clay which
town lore says was once a bank of the Surutd River.
At present, that same river flows some five kilometers
southwest of the village. To the north, west, and south
of town lie the agricultural lands, covered with young,
second-growth forest. The area east of San Carlos has
been set aside for cattle ranching. Here, the forest
breaks into pampa, extending for miles before the jungle
once again closes in. Most of the landholdings in this
zone are relatively large in comparison to those owned
by the horticul tural i sts . The pasture is unimproved
and normally will support no more than one head per three
hectares. While ranching forms an important part of
village economy, relatively few fami 1 ies are involved
in this activity. The bulk of the population in and
around San Carlos relies on horticulture for its

259

livelihood. The principal subsistence and cash crop is
dry rice. It is grown on land prepared by cutting and
burning off the vegetation, which serves both to clear
the ground and to enrich the soil with mineral nutrients
deposited in the ash. Only one rice crop per year is
planted (usually during the wet months of September
through December) and harvested five months later.

Other crops of secondary importance include
corn, yuca (manioc), cacao , pi antai ns , ci trus , pineapple,
and coffee. Such crops are valuable both in the addi-
tional income they represent, especially between harvests,
and in providing the family with some variation in diet.
Nevertheless, rice is the major economic mainstay in San
Carlos and the greater part of village life is ruled by
the demands imposed by its cultivation, for into the
yearlyplanting cycle is woven the thread of village
society, one inseparable from the other.

Although it is recognized that no person can
exist without establishing a network of reciprocal obli-
gations, the Sancarleno constantly guards against intru-
sion by others into what he feels is the sanctity of
his individual ity. Cooperation among groups of persons
is unknown. It is only the dyadic relationship which
can be trusted and this only because each partner is
personally in control of the degree of obligation.
Dyadic relationships or contracts, as Foster (1961)

260

would term them, are established in San Carlos primarily
through bonds of fictive kinship by means of the insti-
tution known as compadrazgo. The manifest purpose of
compadrazgo was to give a child godparents at baptism
and thereby guarantee him a Christian upbringing should
he be orphaned or neglected. Today, the religious sig-
nificance still remains in ritual , but the social impli-
cations carry much more meaning. IJhen a child is bap-
tized, a bond is established between the child's parents
and godparents. They become compadres for life. This
relationship may form the basis for daily interactions,
may only be activated upon occasion, or may never be
activated. Sidney Mintz and Eric Wolf ( 1 967 : 1 88) have
described the compadrazgo as

a two-way social system which sets up
reciprocal relations of variable com-
plexity and solemnity. By imposing
automatically, and with a varying
degree of sanctity, statuses and
obligations of a fixed nature on the ,
people who participate, it makes the
immediate social environment more
stable, the participants more inter-
dependent, and more secure.

In San Carlos, the choice of godparents for a child is

made only after much deliberation. The chance to gain

allies who are tied through recognized obligations of

mutual aid must not be wasted. It is through the bond

of fictive kinship that merchants and farmers, whether

highland migrants or lowland Cambas, provide for their

respective needs.

261

When a farmer requests that a merchant become the
godparent of his child, the storekeeper will seldom re-
fuse. First, it is a breach of tradition to turn down
such a request. Second, by accepting another godchild,
the merchant gains additional clients. The farmer's
interest in the arrangement lies in the realm of the
availability of a ready loan or commodities on credit.
Existence in San Carlos is oh a day-to-day basis, and
economic disaster is a constant threat. When times
are lean or an emergency occurs, assistance is sought
through the merchant. As Arensberg has stated (1968:157),
"the shopkeeper, as creditor, has the whip-hand. As an
urbanite, he has the superior status. Yet he is no less
under o b 1 i g a t i o n t o his debtor." This obligation is
even stronger if it has been reinforced by ties of ritual
kinship. If a compadre is in need, tradition demands that
he not be refused. Thus it is an economic safeguard for
the farmer to have at least one compadre who is a store-
keeper.

For the merchant, numerous ritual bonds of kin-
ship assure him a steady flow of customers. Much of the
buying is on credit, which always poses something of a
risk. If a creditor is also a compadre, however, the
likelihood is much greater that the debt will be paid
because the compadrazgo relationship is sacred and must
not be defiled by failure to comply with recognized

262

reciprocal obligations. There are at least ten stores
in the village, all carrying almost identical stock
inventories. Prices between stores vary only slightly,
and bargaining does not exist. Upon first examination,
then, one might question how these shops manage to com-
pete with one another, or why there is not one large out-
let to service the entire community. Part of the explana-
tion for the survival of these numerous small stores is
to be found in the system of credit.

Similar situations have been reported for other
parts of the world, and Barbara Ward's (1960) analysis
of the credit system in Sarawak is especially relevant
to the present case. In her study of the role of mer-
chants and the multiplicity of traders, she found sev-
eral factors influencing the continued success of the
small store. First, as Ward explains, numerous similar
stores are allowed to exist, often side by side, because
of the service they render in giving credit. Several
clients are tied to each merchant through credit obliga-
tions, and the fact that e\/ery store carries the same
goods is irrelevant. Each shop caters to a rather fixed
set of customers, all with similar needs, who have
established credit there. Second, since the shopkeeper
is normally operating on a limited amount of capital,
the extension of credit over too wide a range would
threaten his solvency. Third, the merchant must depend

263

on personal knowledge of his clients and their daily

whereabouts as security for his investment. The number

of debtors is therefore kept within the range of capital

limitations and personal trust. As Ward has hypothesized,

in a population which depends upon a wide
distribution of credit, no creditor can
be expected to have more than a limited
number of debtors, then necessarily that
population must include (or have access
to) a large number of creditors. (Ward
1960:144)

The case of San Carlos with its numerous small stores
would seem to give further credence to this hypothesis.

As stated earlier, credit buying enables the
migrant or Camba family to acquire food and other trade
articles when cash income is only periodic. While many
items secured in this manner are not absolutely necessary
for physical survival, they are important to the pea-
sant's sense of well-being. Kerosene for light, tobacco
and alcohol as well as patent medicines all contribute
some measure of creature comfort to a life fraught with
hardship. Once credit has been established, the debt
need never be paid off completely. A demonstration of
good faith by continually giving small amounts to the
merchant is all that is required. With numerous debtors
paying in this manner the merchant can maintain enough
capital to restock his store and still make a profit.
It should also be noted that part of this dyadic relation-
ship between merchant and farmer is dependent upon the

264

perpetuation of the debt. If the debt is entirely can-
celled, the merchant is under no obligation to extend
more credit to the client nor the client to return as a
customer. The security of both would then be threatened
Arensberg ( 1 968: 1 55 ) notes that

any credit system exists upon a peculiar
state of mind in which expectancies are
roughly balanced. Should all the debts
be called in and all outstanding obliga-
tions mature at a single blow, the system
would perforce come to an end.

Instances do occur, however, when credit extended is
limited. If the merchant feels that a particular client
has accumulated too large a deficit without at least a
token payment, he will call in his debt. This always
presents some risk, for the client may simply refuse to
pay the amount or promise payment at some future time.
However, since the nonpayment of a store debt readily
becomes common knowledge, it would be difficult for the
farmer to secure credit elsewhere in San Carlos. It
therefore behooves him to maintain himself in good
standing with his creditor.

For the majority of highland and lowland store-
keepers in San Carlos, sale of merchandise is but one
facet of enterprise. While daily sales will maintain
a steady flow of income, it is in the area of rice specu-
lation that most large profits are realized. Because
of the labor-intensive nature of swidden horticulture,

265

one man is capable of clearing, planting and harvesting
only about two hectares of rice per year. If the soil
is fertile, the land may produce up to 12 fanegas (1,956
kilos) per hectare. However, most of the farmland in the
environs of San Carlos has been cultivated year after
year and yields seldom exceed six or eight fanegas. The
amounts received from the sale of a season's harvest
are often much less than what is needed to support a
family. Coupled with the problem of poor harvests is
that of having to sell when the market is glutted and
prices are low. Most farmers cannot afford to hold
their crop until prices riseenough to give the ma wider
profit margin, nor do they have adequate storage facili-
ties.

In many cases, by the time a crop comes in, much
of it may be owed to the merchant for credit or for
loans received during the year prior to harvest. If the
farmer is in need of cash, he may borrow a small amount
from a merchant at no interest. The more common practice,
however, is to sell part of a crop before it is planted.
The storekeeper will pay only 120 pesos per fanega for
rice sold in this manner. If the farmer has an extra-
ordinary run of bad luck such as illness or injury, all
of it may have been sold to the merchants by the time
the crop is actually brought in. The lowest market
price for rice never drops below 240 pesos per fanega.

266

so the shopkeeper is guaranteed at least to double his
money. The peasant does not have the option of selling
his rice at the market price and then returning the 120
pesos he borrowed since the rice is considered property
of the merchant and must be delivered in kind. If the
merchant can afford to hold his grain until the end of
the season when rice is becoming scarce, he is likely
to triple or quadruple his investment. It might also
be mentioned that crops are often presold to pay exist-
ing or overdue debts. Thus the merchant is profiting
twice from a single transaction: the money given for a
fanega of unplanted rice is returned to the same shop-
keeper to maintain good credit standing.

In defense of this apparent usury, the fact
remains that the merchant is providing the peasant with
a service unavailable elsewhere. Credit cooperatives
have never had much success in San Carlos, perhaps
because they offer no sense of "personal i smo. " The
campesino does not like to deal with large institutions
where the formation of dyadic relationships becomes im-
possible. The shopkeeper, on the other hand, is a single
individual, most likely a compadre, and is in the position
to supply cash immediately when the farmer is in need.
The merchant also is taking a risk, albeit small, by
purchasing a crop yet to be harvested or even planted.
A drought or blight could leave the storekeeper overextended

267

and without any cash reserves to see him through to the
next harvest season when there is hope of recouping his

1 OSS .

Few if any Sancarlefios operate outsideof this
compl ex . system of socioeconomic interrelationships based
on patronage, ritual kinship ties, credit negotiations,
and crop speculation. The fragile village economy, which
is suject to the unpredictabilities of near-subsistence
agriculture, makes participation in this system necessary
for highland migrant residents as well. They are also
campesinos, struggling to make ends meet at the con-
clusion of each harvest season. The highl and migrants
in San Carlos are no more immune to the imminent threat
of economic disaster than their Camba counterparts. To
a greater or lesser degree, rural highlanders in a village
situation must rely on the establ i shment of functional
relationships with the dominant Camba sector to assure
the continuation of their social and economic well-being.

The sample migrant population for San Carlos
numbers seven informants, who also represent each high-
land household in the village. Because they are so few,
it would be more productive to treat each migrant unit
separately than as a contributing statistic to overall
patterns of migration. Thus the degree of village socio-
economic participation can be analyzed in every case, and
at the same time insights will be gained into the impact
of highlanders on village society.

268

The Migrants in San Carlos

The Batallanos Family

Sixto Batallanos, at age 33, left his small
village near Potosf in 1965 to come to the lowlands. He
had spent his life trying to eke out a living on a few
hectares of rocky soil which barely provided enough for
himself, his wife, and their two children. Two years
before Sixto decided to migrate, his elder brother left
for Santa Cruz and was successful in obtaining a parcel
of land in the Yapacanf colony. The brother returned
to the highlands for a short visit, and . hi s tal es of
bountiful land convinced Sixto to sell his farm and move
east. He left his 25-year-old wife, Aurora, and their
children with her sister while he accompanied his brother
into the lowlands. But Sixto was not as fortunate as he
had hoped, and there was no free land being given out
by the government. He began working in the colony as a
day laborer and after six months had saved enough money
to join a land cooperative which was trying to acquire
some property near the Surutd River. The cooperative
accomplished its objective. By the end of his first year
in the lowlands, Sixto had 50 hectares of farmland and
could send for his family.

Aurora and Sixto built a small house on their
property and began to plant rice. They were fortunate in

269

that much of the 50-hectare tract they owned was virgin
forest, and their crop yields were high. Both Batallanos
worked diligently on the farm along with their children
who now numbered four. Very little was spent on other
than absolute necessities, and savings enabled Sixto
to purchase another 25 hectares of land from a Camba in
San Carlos. The Batallanos worked both pieces of property
simultaneously, hiring helpers and living apart so that
each spouse could oversee one parcel. It took the family
eight years to accumulate enough capital finally to buy
a residence in San Carlos, but when the time arrived they
were able to pay US- $1,500 in cash for a house on the
southeast corner of the plaza. The Camba owner, Anfbal
Gonzalez, decided to move permanently to the city of
Santa Cruz, and the Batallanos were the first to appear
with the money in hand. Later, Anfbal boasted that he
had really "taken" the Kollas because the house was not
worth much. Sixto commented that he knew he had paid
too much, but the house was centrally located and would
be an excellent site for his wife's store. He also knew
that as a highlander, he would not have much bargaining
power with Anfbal. If he wanted the residence, he would
have to pay what was asked.

Sixto and his family were the first high landers
to move into the central district of San Carlos but were
the second family from the interior to locate in the

27 0

village itself. The town's reaction v/as minimal. Kollas
are not liked, but Camba independence and a lack of vil-
lage solidarity combined to keep antagonisms from surfacing
Aurora opened a small store in the front room of their new
house, and slowly her business began to build. A core of
creditors was established, and soon she-and Sixto were
asked to become godparents of a Camba farmer's child.
The Batallanos have not been accepted fully into village
society and probably never will be, but their presence
in San Carlos as an economically viable unit is acknowl-
edged by all. Their participation in the community's
socioeconomic system has assured the Batallanos a stable
position within their sphere of activity.

Although the Batallanos now have a town residence,
Sixto continues to work their two parcels of land. He
is absent from San Carlos during the week, returning to
his wife and family on weekends to visit, rest, and
drink. Aurora is pleased to be out of the monte (high
forest) and to be living in a situation where their
children can finally attend school. Her husband can read
and write a little, but she herself is illiterate. The
Batallanos' offspring still are taunted by their Camba
playmates and called "Kollas," but Aurora and Sixto are
confident that this will pass in time and that the
children will be accepted by their peers. Although
Quechua is often spoken in the home, especially by the

271

parents, the children prefer to use Spanish. If a Camba
is present, Spanish is always used by the Batallanos
family. Sixto jokingly relates that his children are
growing up Cambas, which he says is fine since they will
probably never return to the interior. Both the Batallanos
expect their offspring to eventually marry lowlanders.

Now Sixto and Aurora are talking of further ex-
panding their resources by purchasing a lot in Montero
to be used as rental property. If the children go to
secondary school, they will require a place to live,
Sixto explains, and a house in Montero would be an ideal
choice. It would provide income as well as shelter for
the Batallanos children. Aurora is also in favor of the
plan since it will enable her to travel to Montero on
buying trips for the store and to spend more time
selecting her merchandise. She notes, however, that she
has no intention of moving permanently to Montero. There
is too much competition, and too many chicherfas where
Sixto would be spending their money.

The Ferrofino Family

Claudina and Jorge Ferrofino were the first
highlanders to move into San Carlos. They have lived
in the village for over five years and, of all the high-
land families in San Carlos, are the most integrated into
village society. All three of the Ferrofino children were

272

born in La Lydia, a small farming community near San
Carlos. Their godparents are San Carlos Cambas. In
turn, Claudina and Jorge have been requested to serve as
godparents for sons and daughters of Sancarleno lowlanders,
and have established fictive kinship ties with 12 village
families.

At age 24, Jorge came to Santa Cruz from Cocha-
bamba in 1964 to work the cane harvest. He met Claudina,
then 17 and also a Cochabambi na , while she was marketing
in Montero. When Jorge had enough money put by to pur-
chase some farmland, he asked Claudina to marry him and
they moved to La Lydia. For US $300.00 Jorge was able
to acquire 50 hectares of land which included several
mature chocolate trees. At that time, he commented,
property was inexpensive and not in much demand. Another
50-hectare parcel purchased several years later cost double
the amount of the first. In all, the Ferrofinos own
three parcels of land, totalling 125 hectares. After
four years in La Lydia the Ferrofinos purchased a lot
on the outskirts of San Carlos at a site known as the
"Pico de Plancha." Here the highway from Montero veers
to the left and the road into the village continues
straight ahead, forming a triangle of land between the
two thoroughfares which resembles the pointed front of
a flat iron. The Ferrofino property is directly opposite
the Pico, and so has the advantage of being located both

273

at the town's entrance and near the main highway. Claudina
and Jorge built a substantial house of brick and opened
a well-stocked store. Most of the other highland migrants
in San Carlos buy from Claudina, and in two cases have
formed ritual relationships with her family. Even so,
the majority of the store's business is derived from
Camba clients who have established fictive kinship as
well as credit ties with the Ferrofinos.

Jorge owns two trucks, which he uses to bring "in
farm produce and to collect the, rice that has been sold
to the Ferrofinos prior to harvest. Much of the year
these vehicles remain idle while Jorge is out working the
land since he does not want his trucks worn out from haul-
ing cargo on contract. Other than their primary purpose
of bringing in produce and owed rice, the trucks are used
to carry merchandise for the store and to transport the
Ferrofino rice to market when prices peak. Jorge and
Claudina are deeply involvedin rice speculationas are
most Sancarleno merchants who. have been in business long
enough to establish the necessary networks. Their credi-
tors and compadres, often one and the same, rely on the
Ferrofinos for loans and a steady flow of supplies.
These debt obligations are most commonly met by pre-
sel-ling crops to the highland couple. Jorge's trucks
become a necessity at harvest time when debtors find it
difficult to transport the rice they owe into town and

274

to the Ferrofino store. Not only a lack of adequate
transportation facilities but also a reluctance to part
with the fruits of a year's labor will keep many Sancarleno
debtors from voluntarily surrendering their crops. Hence
farm visits become vital if the Ferrofinos are to collect
their due. Other storekeepers find themselves in the same
predicament each year, and those without vehicles must pay
the cost of renting a truck. One would think that with
all the problems inherent in rice collection, store owners
would be reluctant to enter into this annual struggle,
but the profits earned are large enough to ensure the
perpetuation of the rice-credit system. The campesino
will hold out as long as possi bl e, making the harvest
season an interesting drama of wits and tempers that all
deride, but one which only whets the appetite for a return
engagement.

The Ferrofinos have been in the lowlands for
about the same length of time as the Batallanos but have
spent less of their stay in the monte among other high-
landers. Consequently, CTaudina and Jorge are more
acculturated to the lowland lifestyle. Both wear mestizo
clothing, and Claudina has given up the traditional double
braid for a single braid down her back in the Camba style
of hairdress. In contrast, Aurora Batallanos continues
to use the pollera and double hair braid. The Ferrofinos
also have lost much of their hi ghland accent and are adept

275

at using lowland colloquialisms. Even so, Claudina is
proud of her highland origins and has insisted that her
chi Idren 1 earn to speak Quechua.

Although the Ferrofino family has been in San
Carlos for several years now, they are still referred to
as "Kollas." It is a label which they will always carry,
but one which does not necessarily have negative connota-
tions. In the case of San Carlos, it is the town's way
of identifying outsiders who happen to have highland roots,
In the same manner, an aged German who had married a
Sancarleria and who had lived in the village for over 30
years, to the day of his death was called simply "el
gringo" (the stranger).

The Acuna Family

West of the village and at the bottom of the
hill are located the San Carlos brick factories. Most
of the Santa Cruz region is composed of sandy, alluvial
soils, but interspersed here and there with the lighter
soils are deposits of heavy i<jl ay . The village of San
Carlos is situated near one of these infrequent deposits
and consequently is the only source of fired brick for
many of the neighboring towns. Three Camba families
traditionally have held the rights to clay-bearing
property in San Carlos, and these kin groups are also
the town's brickmakers. Each brickyard employs two or

276

three laborers who are paid by the piece if they are
moulding bricks or roof riles, or by the day if they are
mixing clay, hauling sawdust for grog, or firing the
kilns.

In 1972, Camelo Acufia, a 22-year-old Bolivian
migrant working in a Buenos Aires brick factory, left
Argentina and traveled to Santa Cruz. Carmelo, like
hundreds of other Bol i vians , had crossed the Argentine
border illegally, and after two years he began experienc-
ing problems because of his lack of proper documentation.
Many migrants in a similar si tuati on , especial ly those
who had entered Argentina to work in the grape and cane
harvests, were forced to return to Bolivia. But by this
time word had spread that there was work in the fields
of Santa Cruz and that the pay was good. Carmelo fol-
lowed the harvesters to Santa Cruz, confident that he
would find a suitable location to establish his own brick-
yard. The road eventually led to San Carlos, and there
Carmelo encountered some pastureland for sale across the
highway from the old clay pits. Upon examination, the
pastureland revealed the presence of clay, so Carmelo'
purchased the site. It was somewhat of a surprise to
the Camba brickmakers when Carmelo moved in and began
to erect a kiln and dig holes in the middle of his
pasture. By that time he had sent to Argentina for his
wife and three children and had hired two men as assistants

277

Carmelo's Camba competitors took it all in stride, how-
ever,' since they had never been able to keep abreast of
the demand for fired brick nor had they actually tried.
Carmelo's entrance into the field of brickmaking v/as not
viewed as a threat, therefore, but as a curiosity. >

Carmelo, his 24-year-old wife Viviana, and their
children have lived on the outskirts of San Carlos for
less than two years. They have established a few credit
ties. with storekeepers in town, including with the Ferro-
finos and Batallanos. As yet the Acunas have no fictive
kinship bonds with any of the villagers. Carmelo has
initiated economic relationships with several Sancarlenos
who furnish him with firewood for his kilns, and he is
now on friendly terms with the other brickmakers who pass
on customers they are unable to serve.

Recently Carmelo purchased a plot of land adjacent
to his pasture and has expanded his brick factory.
Viviana's 19-year-old brother, Eusebio Correa, arrived
from Potosf and with the help of Carmelo has erected a
small house on the new property for himself and his new
wife^' He is now in chargeiof the second Acuna brickyard.
But Eusebio 's interests lie with farming, and as soon as
he is able to acquire enough capital to buy some farmland,
he will leave Carmelo's employ. Eusebio likes the village
of San Carlos and is hopeful that he can find some property
nearby.

278

Although Viviana admits that the family is doing
well in San Carlos, she complains of the heat, insects,
andrude living conditions. Viviana nevertheless feels
that she will be "stuck" in San Carlos for some time.
The highlands have little to offer, and there is not
much hope of returning to Argentina. Viviana had a
taste of urban life in Buenos Aires and so justifiably
finds the village situation close to intolerable. Car-
melo also is discontent wi th the relative quiet of San
Carlos after having experienced the noise and activity
of a large metropolitan area, but he seems to be adjust-
ing to his new environment more readily than his wife.
This may be due in large part to Carmelo's incipient
efforts to participate in village socioeconomic networks.
Viviana, however, has remained aloof from the Camba
villagers and from the other highland residents as well.
Her integration into the San Carlos social sphere will be
greatly protracted, if it occurs at all.

The Cgceres Family

Lucfa C^ceres is a small, 26-year-old woman who
dresses in the traditional highland manner. She and her
husband, Julian, who is also 26, are rural folk from
Cochabamba. At present they are living two kilometers
south of San Carlos in a house purchased from Gerdnimo
Ledn. Gerdnimo decided at age 63 to give up farming and

279

move the family to the city of Santa Cruz. He now owns
a small house in a Camba migrant barrio and works as a
day laborer on construction projects. Lucfa and Julian
Caceres do not own the old Ledn property but are the
caseros (caretakers) for Julian's brother. The brother
presently is occupied with his farm near the Surutu River.
The Leon house and 30 hectares of land that surround it
seemed like a good bargain, so he decided to make the
purchase. Julicin's brother has intentions of sending his
wife, and children to the house in San Carlos in the near
future, but in the meantime Julian and Lucfa have been
allowed to live there.

The Caceres have resided in San Carlos for three
years. They have one male child whose godparents are
the Ferrofinos. Lucfa speaks Spanish with some difficulty
and depends on Claudina Ferrofino as her primary communi-
cation link with the rest of the village. Other than
their kinship and credit ties with the Ferrofinos, the
Caceres have established credit with Darfo Zabala, a
Camba storekeeper near :heir home. From time to time
JuliSn will do odd jobs for Darfo to help meet the
Caceres' debt obligations. When the Caceres have another
child, they intend to ask the Zabalas to become compadres.

JuliSri came to Santa Cruz in 1969 to work in the
cotton harvest. Lucfa was a field cook. They met and
were married. Their first place of residence was with

280

Julian's brother on the land at the Surutcf River. Julicin
helped with the clearing and planting along with the har-
vest and was given food and a share of the crop in return
for his labor. When Julicin's brother purchased the San
Carlos property, Julian was charged with the task of
caringforthehouseandland.

Luc fa raises vegetables around the house, and
JuliSfn plants corn and yuca on a few of the 30 hectares.
The land has been cropped too often for rice. When the
new market place is opened in San Carlos, Lucfa would
like to try to get a stall to sell produce on a regular
basis. Julian is awaiting the day when they will have
saved enough money to buy their own farm in the lowlands.

The Castillo Family

Nicanor Castillo came to; the lowlands from Sucre
as a youth to work in the sugarcane harvest. He married
Rosa Sucirez, 23, a Camba worsan from Mineros and then
settled in his wife's hometown 'for awhi 1 e , hiring out as
a farmhand. IneJ9i;i^a!theKc6uple moved to San Carlos where
they purchased a amalls^farm located beside the highway
some three kilometers west of the village. Nicanor,
noW!28, plants rice, each year but in addition has
found work across the road on Captain Rodolfo Galindo's
farmeii Galindo, a retired airline pilot from Cochabamba,
is the sole commercial sugarcane grower in San Carlos.

281

Nicanor is frequently hired by him to help weed or cut
cane. The Castillos also belong to a land cooperative,
and Nicanor is hopeful that he v/ill be able to acquire
some good virgin forest near the Ichilo River. The route
to the property traverses 60 kilometers of bad road,
impassible during the rainy season. But there are
rumors that the gravel highway through the Yapacanf col-
ony will be extended to include this sector. If this
does happen, Nicanor feels that the land will be well
worth the investment. If no road is completed, it
would be futile to even try to clear and plant the
property since there would be little chance that any
of the rice produced would ever reach market.

In the meantime, the Castillos continue to farm
the second-growth forest on their San Carlos land.
Rosa makes bread and sells it to a shopkeeper in town
to help with the family's expenses. They have established
credit at three stores, including the one where Rosa
leaves her bread. Their youngest daughter is the ahijada
(goddaughter) of the Ferrofinos, but as yet the Castillos
have not entered into a credit relationship with the
highland storekeepers. It is almost five kilometers
from the Casti 1 1 o house to the Ferrofino store, so it has
been more practical to initiate credit ties with nearby
Camba store owners. In the event of an emergency, Nicanor
is confident that he may call on Jorge Ferrofino for
assistance.

282

Rosa and Nicanor have served as godparents for
the children of two neighboring Camba fami 1 ies , both of
comparable economic status to the Castillos. These fic-
tive kinship bonds evolved out of work partnerships
between Nicanor and his neighbors. It is common for
lowlanders to agree to work a piece of land al partido,
whereby each participant will contribute labor, food, or
money in predetermined shares. At harvest time the crop
is divided according to the investment of each partner.
Nicanor prefers the al partido method to working his
land alone, since more time is then available for wage
labor on the Galindo farm. With his two neighbors as
compadres, Nicanor is assured seasonal assistance in
his own fields, but he is also expected to reciprocate
by lending a hand when the need arises.

Captain Rodolfo Galindo

Rodolfo Galindo was born in Gochabamba in 1915,
the son of a well-to-do landed family. At 16, he was
sent to Germany to learn to be a pilot, but Rodolfo re-
turned to Bolivia just one year later to accompany the
three Junkers airplanes purchased by Simdn Patino for
the war effort against the Paraguayans. At age 17
Galindo entered the Bolivian army as a pilot and began
flying missions in the Chaco War. When hosti 1 i ties ended,
the young flier was hired by Lloyd Aereo Boliviano to fly

283

commercial airliners. During his career as a pilot,
Galindo was also involved in national politics and claims
to be one of the original 20 men who founded the MNR
(Movimiento Nacional Revol ucionario) . According to
Rodolfo, the 1952 revolution was to have been an "orderly"
reform, but the campesinos in Cochabamba took hold of
the movement, and violence broke out. Ironically, it
was the MNR which divested Galindo and his family of
their property holdings, in the Cochabamba Valley. At
age 60 Rodolfo Galindo is able to reminisce about his
experiences in politics without emotion. Age and time
seem to have healed many of the wounds of more turbulent
years .

Rodolfo Galindo first came to Santa Cruz in 1933
when the city had only 18,000 inhabitants. As a young,
wartime pilot he was a colorful and intriguing figure
in this rustic frontier town. Doors were opened to him
at every house, and by his own account all the eligible
young women of Santa Cruz were throwing themselves at
his feet. In spite of all this attention, Rodolfo did
return to Cochabamba where he eventually married a child-
hood friend and settled his household.

In 1937 the Lloyd pilot acquired 120 hectares of
land which now lie between the second and third anillos
in the city of Santa Cruz. The Urban Reform Law forced
him to liquidate these holdings, but Galindo made an

284

enormous profit from this now valuable land. He is a
wealthy man today, with two sons studying in the United
States and a daughter enrolled at a German university.
Needless to say, the CapitSn is not a typical migrant
and views his presence in San Carlos as a secluded
retirement. Even so, Galindo has always approached any
new project with the intent that it will net him some
profit. Thus, when he bought 82 hectares of land front-
ing on the paved highway three kilometers from San Carlos,
Rodolfo was not content to become an idle gentleman
farmer. He immediately ordered land cleared and put
to sugarcane. In order to get the highest price for his
product, Galindo must truck the cane to the San Aurelio
mill, over 100 kilometers from his farm.

Rodolfo Galindo no longer lives with his wife
who is currently visiting one of their sons in Miami.
In his San Carlos home lives a young woman who acts as
housekeeper and companion. She runs the house for him,
does the laundry and cooking as well as the daily market-
ing. Galindo has very little to do with the village,
never purchasing commodities with credit. But then he
is in a situation where alliances within the socio-
economic network are unnecessary.

285

Things to Come

Aside from those seven migrant households living
in San Carlos, there are also several women who come in
each day from the Yapacanf colony and Buen Retire to
hawk vegetables grown on their land. They arrive early
in the morning and are gone before noon, having sold
their few baskets of produce to the women of San Carlos,
When the proposed San Carlos market is completed, these
highland vendors are planning on opening stalls there
and eventually may migrate to the village if property
isavailable.

Construction is due to begin on the San Carlos
market, the first open market in village history, in
April, 1976. Funds have been collected by the residents
and matched by Obras Pdblicas which is also supplying the
plans and technical assistance. When the market is
completed, the face of San Carlos will begin to change.
From a small, undifferentiated agricultural community
it will be converted into a subregional marketing center.
Perhaps most importantly, the number of highlanders in
the village may be expected to increase significantly.
Although lowlanders initially may dominate the market
scene, highlanders will quickly gain control of the
enterprise if San Carlos follows the trend of other Camba
towns such as Warnes and Montero. Once the market is

286

firmly in the hands of highland vendors, the appearance
of the town's first chicherfa will not be far distant.
There will be opposition, no doubt, to the changes
occurring in the old village, but the transition from
a predominantly Camba settlement to an integrated com-
munity of highlanders and lowlanders is inevitable.
Small rural villages like San Carlos have a greater hope
of achieving this integration because immigration is
proceeding at a relatively constant pace. Unlike Warnes,
which has experienced a rapid influx of migrants and as
a result has developed new and segregated neighborhoods,
San Carlos is absorbing highlanders at a fairly even
rate and is receiving them into the exi sting vi 1 lage
structure.

Three of the seven migrant families presently
living in San Carlos arrived in the village after first
having worked farms in the hinterlands. Of these three,
two came out of agricultural colonies. Colonial settle-
ment, second only to working in the harvests, provides
the major motive for migration by the rural highlander.
Unlike the previous four study locations, Santa Cruz,
Warnes, Montero and San Carlos, where the migrant be-
longed to a minority group, the colonies are a highland
domain. The agricultural colonies represent the final
and most remote of migrant settlement sites to be dis-
cussed.

CHAPTER SEVEN
THE AGRICULTURAL COLONIES

Until the 20th century, Bolivia's vast lowland
region remained not only isolated, but virtually un-
known to the rest of the nation and to the world.
Except for a small mestizo population and scattered
groups of aborigines , the eastern reaches were reserved
for adventurers, political exiles and criminals. For
many, the lowlands meant uninhabitable jungles filled
with fierce wild animals, swamps ridden with insects
and disease, and uncivilized territories characterized
by savages hiding behind eyery tree. Such works as
Julian Duguid's Green Hell were held up as examples
of the terror and danger that awaited anyone fool i sh
or unfortunate enough to travel into the Amazon basin.
But those who knew the area were also appreciative of
its great natural wealth. The land was productive, there
were limitless expanses of grasslands for cattle, and
the forests held unimagined riches in hardwoods. Later,
petroleum would be discovered, adding to the promise
of the eastern wilderness. As the result of explorers'
journals and missionary reports a vague awareness of the

287

potential of the lowlands has always been part of the
folklore of Bolivia, but it was not until the Social
Revolution of 1952 that the Bolivian government began
seriously to consider the eastern region as anything
other than a dumping ground for undesirables.

The new revolutionary government inherited many
of the problems which had plagued its predecessors and
created some new ones as well. The Agrarian Reform
gave the peasants control of the land they had tilled
in usufruct for generations, but many individuals re-
mained without adequate farm property to meet even
basic subsistence needs. The mine-centered economy
of the nation had made mi 1 1 ionai res of a few and en-
slaved thousands, but nationalization proved only to
increase operating costs through f eatherbeddi ng and to
lower production (Zondag 1968). At the same time,
Bolivia was wrestling with a long history of insur-
rection and unrest on the part of its eastern inhabi- .
tants, and the achievement of national integration became
yet another problem to be resolved. In 1954 a paved
highway was pushed through to the capital city of the
largest lowland department, Santa Cruz. The opening of
the road was only a first step in realizing the goals of
the revolutionary government to increase agricultural
production, exploit lowland oil deposits, create new
opportunities for the highland peasant, and, hopefully.

289

to unite for the first time the highland and lowland
dominions of the Bolivian nation. Once the highway was
inaugurated, relocation programs were commenced and army
units were sent to Santa Cruz to open territory for
colonization by campesinos from the interior.

Colonization in Santa Cruz

From 1954 to 1956, four agricultural colonies
were begun in Santa Cruz. The first. Aroma, located
15 kilometers northeast of Montero, was initiated by
two individuals and later taken over by the Corporacidn
Boliviana de Fomento (CBF). The latter agency supplanted
the military's Colonial Division, previously charged with
the lowland resettlement operation. Although the admini-
stration of colonial affairs eventually was transferred
to civil authority, the military continued to provide
manpower and equipment for land clearing efforts. Then
too, many of the officials appointed by CBF to perform
administrative roles i n the col onies were military or
ex-military personnel.

Aroma colonists were required to volunteer three
two-month terms of labor in land clearing, house construc-
tion, and road building in order to qualify for 25 hec-
tares of land. CBF provided them with food and tools
during this initial settlement period. Later, technical

290

•4

NORTHERN

SANTA CRUZ

AREA

PAVED ROADS

UNFAVED RCADS

scale:

SAN JULIAN
^^ -'COLONY

f
I

O 20

Figure 7. Northern Santa Cruz Area

291

and medical assistance were made available. By the end
of the decade, 200 families had been settled in Aroma.
Still, the attrition rate was high, and according to
one source, "approximately 60% of these colonists re-
turned to their place of origin" (Ferragut 1961:130).
But those who vacated their land were replaced by
others, and today Aroma continues as a smal 1 agricul -
tural community of about 240 families (Crist and
Nissley 1973:137). All assistance has been withdrawn
from the colony which is now inhabited by highland
campesinos working their land not as colonists, but
as individual, self-reliant farmers.

The colonies of Cuatro Ojitos and Huaytd were
begun by the military in 1955 and 1956, respectively,
soon after the establishment of Aroma. These settlements
were ambitious projects initiated by sending in four
army battalions to build roads and bridges, erect houses
and schools, clear farmland, and sink potable water
wells. The highland soldiers who accomplished the task
of clearing were to be the recipients of the tracts of
land opened for settlement. Civilian highlanders working
in lowland canefields were also given an opportunity to
claim a parcel in the new colonies. CBF replaced the
army in 1958, but military advisors and 900 soldiers
continued to execute the program. Attrition again was
high, and only 10 per cent of the conscripts actually

292

settled on parcels. Over half of the colonists were
civilians, primarily ex-harvesters of sugarcane. Both
colonies are now undercivil authority with a total of
600 families in Cuatro Ojitos and 170 families in HuaytCl
(Crist and Nissley 1973:138).

In 1958 the Bolivian army began widening the trail
from the Yapacanf River to Puerto Grether on the Rfo
Ichilo with the intent of establi shing another colony.
This location had been an early settlement site for
lowland agriculturalists, but the distance to market
coupled with the difficulty of crossing the unpredictable
flood-prone Yapacanf River had left the area virtually
uninhabited. A few Cambas continued to live in the
main settlement three kilometers from the river, most
earning their livelihood by hunting animals for pelts
and by fishing.

Highlanders at first were slow to arrive in the'
Yapacanf colony. Many quickly became discouraged and
returned to their places of origin or sought farmland
in less remote areas. As with other colonies at the
time, CBF administered settlement procedures in the
Yapacanf. Technical assistance and small loans were
available to the colonists, but without market access
they faced only continual indebtedness and incredible
hardships.

293

■ During the initial years of government efforts
at resettlement, foreign groups as well as Bolivian
highlanders were encouraged to colonize the lowlands.
In 1954, 50 Volga-German Mennonites arrived in Santa Cruz.
They were followed in 1958 by another 50 Dutch-German
Mennonite families and, in 1964, an additional 54 families
from this same European religious group settled in
Crucenan territory. The Mennonites were guaranteed re-
ligious freedom, exemption from military service, the
right to operate their own schools, and duty-free access
to farm equipment. In the late 1950's more than 3,000
Old Colony Mennonites arrived from a parent colony in
Mexico (Lanni ng 1 971 ). These settlers located in an arid
zone to the south of Santa Cruz where, in spite of en-
vironmental difficulties, they established productive
farm units. All of the Mennonite colonies have resisted
any form of assimi 1 ation i nto lowland Bolivian society.
Marriage outside of the religious sect is prohibited,
and only the males are taught Spanish for marketing
purposes.

Mennonites may be seen on weekdays roaming the
streets of Santa Cruz in groups of four or five, dressed
in their traditional 19th century garbofdark shirts
and overalls for the men and long, cotton print dresses
for the women. They arrive in horse-drawn wagons which
are driven down the main thoroughfares of the city, e^ery

294

vehicle loaded with cheese, eggs, chickens and vegetables
bound for the market places of Santa Cruz. On each wagon
is seated a family of sunburned, fair-haired, blue-eyed
Mennonites, ready for a serious day of buying and selling
in the departmental capital. Economic transactions at
the local level constitute the entirety of Mennonite
participation in regional or national affairs.

In addition to the Mennonite settlers, the
Bolivian oriente has been the recipient of several
hundred Japanese and Okinawan migrant families. On
August 2, 1956, an agreement which provided 35,000
hectares of land for Japanese colonization was signed
between the governments of Japan and Bolivia (Thompson
1968:201). By June 1965, the new San Juan colony com-
prised some 262 households of 1,546 individuals. Because
of its location directly opposite the Yapacanf colony
but on the near side of the river, the San Juan settle-
ment suffered many of the same problems as the fledgling
CBF project. During the initial years of Japanese colo-
nization in San Juan, much of the rice produced remained
in homes and storehouses, unable to be shipped to market.
The road out from the colony was unimproved and virtually
impassible when wet. Once the main highway to Montero
was reached, another five or six hours' travel were
necessary to arrive at lowland markets. In spite of
tremendous obstacles, the colonists persisted in their

295

efforts to wrest a living from the wilderness, and in
recent years most have prospered. The improvement of
the colonial feeder road combined with the paving of the
Montero-Yapacanf highway have given the Japanese of San
Juan expectations of continued success.

Another agreement among the Bolivian, Okinawan,
and U. S. governments opened land east of Montero for
Okinawan settlements. Three colonies have been founded
by the island agriculturalists, and with the paving of
the road which passes through Okinawan territory to the
Rfo Grande, the colonies have attained permanence. The
Okinawans number 515 families (Crist and Nissley 1973:148)
and are engaged in rice, cane and cotton production.
Unlikethe Mennonites, the Japanese and Okinawans have
intermarried with Cambas as well as with highlanders
residing in the lowlands. Spanish is taught in their
schools and children are enculturated with Bolivian as
well asJapanese or Okinawan social mores.

By the beginning of the 1960's, the efforts of
the Bolivian government to establ i sh viabl e agricultural
colonies of highlanders began to falter. In many in-
stances, colonies had been opened for settlement before
adequate market routes were made available, leaving the
settler cut off not only from market places, but also
from medical, educational , and social support. The
colonies became known as ends-of-the-earth propositions,.

296

avoided by scores of prospective migrants. Colonists
were abandoning their homesteads to return to the interior
or to search for more accessi bl e farm! and . Those who did
seek land in the colonies were Only the most destitute,
desperate hi ghlanders.

The entrance of the 1960's also witnessed the
failure of other projects initiated by the revolutionary
government. In many cases, railroad construction was
halted only a few kilometers from the starting point;
hydroelectric dams were erected where water supplies
were inadequate for operation; agricultural extension
stations were built and abandoned because of lack of
funding. Much of the fault lay with the poor coordina-
tion among the various government agencies and the absence
of a directive office in charge of long-range national
planning. As a result of these deficiencies, the Junta
Nacional de Planeamiento was formed in 1962 with techni-
cal advisors supplied by the United Nations. Once again,
problems arose from a lack of articulation with other
governmental bureaucracies, and a subsequent reorganiza-
tion of the Junta occurred. The agency was taken from
direct control by the President and placed under the
direction of the Ministerio de Planeamiento y Coordina-
ci(5n, the Consejo Nacional de Economfa y Desarrollo Social,
and the regional planning offices (Zondag 1968:263).
The old Junta became the Servicio de Planeamiento.

297

One of . the principal tasks of the new Servicio was to
implement the recently enacted ten-year plan for eco-
nomic development, the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo
Econ6mico y Social, covering the period 1962-1971. The
Plan dealt with all sectors of the economy including
the major problem areas, mining and agriculture. In
order to increase agricultural production and at the same
time provide an escape valve for increasing labor pres-
sures in the mines, the economic development program
called for additional efforts to colonize the lowlands.
An ambitious settlement program was devised which would
be centered in three lowland regions : the Alto Beni east
of La Paz, the Chapare east of Cochabamba , and the
Yapacani northwest of Santa Cruz. Loans were obtained
from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and from
other nations, primarily the U. S., to finance road
building, land clearing, and resettlement of highland
miners and campesinos. The colonization program pro-
posed a resettlement of 8 , 000-1 0, 000 f ami 1 ies over a
ten-year period at an initial cost of US $6,500,000
(IDB 1970). The Corporaci 6n Bol i vi ana de Fomento was
to administer the project (INC 1970:8). By 1969, settle-
ment expenditures had reached 9.1 million dollars but
only 4,984 families had been relocated (IDB 1970). In
the meantime, CBF had been superseded by the newly
organized Instituto Nacional de Col onizacidn , brought

298

into existence by supreme decree on June 28, 1965 (INC
1970:9). All colonization activities were thereby cen-
tralized into a specific agency whose sole field of
endeavor involved the opening and settlement of new, lands.

The three colonies were plagued with numerous
problems including transient administrators, charges of
graft, improper allocation of foodstuffs and excessive
paternalism. At one point, the attrition rate for the
Yapacanf colony reached 90 per cent (IDB-Bolivia 1971).
Theten-year plan ended in 1971at which time the! ow land
colonies lost financial support from the government. In
the three areas combined, 5,055 families had been settled
as of 1970 (Gal leguil los 1970:3). Abandonment rates for
the 1962-1971 period varied from over 50 per cent for
the Alto Beni project to 33 per cent for the Yapacanf
(Galleguil los 1970:4-6). Still, the figures for abandon-
ment can be somewhat misleading. They represent a turn-
over in population, not vacant land. At present, the
colonies are filled to capacity. In other words, what is
lacking is not an absolute number of settlers, but rather
a stable population of colonists who have remained on their
parcel ssincearrival.

Colonization has been viewed traditionally as a
permanent form of resettlement with success or failure
measured in terms of the number of colonists who retain
or abandon their property. Planners and administrators

299

of colonization projects have yet to recognize either the
role that colonization plays in the scheme of regional
migration strategies or the function of migration in the
present system of agricultural production. Officials
have focused upon short-range objectives rather than upon
long-range economic goals. They have continued to con-
sider only the individual colonist rather than the larger
contextof land use patterns and socioeconomic processes.
For example, Thomas Roydan and Boyd Wennergren, employees
of USAID-Bolivia, have stated

The settling and clearing of state land
and the subsequent sale of the partially
improved property is emerging as a way of
life for spontaneous colonists, such as
those who will have migrated successfully
to new frontier areas twice in the last
ten years. The colonist frequently has
contributed to the development of someone
else's production unit, while making
limited progress towards improving his own
economic and social status. While the
commercial farmer expands his production,
the colonist achieves little more than
survival and a subsistence level of
living. It should be noted, however,
that such development patterns are not
uncommon in opening and settling virgin
land areas. The spontaneous and mobile
colonizer performs the role of making
the initial clearing and settlement of
the new area. (Royden and Wennergren
1973:72)

The colonist is thus portrayed as the pawn of the

commercial agriculturalist and the victim of an unjust

social system. Yet this same situation applies to Camba

farmers as well and has contributed significantly to the

300

economic growth of the department. The small farmer is
restricted to slash-and-burn horticulture. He has
neither the land nor the capital to do much else. As
long as there is high forest available, campesinos will
continue to make their living from progressional cropping
practices. Each year the frontier is pushed farther into
the jungle, the most intrepid agriculturalists working
the most remote lands. As yields begin to decrease in
an area, the farmer moves on to better acreage.

The second-growth forest is sold to those indi-
viduals who do not want to gamble on the insecurities and
hardships of a wilderness outpost or to those who might
be termed "secondary" colonists. They purchase land which
has been cropped at least once and which no longer gives
the same yields as virgin territory. After the land has
been planted repeatedly until only pasture will grow on
the impoverished soils, the secondary colonist also sells
out and moves on. At this point tracts are purchased
by agribusiness consortia and are consolidated into large
landholdings for cattle or commercial farming. These
enterprises have the capital resources to exploit the
already cleared land by mechanized plow-agriculture and
to apply expensive imported fertilizers to restore the
soil.

Objections have been raised by observers that
this land-use succession ultimately will lead to the demise

301

of the small farmer who will one day reach the limits
of the moving frontier. Furthermore it has been main-
tained that the campesino isserving only as an inexpen-
sive land-clearing machine. These observations are
valid, but the problem of viable alternatives remains.
Colonists who rely upon swidden agriculture simply cannot
survive economically if they are confined to one small
parcel of land, for they must move on when the land is
depleted or grasses invade. At a national level, it is
extremely difficult for any country to move toward eco-
nomic self-reliance with the majority of its population
engaged in subsistence-oriented agriculture.

According to government officials, Bolivia's
present hope of breaking out of shifting agriculture
is cooperati vi sm whereby groups of campesinos are organ-
ized into production units capable of bearing the costs
of mechanized farming procedures. If cooperatives fail,
the succession leading to large-scale commercial farming
is inevitable. However, the eventual outcome of this
trend would seem to be the formation of an agricultural
proletariat to absorb the frontiersmen who have exhausted
their frontier. But until that happens, colonization
will continue to spearhead the land settlement movement,
and government officials and loan agencies will persist
in their unrealistic demands that people stay put.

302

Since 1971 the Institute Nacional.de Col onizacidn
has continued to supply administrative assistance to
colonial centers, but there have been no repetitions of
the ambitious settlement projects characterizing the
1960's. Colonization at present is spontaneous, with
theINC supplying primarily secondary or tertiary roads,
some technical assistance, water, and schools in some
localities. Other agencies such as the IglesiasUnidas
of Montero and the World Food Program are contributing
assistance in the form of technical aid and foodstuffs
for the colonists.

In 1975 the United States and the West German
governments financed the construction of two gravel roads
west of the Rfo Grande in the post-1969 flood settlements
of Chan^-Piray and through the new San Julicin Colony.
In addition, USAID has provided the INC with US $200,000
to fund the relocation of 4,000 highlanders over a five-
year period in San Julicin. This latter settlement pro-
gram commences officially in 1976 although nine colony
zones or nucleos have already been established. In con-
trast to projects of the past, San Julian is receiving
minimal monetary support, and the majority of the colo-
nists are ex-harvesters rather than highlanders brought
directly from the interior.

In the Santa Cruz region, active colonization is
occurring only in the Chan^-Piray and San Julian sectors.

303

The remaining colonies, including the Yapacanf, have all
become, or are in the process of becoming, agricultural
communities under civil authority and local control.
As new lands are opened, the INC will continue to provide
infrastructure and initial technical assistance in concert
with the church-affiliated and international agencies
involved in resetttlement programs. Even so, the primary
emphasis today is on the provision of land and market
access. Paternalism has been replaced by individual
colonist initiative. Prospective settlers no longer are
dragged out of the highlands and thrust unprepared into
the wilderness. The present-day colonist tends to be
an agriculturalist, an ex-harvester and an individual
who is eager to obtain a parcel of Crucefian farmland.

The rapid expansion of the lowland economy,
-higher and more stable prices for agricultural produce,
and better market roads have given value to much of the
hinterlands of the northern Santa Cruz region. No longer
are the colonies viewed as a type of purgatory, but
rather as areas of extremely desirable agricultural
land. Unlike the early days of colonial planning and
the almost Shanghai tactics employed to obtain settlers,
the active colonies now have people waiting in line to
receive property. Land cooperatives have become popular
as alternative means of acquiring high forest by direct
solicitation to the government. The great numbers of

304

hrghlanders in the Santa Cruz region who are seeking
arable land in the vicinity of market routes have brought
about the introduction of "sooning" to the lowlands. As
quickly as word or rumor spreads that a road is to be
opened, cooperatives jump the land before actual alloca-
tion is made. The battle then begins to make legal their
claims, but most cooperatives are able to rally their
membership into paying additional quotas to provide for
the necessary bureaucratic adjustments.

The situation in the agricultural colonies might
be better understood by looking at specific cases. For
the present study, two colonies were selected for analy-
sis. The first was the Yapacanf which had the longest
and most costly history of settlement. The researcher
visited this colony on numerous occasions from 1964 to
1968 and again in 1975, making diachronic comparisons
possible. The second site was the new San Julicin colony
which probably exemplified more recent trends in coloniza-
tion procedures as well as characteristics of those
settlers presently attracted to colonial life.

The Yapacanf GoTony

In 1964 the gravel -surfaced highway north from
Montero branched in two directions near the Guabira sugar
refinery, the western road leading to the Yapacanf River

305

306

where it terminated. At the river's edge a few pilings
could be seen--remnants of recent unsuccessful efforts
to span the watery obstacle. On the far side lay the
Yapacanf colony, consisting of 10-, 20-, and 50-hectare
parcels strung out along a 62-kilometer stretch of trail
cleared by the Bolivian army. At several intervals along
the swatch, side cuts, or fajas, had been opened into
the jungle and additional parcels were surveyed for
settlement.

The main camp, "German Busch," was located three
kilometers in from the river. In order for colonists
or admini strati ve personnel to reach the colonial head-
quarters at Villa Busch, the Yapacanf River had to be
crossed first. Individuals rode in canoes and paid the
boatman from US $.10 to $.50, depending on the condition
of ;the river. Motor vehicles had to be loaded on large
wooden pontoon barges which were powered by outboard
motors fixed to the fore and aft hulls. If the Yapacanf
was running full and swift, a three- to four-day waiting
period was necessary for a safe crossing. Travelers
marooned at the river's edge would have to camp out or
seek lodging at the few fishermen's shacks along the
banks.

Once the river had been traversed, the next step
of the journey to Villa Busch or points beyond entailed
the three-kilometer stretch of trail from the western

307

shore into the encampment. For those on foot, it was a
tedious struggle through bog and thicket, but pedestrian
travel was the surest means of getting there. Vehicles
not only had to grind their way through seemingly end-
less traps of quagmire, but also were required to navi-
gate across two or three slippery logs placed as bridges
over the frequent creeks and streams along the track.

: During these years. Villa Busch offered little
more than the large mud-and-wattl e , tin-roofed structure
which housed the Corporacidn Boliviana de Fomento per-
sonnel j a few CBF outbuildings, a thatched and bamboo
barracks for the soldiers stationed in the colony, and
several pauhuichis inhabited by Camba fishermen and
hunters. At night, a small generator gave light to
the main administration building. A radio shack manned
by a young Crucenan was often the colony's sole link
with the outside world.

The first CBF colonists were brought into the
lowlands on trucks. Many of them were ex-miners whom
the government was seeking to relocate, and most came
without their families. The majority became discouraged
and returned to the interior within months of their
arrival. In the meantime, however, radio broadcasts and
word of mouth spread the news of the new agricultural
colonies to the east. A great many promises were made
and prospective colonists soon began to trickle into

308

Villa Busch in search of land. These later settlers
came on their own initiative, were frequently accompanied
by their wives, children, and other relatives, and were
for the most part agriculturalists. The Corporacidn
gave them tools, seed, and foodstuffs on a long-term
loan arrangement and then sent them off down the road to
find a parcel . The army had constructed a few houses in
the colony, but most colonists arrived to no more than
wilderness right to the edge of the road. For weeks they
would have to live in a palm lean-to until a better
dwellingcouldbeerected.

The principal crop of the Yapacanf was, and
continues to be, dry rice. Early harvests in the colony
simply remained there or were laboriously hauled out,
bag by bag, on the backs of men, women, children and
horses. Abandonment of parcels continued to plague colo-
nization officials, and the settlers began using the
colony only for the purpose of earning enough to acquire
land closer to lowland markets.

In 1966 construction financed by USAID began on
the Yapacanf bridge. The span was part of a package
project which included paving the two branch roads from
Montero and providing a gravel road 22 kilometers into
the Yapacanf colony. As work began, interest in the
Yapacanf settlement grew. It was evident that a great
deal of land in the colony would soon have all-weather

309

market access. Parcel value increased, and even sites
previously ignored because of extreme isolation were now
being claimed by highland migrants. Although no titles
to property had been given in the Yapacanf, buying and
selling of farm plots was increasing steadily. Tech-
nically, all that was sold were the improvements to the
property, but new arrivals understood, as did the resi-
dent colonists, that the former were buying not only a
house, kitchen, pig pen, or whatever, but also the land
they stood on. When a price had been agreed upon, the
buyer and seller would present themselves to the CBF and,
later, to the IMC office in Villa Busch to arrange for
a transfer of settlement rights and obligations. In
essence, the buyer received nothing more than the knowl-
edge that his name now replaced that of the previous
colonist beside the parcel number in a ledger. Any out-
standing debts to the colonization program incurred by
the seller were transferred to the new resident. Since
no effort was made to collect these debts, however, this
too became simply a matter of shuffling papers.

The paved highway to the limit of the Yapacanf
River was opened early in 1968, but several floods inter-
rupted the completion of the bridge. The primary road
nevertheless meant an increase in the number of vehicles
in the area, subsequent competition for cargoes, and lower
transport fees. Although development in the colony was

310

still hindered by the lack of a bridge and poor internal
transit networks, truckers were now paying the cost of
cros;sing the river by barge and braving the terrible
roads in their search for cargoes of rice and hardwoods.
Villa Busch began to grow rapidly. A small outdoor mar-
ket opened in the field set aside for a town plaza where
colonists could buy goods shipped from Montero and
Santa Cruz. The urban 1 ots whi ch had been plotted years
earlier were finally finding buyers.

By the time the researcher returned to the Yapa-
canf in 1975, the colony had undergone an amazing meta-
morphosis--a comment on the impact of direct market
access. Villa Busch had become a bustling frontier
town of more than 2,000 inhabitants (Solari 1975). The
old Camba pauhuichis had been replaced by highlander-
owned structures of brick and cement. An office of the
civil police authority, DIG (Departmento de Investigacidn
Criminal), had superseded the military post for maintain-
ing order and settling disputes. A potable water system,
evening-hour electricity, a 12-bed hospital run by the
Methodists, and a savings and loan cooperative had also
made an appearance. Most notable, however, was the huge
covered market which had grown up in an area across the
road from its original site.

Buying and selling activity in the colony had
long since outgrown the projected plaza zone which was

311

now just that, the town square. A large section of
Villa Busch was allocated for the new market, jointly
funded by Obras Pcfblicas and by INC, and brick and tin-
roofed stalls were constructed on the site. The market
itself was almost invisible from the road since colonists
and vendors had erected wooden kiosks on any available
space in the area. On weekends, itinerant sellers from
Montero and other towns along with residents from all
over the colony made their way into Villa Busch to
participate in the marketing festivities. Chicherias
had also sprung up on the outskirts of the community,
attesting to the economic prosperity of the Yapacanf.

The schools situated at seven- and ten-kilometer
intervals along the main colony road had become focal
points for community development, and the road itself
had been graded and surfaced with rock. But perhaps
most importantly, the Yapacanf bridge now spanned the
river. An 800-meter- 1 ong expanse of brilliant white con-
crete linked the colony to the rest of Santa Cruz, Bolivia,
and the world. A trip to the departmental capital could
be made in three hours instead of three days or more.

With the advent of the opening of the Yapacanf
bridge and the semipaved road 22 kilometers into the
colony, the Yapacanf has become no more than a continua-
tion of the farming and marketing complex of the northern
Santa Cruz region. Villa Busch and the other small

312

communities soon will come under public authority as
colonial government is withdrawn. Even now, only ves-
tiges remain of the once-remote outpost.

The Yapacanf Colonists

The Yapacanf migrant sample population was
selected to include as many varied areas of the colony
as were possible to reach. As was true for previous
study sites, informants were chosen primarily by
availability at the time. In the case of the colonies,
visits to more remote sectors were often a one-shot
affair, so whoever was present became a candidate for
questioning. Trips into the Yapacanf were made each
week during the four months allotted for simultaneous
research in San Carlos and the colony. Public transpor-
tation in the form of buses and small trucks was avail-
able as far as Villa Busch, but travel to points beyond
depended entirely on the chance of catching a vehicle
headed into the interior of the settlement. If none
appeared, the day would have to be spent in Villa Busch
itself.

Four acres outside of the main colony center were
investigated. These were Naranjal , located on a faja
to the south of the primary road; El Chore, a settlement
zone on the northern faja (Faja Norte); and two sectors

313

of the faja central, Chori at kilometer 11 and El Palmar
at kilometer 22, the termination point of the gravel road.
The only remaining area which was not sampled was that
beyond kilometer 22 in the Puerto Grether-Rfo Ichilo
region, \lery few vehicles frequented this stretch of
trail because of its almost impassible condition. The
researcher had walked the 40-kilometer path to Puerto
Grether in 1967 and, even after a hiatus of almost nine
years, was not eager to try it again.

Thirty-one settlers in the Yapacanf colony were
interviewed along with INC officials, hospital staff
and Cathol ic clery working in the area. Of the 31 indi-
viduals residing on parcels or in Villa Busch, three were
found to be Guarayos from the San Ignacio region who
were acting as caseros (caretakers) for highland land-
owners. Because of stringent rules in the colony which
require that a parcel have a permanent resident or be
forfeited*, colonists who desire to work outside of the
colony or on another parcel frequently leave a relative
behind to protect against confiscation. It was both odd

*The INC itself does not monitor the status of
parcels in the colony, but land is in such demand that
migrants seeking property will investigate any seem-
ingly vacant plot. If the occupant does not return
within a few days, the land is then taken over by the
new arrival. After a few weeks' residence, the new
colonist makes good his claim at the INC office.

314

and difficult to explain why these three unrelated per-
sons'living in widely dispersed sections of the colony
and all Guarayos had literally become peons of highland
colonists. In each case, the family had resided on the
land for several years, had received some remuneration
from the owner along with rights to till the soil, but
also had to give up part of their annual harvest to the
landlord. They were, in fact, sharecropping in an area
where free access to land is still possible. One of
the three informants, a male, explained that he did not
want to go intothe wilderness to startanew si nee he
would have to relinquish the protection of his highland
patron. It was the element of paternalism, then, which
seemed to be the cohesive force in the Guarayo-Kol 1 a
relationship. The Guarayo Indians of .'thb.i eastern reaches
of Santa Cruz have an almost continuous history of servi-
tude under both religious and secular patronage. This
in part may explain the presence of Guarayos, not lowland
mestizos or nonkin highlanders, in the position of tenant-
casero. Because the three Guarayos represent such a
singular case and also because they are not highland
migrants, they have been excluded from the remaining
data analysis which reduces the sample to 29 informants.

The mean age of the sample population was 33,
falling well within the range of the previous study
sites. Age variance for the Yapacanf informants was 11.6.

315

Breakdown by sex included 20 females and nine males. Only
one male and one female of those persons interviewed were
unmarried, and all of the married individuals had high-
land spouses.

Origins of the colonist sample population were
overwhelmingly rural with only one female claiming an
urban center, Sucre, as her last place of residence in
the interior. The remaining informants came directly
to the lowlands from a hi ghl and vi 1 1 age. The importance

Table 37
Migrant Origins

Origin Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

RuraV 28 97.0

Urban _]_ 3.0

Total 29 100.0

of harvesting as a means of entry into Santa Cruz was
underscored by the colonist group. Over half the sample
had worked in rice, cane or cotton harvests prior to
taking up residence in theYapacanf. Several of those
individuals in the survey indicated that their primary
purpose in coming to the lowlands had been to find any

316

Table 38
Worked as Harvester

Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency {%)

Yes

No

Total

17

R
29

59.0

41.0

100.0

type of work, whether harvesting or not, and that once in
the Santa Cruz region, information about available land
inspired them to remain.

Other than work motivations, migrants claimed
a desire to obtain more and better farmland as a prime
incentive for leaving the highlands. One female explained
that she and her husband arrived in the colony as the
result of the latter having been stationed there as a
sergeant in the army unit attached to the CBF. When the
informant's husband received another transfer, the couple
decided to remain in the Yapacanf rather than move again.
The two now own a parcel , a restaurant and three rental
houses in Villa Busch as well as having the beer conces-
sion for the colony. A final informant, a young woman,
came to the Yapacanf to visit her sister, met and married
a colonist and is living in Villa Busch.

317

Table 39
Motives for Migration

53

0

41

0

3

0

3

0

Motive Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

To Obtain Land 15

To Find Work 12

Army Service 1

Visiting . _T

Total 29 100.0

In keeping with the rural origins of the migrant
sample population including spouses, or 56 individuals,
over half named agriculture as having been their means
of livelihood before moving to the lowlands. Six had
been landless peons with no hope of ever obtaining
their own property in the interior. There were also
four miners, three of whom had been part of the first
contingent of CBF recruits brought down from the high-
lands on trucks. Most of those who accompanied these
early colonists eventually left the Yapacanf to return
to the interior or to moveinto more ace essiblereg ions
of the department. The fourth miner was a recent
arrival and explained that political difficulties had
led to his self-imposed exile in the. colony. A cousin

318

in the settlement assisted the ex-miner in obtaining a
parcel which he was presently working.

Table 40

Previous Migrant Occupations
(Including Spouses)

Mai

es

Fema'

es

Occupation

Absolute
Frequency

Relative
Frequency (%)

Absolute
Frequency

Relative
Frequency (%)

Farming

17

61.0

17

61 . 0

Mining

4

14.0

0

0.0

Commerce

0

0.0

6

21.0

Army

1

4.0

0

0.0

Peon

6

21 . 0

0

0.0

None

Jl

0.0

_5

18.0

Total

28

100.0

28

100.0

Multiple resource exploitation was very prevalent
in the Yapacant, although colonial policy discouraged the
occupancy of more than one parcel or urban site at one
time by colonists. Laxity in enforcing settlement rules
along with inadequate record-keeping has enabled Yapa-
cant migrants to circumvent these government restrictions,
Records of parcel allocation are kept in large wooden

319

file boxes at the INC of f ice in Vi 1 1 a Busch. Filing
procedures are haphazard at best, but the manner in
which the system initially was set up allows for no
means of ascertaining the number of plots occupied by
any one colonist. The parcels are filed by plot number
which is also a locational reference (by zone within
the colony), and on the same folder, by the name of the
original occupant. If occupancy changes, the forms are
filed in the old folder. Thus it is important that the
prospective buyer as well as the seller know the parcel
number and the name of the first resident. There is no
way of cross-checking landholders by name except by
pulling out each folder, looking for the most recent
transfer and then making a list of the present occupants
to see how often each name appears. To the researcher's
knowledge, no one has attempted this gargantuan task.
Thus colonists can occupy with certain immunity any
number of parcels and urban lots that they can afford
to acquire. Since administrative concerns have always
been with the attainment of a full complement of settlers
and not with the equitable distribution of land, CBF
and, later, INC have simply ignored these infractions.

The INC claims that 1,779 families have been
settled in the Yapacanf colony (INC 1974). In other
words, 1,779 parcels have been allocated. The actual
number of families present in the colony may be much

320

less in view of the prevalence of acquiring more than
one piece of colonial property. Now, as the Yapacanf
moves toward self-determination, the general philosophy
prevails that soon it simply will not matter.

Five informants admitted having access to more
than one parcel of land, and 13 owned land as well as
urban lots which were often the site of a store or
other business enterprise. Many of those interivewed
knew of neighbors who, in addition to their Yapacanf
holdings, had land and homes in other colonies or nearby
f armi ng vi 1 1 ages .

Chain migration has played an important role in
the settlement history of the Yapacanf colony, as it has
in other areas of the department. Nineteen of the 29
informants stated that they have other relatives living
in the-colony and that the first family members to arrive
were instrumental in helping their kin to settle in and
to obtain a parcel. All of the 19 persons claiming
relatives in the settlement in addition to their nuclear
family explained that on at least one occasion they
offered food and temporary shelter to kin who had ar-
rived from the highlands. Many also assisted these new
colonists in building homes and in initial land clearing.

Giving aid in this manner not only is indica-
tive of the presence of cooperati vi sm among family mem-
bers and, at time, among persons from the same village

321

Table 41

1

Rel ati ves i i n Col ony

Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Yes

No

Total

19
JO
29

66.0

34.0

100.0

or region, but also is representative of a functioning
system of mutual aid and reciprocal obligations reminis-
cent of the highland Ayni . The new arrival has estab-
lished a debt relationship with his kin member or friend.
The latter may ask for reciprocation in the form of
clearing, planting, harvesting, or all three. These
work relationships often continue indefi nitely, especial ly
in such areas as the colonies where wage labor is diffi-
cult to obtain. Fictive kinship ties may be established
which will further strengthen thebond.

If possible, family members or persons from the
same village frequently try to find land near one another
to shorten travel distance between farms and to recreate
a semblance of previous communality. Hence, many sectors
of the Yapacanf are segregated by highland region, and
particular localities will be well represented in a
circumscribed area. For example, four of the five persons

322

interviewed at El Palmar were from a small village in
Potosf, while Chori was settled almost entirely by Cocha-
bambinos.

Although there are no avai 1 abl e data which break
down origin of colonists by region for the entire colony,
partial information indicates that Cochabamba may supply
a large percentage of migrants to the settlement. Villa
Busch is a composite community, drawing its population
from all areas within the Yapacanf. For this reason,
it is possible to consider the urban area of Villa Busch
as somewhat of a microcosm of the colony itself. Fortu-
nately, there are some recent statistics concerning the
population composition of the town. In November, 1975,
a Salesian priest working in the urban area conducted a
house-to-house census for the purpose of ascertaining
the size of his parish. Included in this survey were
questions dealing with them i grant's place of origin.
Cochabamba was shown to have contributed the largest
percentage of inhabitants to Villa Busch.

As the figures in Table 42 indicate, 34 indi-
viduals cited nations other than Bolivia as their last
place of residence. It is unknown whether these were
repatriated highlanders or actually Chilean, Argentine,
or Brazilian emigrants. In the case of Argentina, at
least, given the existence of Bolivian-Argentine migrants
in other lowland 1 ocal i ties , i t is entirely possible that

323

Table 42

Migrant Origins by Region
Villa Busch (Solari 1975)

Region

Number

La Paz

Beni

Cochabamba

Oruro

Potosf

Chuquisaca (Sucre)

Tarija

Chile

Argentina

Brazil

91

73
340
158
280
109

62
8

20
6

many of those 20 persons were Bolivian harvesters who
entered Argentina illegally and subsequently were ex-
pel 1 ed.

The survey also emphasized the prevalence of
multiple resource exploitation in the Villa Busch settle-
ment. In the present urban area of the Villa, 896 lots
have been sold to col oni sts , but only 451 had owners
in residence at the time of the census. Whoever had
been left to care for the house or store often explained

324

that the owner was elsewhere tending to farmland or another
lot.

There were 11 chicherfas operating in Villa Busch.
They were located at the point where the Faja Norte joins
the main road on the western outskirts of the town. Three
chicheras were interviewed and all were colonists who had
commenced chicherfa businesses only after first having
worked agricultural parcels in the colony. These women
knew of two females who seemed to be professional chi-
cheras, not owning land or the buildings from which they
conducted their chicha trade. Until recent years, the
only alcoholic beverage available in the colonies was
cane alcohol. It could be sold in small quantities at
a good profit. So, until transportation facilities into
the colony improved, cane alcohol in compact cans and
not chicha in large, heavy wooden barrels, was the
alcoholic mainstay of the colony. Later, as transport
became easier and cargo costs dropped, chicha was shipped
into the Yapacanf. Now the demand is great enough to
permit both the daily preparation of chicha and the
presence of a few professional chicheras.

As would be expected among a largely rural popu-
lation as was found in the Yapacanf colony, illiteracy
rates for the sample group of migrants were high. Once
again, females exhibited a lower incidence of literacy
skills than did males. Rates of illiteracy among the

325

Yapacanf sample at 79 per cent were greatly above the
national average of 47 per cent (Chirikos et^ al^. 1971
246).

Table 43

11 li
(No. and

teracy
Per Cen

t)

Literate

111

iterate

Total

Males

Females

Total

4 44.0
12 10.0
16 21.0

5
23

56.0
90.0
79.0

9 100.0
20 100.0
29 100.0

Finally, dress patterns among women displayed
large-scale retention of the traditional pollera. Mes-
tizo wear was encountered only on two female informants.
Unlike other areas of the lowlands where highlanders
and lowlanders cohabit, the Yapacanf colony is a high-
land domain and even young school gi rl s wear the pollera.
In contrast, it was found that youngsters who attended
schools where Cambas were present preferred to use
mestizo cl othi ng .

326

Table 44
Dress Style

Traditional Mestizo

Absolute Relative Absolute Relative
Frequency Frequency (%) Frequency Frequency (%)

Males 0 0.0

Females 18 90.0
Total 62.0

9

100.0

2

38.0

10.0

The San Julian Colony

The eastern branch of the Montero highway leads
to the Rfo Grande, or at least to within nine kilometers
of the river's western shore. On the other side, the
San Julicin colony begins, stretching in a northerly
direction 72 kilometers along an old dirt track. The
colony ends at the San JuliSfn river, but the road con-
tinues on into eastern Santa Cruz and to the villages
of San Ramdn, Santa Rosa de la Mina and San Javier.
All of these are Camba communities founded by the
Jesuits as reducciones for Guarayo (Guaranf) Indians
of the area. San Julian has a lengthy history of settle-
ment like the distant Yapacanf, and also has witnessed
at least two attempts to open terrain for successful
colonization. An initial zone near the Rfo Grande was

327

328

inaugurated about 1968. Fifty -hectare plots at 150-meter,
intervals were laid out along the unimproved road for
a distance of 40 kilometers. Prior to this period,
however, lowlanders from San Javier and even the more
remote village of San Ignacio had settled on parts of
the proposed colonial territory. Squatters' rights
prevailed and the colony had to be planned around them.
Later, when San Julicin was opened for official coloniza-
tion, a few highlanders responded to the offer of free
farmland, but the majority of residents continued to
be Cambas from nearby villages. The Instituto Nacional
de Col onizacidn supplied parcel surveys and wells with
hand pumps every four kilometers but little more. It
was evident that the colony was not progressing as planned
and funding was withdrawn.

The agricultural boom of the 70's awakened new
interest in San Julicin. Financing for settlement of the
area beyond kilometer 40 was obtained from USAID (US
$200,000) along with a West German loan which included
technical assistance for the construction of a secondary
road from the Rfo San Julian to the Rfo Grande--the
length of the zone set aside for colonial development.
By mid-1975, approximately one-third of the road had
been completed.

Unlike the first 40 kilometers of the old section
of the colony which was laid out on a linear plan, the

329

new segment of San Jul icin has been divided into nine
nucleos with 40 pie-shaped parcels radiating out from
each settlement nucleus. The nine nucleos occupy an
area 144 kilometers square, with Nucleos 1, 2 and 3
located along the main road. Nucleos 4, 5 and 6 along
with 7, 8 and 9 are lateral to the roadside settlement,
forming a compact colonization block. All nine nucleos
have wells with hand pumps, and there are plans to widen
the footpaths connecting the lateral parcels to the main
road.

At the time of the researcher's visit to the
colony in June, the slack season between crops, very
few colonists were actually in residence. Only Nucleos
1, 2, 7 and 8 presently were open for settlement and
of these, 7 and 8 were virtually empty. Nucleo 1 was
composed of highlanders, many related to one another
through consangui neal or affinal ties, and all were
ex-harvesters.

Nucleo 2 was a settlement of mixed inhabitants,
but the majority were Cambas of Guarayo stock. The
INC was methodically but covertly segregating the colony
into Camba and Kolla residential zones, and two Camba
families previously living in Nucleo 1 had been re-
quested to change thei r 1 ocation to Nucleo 2. Part of
the pressure on these lowlanders to move to another
nucleo was exerted by the highland colonists in

330

Nucleo 1 who wanted the property for additional kin
members .

Nucleo 7 had been settled by a group of migrants
from the Potosf area, but none were present. Other colo-
nists stated that a few of the Potosinos had returned
to the interior to vi si t rel ati ves but that most had gone
into Montero to work in the cane and cotton harvests.

The final area, Nucleo 8, was granted to a group
of Bolivians who had been living illegally in Chile and
who were expelled from the country en masse. The Bolivian
government was faced with the problem of relocating these
repatriots, and San Juli^in was handy. There were only
three of the original 40 families in residence at the
time of the study, many having found a means of return-
ing to Chile. Thus Nucleos 1 and 2, situated on the main
road were the sole areas within the new San Julicin col-
ony which contained their full complement of colonists.

From the nucleated section to the San Julian
River, or some 12 kilometers, there are a few Guarayos
squatting on the government land. In the near future,
this area also will be platted for settlement by high-
landers.

In many respects, the San Julian colony resembles
the Yapacant of former years. San Julicin is a very dif-
ficult area in which to live. The Rfo Grande must be
crossed on a barge or in a canoe, and, like, the Yapacant

331

River, it is prone to flash flooding. In addition, the
improved road through the colony is only partially com-
pleted and transport costs are prohibitive. Other than
by walking, the colonist's sole way in and out of San
Julicin is on logging trucks which are at work in the
forests beyond the colony. The new secondary road under
construction wi 1 1 lower the cost of market goods and
transport fees, but the colonists must await the com-
pletion of a bridge spanning the RTo Grande before any
substantial development will occur. And the Rto Grande
bridge is a long way from becoming reality.

Unlike the Yapacant, however, the majority of
the problems of San Julian will not be solved by the
building of roads and bridges. The colony of San Julian
has a much more tragic flaw--the area is too arid* for
profitable rice production and as yet the colonist has
no viable substitute. The 1974 rice crop failed from
lack of adequate precipitation. Much of the older
section of the colony (kilometers 1 to 40) already
has been consolidated into large cattle ranches and it
appears that this will be the fate of most of the area.
In the case of San JuliSln, the succession of small farmer

*Mean annual precipitation for the Yapacanf
is 1,500 mm while that of the San JuliSfn area mea-
sures approximately 800 mm (Cochrane 1 973 : 261 ;358) .

332

to large landholder evidently will occur much more
rapidly than in the more humid zones.

As previously noted, Nucleos 1 and 2 are the
primary settlement centers in San Julicin. The INC has
an encampment at kilometer 40 which serves as a base of
operations for colonial administration, but it is not
until kilometer 52, Nucleo 1, that the first semblance
of a community appears. Nucleo 1 is the less developed
of the two sites, with a school and three or four houses
built on the edge of the road. One of these dwellings
is a two-story adobe brick house built in the highland
tradition. The design is ill-suited to the area, how-
ever, and signs or erosion are beginning to appear on
the walls and near the foundations. This building is
the one commercial outlet in Nucleo 1. The owner has
stocked a small front room with such items as kerosene,
lamps, matches, cane alcohol and shotgun shells. The
cost of cartage to Nucleo 1 is US $1.00 per 100 pounds
of cargo, pushing the cost of imported foodstuffs and
merchandise beyond the reach of many colonists.

Nucleo 2 has many more structures and visible
residences than its neighbor four kilometers down the
road. The West German construction company has built
a camp at Nucleo 2 which adds to the semblance of
activity there, and residents have erected a storehouse
as part of an INC effort to establish a credit cooperative,

333

In addition, the community has a school and several
small kiosks scattered along the edge of the highway to
cater to passing road gangs. Most of the residences are
pauhuichis of the Camba Guarayos and a few have front
room stores. One of the plans outlined for the develop-
ment of the colony is to make Nucleo 2 the main colonial
settlement or urban center in the district. The INC
believes that highlanders eventually will gain control
of the community once the road is completed and the
colony begins to expand economically. The Camba farmers
are expected to move on to agricultural lands which are
scheduled for opening during the next several years.

There are also three Mennonite volunteers working
in Nucleo 2 as part of the colonial orientation programs
under the auspices of the Montero-based Iglesias Unidas.
These Mennonites do not belong to the same groups
which have formed colonies east and south of the city
of Santa Cruz, however, but are members of a Canadian
church which requires of its congregation a two-year
tour of service as missionaries.

Colonization of San Jul i 5n wi 1 1 begin in earnest
in 1976, and the Iglesias Unidas will conduct a three-
month orientation course for each incoming contingent
of colonists. It is hoped that by giving the recent
arrivals instruction in lowland agricultural methods,
nutrition and general "survival " techniques , the rate

334

of abandonment will fall below the present 40-50 per
cent level (INC 1974). Some colonists are being urged to
plant soybeans which thrive in the semihumid region, but
for the moment at least, this seems to be an exercise
in futility since there is very little market for raw
soybeans in Bolivia. The orientation program may succeed
in lengthening the average period of residence for the
colonists, but it can do nothing to change the climatic
conditions and resulting patterns of land use inherent
to the San Julian area itself. The general absence of
land cooperatives trying to claim parcels in San Julian
may be the best indicator of the zone's lack of produc-
tive potential for the swidden horticulturist.

The San Julicin Colonists

In terms of accessibility, the San Julicin colony
proved to be the most difficult research site of the
study. A six-hour journey from Montero on the top of
an INC cargo truck loaded with bags of cement carried
the investigator as far as the INC camp at kilometer 40
where the remainder of the night was spent. From there
it would be another 16 kilometers to Nucleo 2, the main
colony settlement and also the location where the three
Canadian Mennonite volunteers were stationed. The
following morning the researcher set out on foot for

335

Nucleo 2, but fortunately a jeep from the West German road
company happened by and picked up the weary traveler.

Once in Nucleo 2, a warm invitation to remain
in their small, one-room pauhuichi was extended by the
Mennonites. The anthropologist was given a place to
sleep in the tumbadillo, a second floor created by placing
planks across the top of the dwel 1 ing ' s wall supports.
Some initial time was spent with the volunteers in learn-
ing the layout of the colony and the recent settlement
hi story of the zone.

Distances between settlement nucleos were at
four-kilometer intervals, so a good deal of walking was
necessary to contact informants. Only three of the nine
nucleos were inhabited at the time of the visit, how-
ever, leaving the study area mercifully reduced in size.
A week had been allotted for the San Julicin segment,
but at the end of the third day it began to rain. The
investigator was reminded that if she planned on getting
out of the colony in the near future, it would be neces-
sary to leave immediately. The road was becoming impas-
sible and the Rfo Grande would be reaching flood levels
within the next several hours. Thus the study was cut
short after only three days in San Julicin. Nine migrants
were interviewed during this period, four in Nucleo 1,
four in Nucleo 2, and a repatriated Bolivian from Chile
who was the only person present in Nucleo 8 at the time.

336

As was the case for San Carlo.s where the migrant
sample population was few in number, the San Julian in-
formants also will be treated as individual subjects.
Time limitations and travel exigencies did not allow
for the same depth in the data as was obtained in San
Carlos, however, but the information gathered does pro-
vide some insights into m i gran tcharact eristics, strate-
gies and 1 i f estyles in San Julicin.

Nucl eo 1

All of the men from Mucleo 1 were in the monte
clearing land for the next pi anti ng season . As a. result,
only women were present for interviews in this locality.
Several were washing clothes by the well near the road.
Two females were questioned here, and two at a house
nearby completed the sample.

The two informants at the well were from Potosf
and Cochabamba, were both i 1 1 iterate and came from rural
villages. They were related affinally, although the
exact nature of the relationship could not be determined.
These individuals confirmed earlier reports that the
nucleo consists of mostly kin members from the Sucre
area. Evidently these two women had married into the
Sucrense family. Benigna Miranda, the 28-year-old
Cochabambina , stated that she and her husband also have
relatives in the Yapacanf and upon arriving in the

337

lowlands had tried unsuccessfully to obtain land there.
As a second choice, the Mirandas came to San Julicfn.
Both of these migrants as well as the two interviewed
at the house had come to the lowlands to work in the
cotton harvest. All cited a general lack of opportunity
as their reasons for migrating to Santa Cruz.

Donata Huanca, the 20-year-old from Potosf, and
one of the women at the farmhouse, Mercedes Ortega,,
talked animatedly about the prospect of buying a lot in
Montero. Although these conversations occurred separately,
many of the same phrases and expressions were employed
by both women, leaving the impression that Montero was
a frequent topic for dialogue in the nucleo. In addi-
tion, Begnigna and Donata implied that their husbands
were dissatisfied with life in this particular colony
and were searching for better land elsewhere.

The two females at the farmhouse, Mercedes Ortega
and Lucy Medina, were also affines; the former had mar-
ried the brother of the latter. Lucy was an 18-year-old
unmarried woman from Sucre. Her sister-in-law, Mercedes,
aged 23, came from Potosf and was holding her newly
arrived first-born child. The young Sucrense explained
that there were six members of her father's family of
orientation as well as her own siblings present in the
nucleo. She also thought that a few of the others may
be distant relatives but was not certain. These

338

informants retold the story of the Camba families which
had been requested by INC to move out of Nucleo 1 into
Nucleo 2. The women were quite frank about the concerted
effort of family members directed against the presence
of the lowlanders in the nucleo. The land simply was
needed for other relatives, they explained.

Mercedes was the more adamant of the two in
her desire to leave the colony, preferably to move to
Montero. She also stated that she had relatives in the
Yapacanf and thought that it was a much better place to
livethanSanJulicin.

Nucleo 2

The inhabitants in Nucleo 2 were largely Camba
Guarayos, many of whom had been in the region for a
decade or more, squatting on government lands. When the
new colony was opened, several families moved closer in,
made formal petitions for parcels and settled in Nucleo
2 to begin community life. Because the researcher was
in this nucleo during the evening hours, it was possible
to interview three males who normally would not be found
at home during the daytime. Al 1 three were sitting in
a house next to the Mennonite pauhuichi and, although
they were not related to one another, they had been
friends for a number of years. Two were from San Ignacio
and the third was from a rancho near Santa Rosa. Each

339

man had worked monte in this area since boyhood. It was
interesting that none expressed the same philosophy of
settlement as was found among many of the highland colo-
nists--to acquire and keep as much good land as possible.
These rural Cambas felt that the land in wilderness areas
was i nal i enable--there to be farmed and not owned. The
men had no intention of becoming "colonists." They
were in San Julian because they had always worked the
mohte in this region.

The fourth informant at Nucleo 2 was a female
highland migrant who was found washing clothes by the
well. She had come to the lowlands with a sister to
work in the cotton harvest. Both were now married, the
sister living on a farm near Cuatro Ojitos. This woman,
Fortunata Gutierrez, was not certain of her age but thought
she was about 22. She was illiterate. Fortunata came
from a mountain village in the department of Oruro where
life was yery hard, she said. She was more than happy
to leave the highlands where she felt that she had little
future, "solo frio y hambre, no mas" (only cold and
hunger, that's all). Fortunata was confident that
together with her husband, who she said was a hard worker,
they would make a good life in the lowlands. Fortunata
finished by saying that in the highlands her husband had
always worked as a peon and now he had his own land.
They too had lost their rice crop the previous year.

340

but unlike the other highland women in Nucleo 1, Fortu-
nata still had faith in the land and in the colony.

Nucleo 8

The only person living in Nucleo 8 at the time
of the researcher's trip to San Julicin was Flora Vedia,
a Bolivian repatriate from Chile. She was an anomaly in
the colony; an unmarried woman in her late twenties,
a campesino by birth but not by upbringing who had com-
pleted a high school education. She came to the colony
with a brother who had remained in Bolivia. Flora had
her own parcel, nevertheless, and worked it herself.
When asked if she would mind the use of a tape recorder
while she related her story. Flora said no and gladly
agreedto the interview. Her story follows. •

I was born in Oruro, no? Not right in
the city of Oruro, in the town of . . .
it's part of Oruro (department) . . .
Turco. I was born there. Later, I left
as a young girl. At the age of five,
according to my mother, we went to my
father ' s fami ly' s place. It's a little
farther on, a nearby village, no? We
settled in one of my father's houses
and I was there until age seven. At
seven, I went to Chile, with my family,
no? with my mother, no? Because of
the bad situation we had there (Oruro),
they raise sheep and llamas, that's all.
Besides, there was the problem with
my mother because she fought a lot with
my father, and everything else with the
marriage. His family was always making
troubl e--that ' s why my mother left, no?
Then when she went to Chile she was fine,
the people there treated her Mery well.

341

and my mother didn't want to come back.
Then she sent for us, we all went later
because she was there a month before we
arrived. Then we were all there, then at
seven I had gone. I completed my primary
school there. I did my schooling through
the sixth grade in a little town cailled
Camifia in the interior in a region called
Iquiqui. Then, after that I left Iquiqui
to study Humanities, no? But our economic
situation was \jery bad--my father didn't
want to help us any longer, and my mother
worked very hard alone. So that she
wouldn't have to sacrifice herself any
longer, I didn't want to study. Then we
came to Arica, to some of my mother's
family, no? an aunt. She wanted to help
us so that I could continue to study and
also my older brother. We were there
until '73, when we came here (Bolivia).
But there during those years in Arica,
eight or ten years, no? I finished
secondary school and received my bachiller
and was going on to the university,
no? When we had to return as repatriates
because of my own stupidity. They
didn't tell us they were going to throw
out foreigners because when the govern-
ment changed they were only interested
in getting rid of the, people involved in
politics, no? But they found those of us
who didn't have documents. And in my
case, my mother had said, "take care of
your documents because you are of age now,"
and I had to do them alone, not with my
mother, no? So they had to give me my
own passport. They demanded that I have
a passport, no? When we left here (Bolivia
my mother had a passport for herself and
the children, but we lost it. We had no
proof of our entry. When we went to the
consulate (Bolivian) they acted very badly
and didn't want to help us. They said we
could only get a passport in Bolivia and
that we had to have an identification card
which we didn't. And they demanded, no?
Then I went to the Chilean authorities and
they told me that I would have to insist at
the consulate. I didn't have enough money
to go to Bolivia, getmy papers and return.

342

I only had my birth certificate but with
only that they wouldn't give me my identi-
fication card-- "No hay, no se puede."
Later, after about four years, the consul
was changed so I tried again. He was a
better person and he told me that he was
going to give mea passport, no? But
they needed all sorts of documents and I
didn't have them, and I was working too,
without permission. All my brothers had
their documents in order and are there
now with permanent residence. I was the
only one without permission to stay,
because of my own inaction. Then I had
to leave the country when another govern-
ment came in and said that we had to leave.
There were a lot of Bolivians and they
took us to La Paz. But we couldn't find
any work and demanded that the government
try to help us, so they sent us here.
A lot of the people I came with were from
the valley of Azapa in Arica, farming people,
but now that better relations have begun
between Chile and Bolivia, many got their
, documents and returned. I am going to try
to make a go of it here, if it is possible.
If not, I will just have to go somewhere
else, but not the interi or--there is nothing
there, nothing there for anyone.

Nucleo 8 was named Nueva Azapa in honor of the

Chilean valley from which many of the repatriates had

been sent. Now that most have gone, the INC has attempted

to remove the Chilean name and replace it with one of

Bolivian origin. Since the War of the Pacific, when

Bolivia lost its seacoast, Bolivia and Chile have never

been on the best of terms. The presence of persons in

the colony whose primary allegiance was to Chile and not

to Bolivia was a constant source of aggravation to INC

officials. Naming the colony after a Chilean locality

only served to exacerbate the situation. Now that most

343

of the repatriates have left, the INC is moving swiftly to
erase all evidence of this particular episode in the colony's
hi story.

During the initial years of colonization in
the Santa Cruz region, many of the people who were brought
from the highlands to settle in wilderness areas eventu-
ally left the colonies. At first, most returned to the
interior. There were few opportunities available in
Santa Cruz in those years. Market routes were nonexistent,
and if farm produce did reach marketing centers, the low
prices paid for it did not really make the effort worth-
while.

As the region rapidly began to develop in the
1960's, colonization areas became staging centers for
many highland migrants. At the time, the colonies served
much the same function as dothe cotton fields at present--
they provided temporary sites for preadaptation to lowland
life. For those migrants who arrived directly from the
highlands and who had little acquaintance with swidden
horticulture, colonization offered an ideal learning
situation. Although colonial life was, and continues to
be harsh and difficult, it gave many migrants needed
farming expertise and at the same time provided them with
an initial means of accumulating capital for alternative
endeavors.

344

Today, the agricultural boom of Santa Cruz has
created a demand for arable land, including t,hat found
in agricultural settlements. Many migrants now remain
in the colonies, successfully adapting to life in these
remote areas. The exigencies of shifting agriculture
frequently require that subsequent holdings be obtained,
however. Thus in such areas as the Yapacanf,it is
common to find colonists moving to another parcel after
they have exhausted their first- and second-growth
forest.* If available, new land will be acquired within
the confines of the Yapacanf colony itself, but it is
not uncommon for migrants to move from one colony to
another in search of virgin territory. In the San Julian
case, it may be expected that the process of horizontal
migration will be telescoped into a shorter time span
due to the general unsui tabi 1 i ty of the area for rice
production. San Julian colonists are already in the
market for land in other zones. .

Concurrent with this horizontal pattern of
sequential migration within and among the colonies is
that of multiple resource migration. In the latter
situation, farmlands and other holdings are consolidated
for simultaneous exploitation. Exhausted rice fields

*0n a 20-hectare parcel, deforestation will take
an average of five to eight years.

345

are put to pasture for cattle, new lands are obtained
for rice, and commercial property may be held in colonial
centers or even in larger towns such as San Carlos or
Montero.

Whether sequential, multiple resource, or step
migration, all of these migratory patterns existing in
the agricultural settlements contribute to a highly
unstable colonial population. Unless cooperati vi sm
is successfully institutionalized in the highland migrant
colonies as it has been in those of the Mennonites,
Japanese and Okinawans, it is doubtful that the govern-
ment's goal of ful 1 -sedentariness will be achieved.
For the present, spatial mobility is a requisite for
econbmi c stabi 1 i ty.

CHAPTER EIGHT

MIGRATION AMD THE DEPARTMENT OF SANTA CRUZ:
A CONCLUDING STATEMENT

One of the more interesting aspects of studying
migration as a regional, and to a lesser degree, national
phenomenon is the remarkable i nterrel atedness of indi-
vidual patterns and processes which develop from the
data. Population movement ceases to be the mere summa-
tion of numerous isolated experiences but instead
emerges as an integrated system of adaptive strategies.
Behavior which may seem random or unrelated to a wider
context may be perceived as integral to an overall con-
figuration of experiential response. Migration no longer
may be accurately portrayed as a static situation, a
moment captured and frozen in time and space, but as an
ongoingprocessofchange.

In the foregoing chapters, the migrant experience
in lowland Bolivia has been described in relation to
differing' settlement situations and the concomitant
strategies employed for successful adaptation to these
various social, economic and physical environments.
In addition, motivational factors , migration patterns

346

347

and processes have been discussed for each research site.
In all of the five localities investigated, certain con-
ditions called forth particular migrant responses which
might be considered peculiar to the site due to its dis-
creet history and socioeconomic development. On the other
hand, much of the information gleaned from each area has
definite bearing on the regional pattern of migration
and on the migration process as a whole. It is to this
latter topic that the present chapter will be addressed.
A comparative analysis of the data gathered in each study
site will be presented, the nomothetic principles advanced
by Everett Lee (see Chapter One) will be tested, and
finally, an integrated descriptive model will be proffered
to explicate population flows in the Department of
Santa Cruz.

The Urban-Rural Dichotomy

Alers and Appl ebaum 's first proposition, dis-
cussed in Chapter One, in essence states that migrants
tend to gravitate toward destination points which have
some sociostructural similarity to the point of origin.
It appears that the Santa Cruz evidence supports this
hypothesi s .

For a frontier area, the Department of Santa Cruz
presents somewhat of an anomaly in that it has a large

348

urban center in its midst. The city of Santa Cruz is
not a pioneer outpost representing the fringe of civiliza-
tion such as Tingo Marfa in Peru or Florencia in Colombia.
It is a primate city of over 170,000 inhabitants and
offers many of the same attractions and services as urban
areas everywhere. Thus the department is the recipient
of two migrant streams which represent both the rural
and urban segments of the nation.

Those migrants with urban backgrounds, ascribed
or achieved, for the most part are seeking residence in
the city of Santa Cruz. The rural migrants, on the other
hand, are given an opportunity to select either an urban
settlement or continued rural existence on a lowland farm.
It is notable, however, that if an urban residence is
chosen by the rural migrant, it is Montero, not Santa
Cruz, which becomes the preferred destination. The
hypothesis that if conditions permit, migrants will seek
situations of structural similarity again proves valid
in this case. Montero is a smaller city than Santa Cruz
and consequently many of the problems inherent to urban
life are reduced in scale or do not appertain. Even
more importantly, Montero is a rural city, if this con-
tradiction in terms may be permitted. Montero in many
respects is a country village which has grown in area
and population, but the fundamental rural ambience of
the city remains relatively unchanged. Rural persons in

349

Montero, for example, do not have the same sense of im-
personal i zati on as they do in the city of Santa Cruz.
Moreover, Montero offers additional attractions for the
highland rural migrant. The city has become a highland
stronghold. Montero is located in the heart of the
agricultural region of the department and has become a
recreational as well as service center for highland
campesinos working or living in the lowlands. There
are two large markets and more than an adequate number
of chicherfas. There are also job opportunities in
Montero for the unskilled laborer, and farm work is
available in area contiguous to town. Santa Cruz with
its highly urban atmosphere on the other hand offers no
comparable attractions for the rural migrant. Hence it
appears that if presented with a choice, the urban-bound
rural migrant will select that locality which is more
closely aligned to his or her specific needs and attributes,
a ci ty 1 i ke Montero.

Although only two cases of Montero-Santa Cruz
migration were encountered among the city of Santa Cruz
migrant sample population, it is possible that this par-
ticular aspect of lowland migration wi 1 1 increase. Montero
represents an intermediate step for rural persons seeking
urban involvement, and may therefore become a temporary
residence for migrants on their way to Santa Cruz. There
also exists the possibility that large-scale

350

Montero-Santa Cruz migration among highlanders will never
occur. Montero is growing rapidly and is located on a
major transportation artery. Once the highway through
the Chapare is 1 inked wi th the Yapacanf road, Montero
willbe the closer of the two cities on the new route
to the interior; its importance as a regional center could
then begin to eclipse that of Santa Cruz. Furthermore,
Montero is being converted to a city of highlanders,
and ethnic solidarity is a strong positive factor to
remain there. In contrast, Santa Cruz is a Camba city,
and all indications are that it will remain so for a
1 ong time to come.

Motivational Factors in Migration

The negative factors at the point of origin and
the positive factors at the destination site which con-
tributed to the decision to migrate were largely economic
in all five study areas. Of the entire regional sample
population numbering 154 individuals, 64 per cent gave
economic motives for migration. The economic stagnation
in the highlands in both the rural and urban sectors
has been a major "push" factor for most of the Bolivians
moving to the lowlands. This situation had been build-
ing for many years, but it was not until Santa Cruz had
something to offer the migrant that population movement

351

into the district began on a large scale. This situation

may be compared to Alers and Applebaum's Proposition 37

whichstates

Motivations which are strongly economic
exercise a more influential role as pull
factors than as push; that is to say,
there is a greater propensity among
migrants to feel attracted by increased
economic opportunities in a locality
than to feel expelled from the place of
or i gin simply asaresu It ofeconomic
problems. (Alers and Applebaum 1968:15)

Once expansion of Crucenan agriculture, together
with the growth of the petroleum industry, began increas-
ing available capital in the region, the stage was set for
internal migration. The phenomenal growth in farm produc-
tion along with the labor-intensive nature of the products
cultivated created a ready market for seasonal labor.
Harvesting became the gateway for many seeking not only
new opportunities but hope of a better life. After
migrants had worked the canefields and cotton harvest,
many decided to remain, finding additional markets for
their labor or purchasing small farms in the region.
The agricultural boom also contributed to the flow of
capital into the lowland urban centers, and, along with
petroleum royalties, helped to finance private and
public work projects which also demanded large quanti-
ties of primarily unskilled labor. Thus cities such as
Montero and Santa Cruz became the destination points of
an urban flow from the highlands which complemented its
rural counterpart.

352

Once the primary stream of migrants into the
lowlands began to grow steadily, a secondary stream com-
menced. The later was composed of people who would find
income opportunities as a consequence of the presence of
the migrant population itself--the market vendors, the
dealers in soft- and hardware, the entrepreneurs, and
ofcourse, thechicheras.

Although economic incentives occupied a position

of primacy in stated migration motivations, it was also

evfdent that many additional inputs were involved in the

resolution to migrate. To again quote Wilkie,

the economic factor helps condition the
need to migrate, but whether the final
decision to migrate is made or not re-
verts in most cases to the psychol ogical ,
social, spatial and environmental per-
ceptions and attitudes within the family
unit. (Wilkie 1968:109)

The majority of the Santa Cruz migrants in the

total sample population stated that they were influenced

by relatives, friends, or other individuals to make the

move, and that once they were in the lowlands, had that

decision reinforced by similar networks of individuals.

Among those who arrived as harvesters, contratados or

voluntarios, peer pressure was extremely influential in

the decision to migrate. Harvesters frequently arrived

in groups derived from kinship ties, f riendshi ps , or

local residence, and once an initial commitment had been

made by one or more members to migrate, pressure was

exerted on others to join the exodus.

353

Although they were secondary to economic motives,
reasons for migrating such as visiting, military service,
or running away were frequently cited. Runaways have
created an interesting situation in that they may be
inadvertently contributing to the migration of relatives
or friends who come to the lowlands to find them. During
the study, a number of parents of runaways were encoun-
tered throughout the region. In some cases they had found
their offspring and had decided to remain in Santa Cruz.
In others, however, the search had not as yet had any
positive results. These parents were unanimous in their
decision to remain in eastern Bolivia until their child
or children could be found. Because of the nature of
the cotton harvest which enables children as well as
adults to find employment, increasing numbers of highland
youth are leaving their homes in search of adventure and
a taste of freedom from household demands. Since work
is readily available for these individual s , most do not
returnunless coerced.

Migrant Settlement Patterns

Settlement patterns of migrants in the five study
sites were a reflection of the demands of the physical
and social environments of each locality as well as a
consequence of the natureofthe settlement process itself.

354

Thus the two major influencing factors in the location
of migrants in a settlement situation were (1) the rate
and volume of migration to an area, and (2) the existing
socioeconomic and physical dimensions of the site.

In Santa Cruz, Montero, and, to a certain extent,
Warnes, the rate and volume of migrants arriving in these
areas playedthe major role in establishing settlement
patterns. When migrants arrive in large numbers over a
relatively short period of time, they tend to consolidate
in areas or barrios which as a result demonstrate a high
degree of ethnic solidarity. Thus the cities of Santa
Cruz and Montero and the town of Warnes exhibit specific
migrant settlement zones. The pressure of large numbers
of migrantsin these cities spurred the allocation of
vacant lands for the formation of migrant neighborhoods.
In the case of Santa Cruz, settlement patterns within the
migrant barrios have followed the spatial expansion of
the city and bear a definite structural relationship to
it. This has also followed to a certain extent in Mon-
tero since the developmental progression of the city has
been toward the migrant neighborhood. In Montero, low-
landers were instrumental in deciding the ultimate loca-
tion of highland barrios and efforts were successful in
relocating the migrant population outside of the inner
core of the city.

355

In the vil lage situation , as exemplified by San
Carlos, migrant volumes and rates have been small due to
a relatively stable economic base. As a result, settle-
ment of migrants has tended to be integrated with that
of the community as a whole. It might be hypothesized
that should the village for some reason begin attract-
ing a substantial number of migrants, pressures would
be brought to bear on the owners of large landholdings
within the three-kilometer urban radius of the community
to relinquish these properties for settlement by migrants
as developed in Santa Cruz, Monterb and Warnes. Since
migration to San Carlos has tended to occur in small
amounts over a long period of time, however, the San
Carlos immigrant has found it necessary to become inte-
grated socially, economically, as well as spatially into
the existing village structure. Unlike their counter-
parts in areas of high migrant concentrations, the San
Carlos highlanders cannot exist within their own socio-
economic mi lieu.

The colonies present an ambience where settlement
patterns have been somewhat predetermined by a planned
program of land allocation. Even so, sites are chosen
which enable family members and groups from the same
place of origin to locate in contiguous relationships
within each colonial sector. In the colonies, however,
highlanders are in the vast majority, and unlike other

356

sites where Cambas predominate, are not affected to any
significant degree by local residence patterns.

The existence or absence of rental housing was
also a reflection of differing rates and volumes of migra-
tion to a given locality. The greatest incidence of
rental housing was found in the two urban centers, Santa
Cruz and Montero, where immigration rates are high.
In both sites, the influx of migrants in need of immediate
shelter created a large enough demand for housing that
established highlanders were eager to take economic ad-
vantage of the situation. Thus the existence of numerous
multifamily units or inexpensive temporary shelter is
prevalent in these areas. Rental complexes were also
encountered in the main settlement of the Yapacanf, Villa
Busch, which is now experiencing an increase in its urban
population due to the growth of the marketing sphere in
the colony. In all areas which manifest rental housing,
the majority of these units remain on the periphery or
in the newest section of the residential district. As
stabilization begins, to occur , rental housing in the
barrio decreases or moves to the limites of the settle-
ment.

Characteristics of Migrants

As a result of research in Peru, Stillman
Bradfield was able to draw certain inferences about the

357

nature of the individual who migrated from the countryside
to an urban center. In general, the Peruvian migrants in
the Bradfield study tended to have a higher rate of
literacy than the general population, were younger than
the population as a whole, were more independent and
demonstrated greater progress iveness in their thinking
(Bradfield 1973). As a group, the Santa Cruz sample
exhibited certain similarities to Bradfield's migrants
but differed in other respects.

Youth seems to be a universal characteristic
of migrants. Studies of migration conducted in numerous
areas of the world among both urban and rural populations
emphasize the tendency to migrate before age 30. Alers
and Applebaum have included this particular character-
istic of migrants as Proposition 70 which. states that
"Migrants tend to be young, probably younger than 30
years of age in the majority, at the time of migration"
(Alers and Appl ebaum 1 968 : 27 ) . In Santa Cruz, the mean
age of the sample informants was 31.7. However, the
average length of residence in the region was five years,
reducing the mean age at the time of arrival to 26.7.
The only sample group in the Santa Cruz study which
demonstrated any significant difference from the mean
ages of the other sample sites was that of the San Julian
colony which had an average age of 23.2 Since only six
highlanders were interviewed in the colony, these figures
are not necessarily representative.

358

In terms of literacy skills, the Santa Cruz migrant
sample demonstrated a lower rate of literacy than the
national average, in contradiction to Bradfield's hypothe-
sis. The estimated rate of illiteracy for Bolivia is
47 per cent (Chirikos ejt aJL- 1971:246). The overall
group of informants displayed a rate of over 68 per cent.
It should be noted, however, that females exhibited a
much greater tendency toward illiteracy than did males,
and ,the sample was skewed heavily toward females in this
study. Seventy-four per cent of those individuals inter-
viewed were women. Had a balanced sample been taken,
the rate of illiteracy may have fallen within or below
that of the nation. On the other hand, it should be
recognized that the majority of migration studies pre-
viously carried out have primarily involved male in-
formants. Especially in areas where females did not
have the same access to education (thereby lowering
the migrant literacy rate), the consistent exclusion
of women from migration studies would affect the figures
regarding literacy among migrant subjects.

Migrants in Santa Cruz also tend to be innovative,
ambitious and adaptable to changing situations. These
qualities are best reflected in the ways in which migrants
derive income and expand their access to available re-
sources. The majority of highland Bolivians who move
to Santa Cruz are of an entrepreneurial type, but this

359

characteristic is manifest especially among women. Al-
though entrepreneurshi p at first appeared to be linked
to urbanism, it was later found that rural migrants as
well were highly motivated to diversify their resources
by entering into commercial and other no.nagricul tural ly
related activities. What was most interesting through-
out the department was the highland woman's ability to
optimize lowland marketing opportunities. Granted, in
many instances, markets actually had to be created, but
once they were it was not long before highlanders domi-
nated the scene. Perhaps of all the traits which might
have been introduced by migrants to lowland society,
marketing has had the most far-reaching impact. Buying
habits have changed in terms of both dietary predilec-
tions and preferred marketing days.

Highland females generally like to sell. They
will sit on street corners selling fruit, erect a small
stand for merchandise, or place a table at a strategic
point to offer cold drinks to passersby. Although sell-
ing is a well-established highland tradition among women
it is also perfectly suited for the lowland environment.
A virtual vacuum in the marketing sphere existed in
Santa Cruz prior to the arrival of highlanders. Hence,
these females were able to move into an economic realm
which not only suited their backgrounds and abilities
but also offered them unlimited opportunity for

3 60

exploitation. Of the female sample population of 115
persons , 60 per cent are engaged in marketing or other
marketing-related activities.

Other females have found the migrant population
itself a suitable source of income. In some localities
such as Santa Cruz, Warnes and Montero, migrants are
numerous enough to permit economic enterprises which
operate as parallel systems. to those of Cambas, and which
depend only on migrants themselves for clients. Many
vendors in markets cater to particular highland commodi-
tiessuch as polleras or coca. The most outstanding
example, of course, is the presence of chicherfas in the
department. In this case a large occupational group has
migrated to Santa Cruz for the sole purpose of providing
chicha to the highland populace.

The male informants covered a wider spectrum of
occupational specialties than did the females. The cate-
gory with the largest number of male migrants was that
of albanil or construction worker. The building boom
and public works projects in most of the larger urban
centers in Santa Cruz is accounting for a great deal of
the employment of highland as well as lowland migrant
males. Construction employs a majority of unskilled
labor, an ideal situation for the young urbanite without
a trade or the rural inhabitant whose only skill is
farming. Other male occupational categories included

361

transport, industry, commerce and, among the villagers
and colonists, agriculture.

Although the Department of Santa Cruz is attract-
ing people from all of the highland regions, distance and
roads seem to be affecting differences in volume of migra-
tion. Cochabamba, the nearest highland city and depart-
ment and also the most accessible in terms of transpor-
tation networks, contributes 45 per cent of the sample
population. Other departments are presented proportion-
ately in relation to their relative distance from Santa
Cruz. The category "other" includes localities such as
road towns on the Santa Cruz-Cochabamba highway, and
the southern department of Tarija. In contrast to

Table 45
Place of Origin

Origin Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency (%)

Cochabamba 70 45.0

Sucre 29 19.0

Potest 22 14.0

Oruro . 15 10.0

Other 12 8.0

La Paz 6 4.0

Total 154 100.0

3.62

Proposition 1 1 of Alers and Applebaum which states that
"geographic proximity of other departments to Lima is
only slightly related to the number of migrants who go
tq Lima-Callao" (Alers and Applebaum 1 968 : 5) , factors
of distance and accessibility are affecting the regional
volume of migrants to Santa Cruz.

Aside from differences in regional origins,
another characteristic feature of migrants in the low-
lands is dress style. Dress patterns among males were
uniformly mesti zo , but then traditional male attire
involves the use of homespun wool pants and a wool
poncho--not at all suitable for the hot, humid climate
of Santa Cruz. The women for the most part continued
to use the pollera which has been adapted to the lowland
environment by using light-weight fabrics. Seventy-six
per cent of the female informants continue to use tra-
ditional wear. There appeared to be no relationship
between length of residence in the lowlands, urban or
rural orientations and dress patterns. Women who had
lived in lowland cities for five or more years were just
as likely to be using the pollera as a newly arrived
rural migrant. The only divergence from this pattern
was found among school-age girls in areas of high Camba
concentration. None of these children would wear a
pollera to school or use an indigenous language while
in the presence of lowland peers. In the colonies.

363

where Cambas are generally absent, young girls frequently
were seen in traditional dress and spoke Quechua or
Aymara freely.

The use of an indigenous language appears to be
more closely tied to sexual difference than to nature of
the place of origin. Urban as well as rural females fre-
quently spoke only a native language whereas all of the
male informants were bilingual or monolingual Spanish
users regardless of where they came from. Several of
those females interviewed in the city of Santa Cruz
exhibited little ability in Spanish although they had
been lowland residents for five or more years. Since
many of these women engage in commerce primarily with
other migrants and live in migrant barrios, the need to
learn Spanish has not arisen. In rural areas, and espe-
cially in the colonies, it is not uncommon to find females
who have been in the lowlands for 10 years or more and
who are completely monolingual indigenous speakers.
Male occupations, on the other hand, tend to bring men
into more frequent contact with lowlanders, thereby
requiring a minimal ability to speak Spanish.

Despite occupational interactions, assimilation
of migrants into the Crucenan population is occurring
slowly. Out of 154 informants, only two had lowland
spouses, and many had contracted marriage in Santa Cruz,
not in the highlands. Part of the problem no doubt is

364

due to the relative lack of constant exposure to Cambas.
Urban migrants move into migrant barrios; rural migrants
work with other highlanders in the cane and cotton har-
vests. In Santa Cruz, Warnes, Montero and the colonies,
major interactions are with other migrants , not with
lowlanders, and by the time highland migrants move to
a small Camba village such as San Carlos, most are
already married. The next generation nevertheless may
bring about a change in this pattern. Migrants' children
except in colonial situations are going to school with
lowlanders. These young people are abandoning not only
traditional dress but also their highland language. In
essence, they want to belong to lowland society and not
be associated with "foreign" traits from the interior.
Some highland parents express concern that their off-
spring seemed embarrassed when Camba friends were in the
migrant home. More than one highland mother complained
that her sons and daughters had requested that she cut
her hair and use mestizo dress. Although ethnic affini-
ties are strong, it may be expected that numerous children
of highland migrants wi 1 1 select lowland spouses as they
arrive at a marriageable age.

Perhaps most notable of all migrant character-
istics was the desire to remain in the lowlands. With
very few exceptions, it was only the older, recently
arrived migrant who expressed dissatisfaction with lowland

365

life. The others had found Santa Cruz not only a suit-
able habitat but one which they deemed far superior to
highland Bolivia. The researcher found it curious that
numerous informants in the lowlands who had spent most,
of their lives in the colder, drier highlands would com-
plain of their former environment. Several informants
did mention their dislike of the heat, but most found
it preferable to the continual cold of the mountains.
Throughout the study such comments were heard as "Me
gusta aquf, aquf estoy bien" (I. like it here, here I am
fine), "En el interior no hay nada, frfo y hambre no
mas" (In the interior there is nothing, cold and hunger,
that's all), and "En el oriente hay para todos" (In
the east, there is something for everyone).

Patterns of Migration in the

Department of Santa Cruz

One of the immediately apparent results of study-
ing migration on a regional scale is the emergence of
a wide range of patterns or types of migration. While
each of the six categories of migration outlined in
Chapter One may be isolated for the purpose of analysis,
in dealing with actual migrant cases it is rare to
encounter only one pattern in evidence. Thi s mul ti pi ici ty
of migration strategies becomes an important factor in
discerning the total scheme of migration within a wider

366

territorial context. Hence, over a period of time the
migrant unit may employ all six types of migration pat-
tern in various permutations and combinations. In the
next several pages, the researcher will explore the
implications of each type of migration as it applies to
the Bolivian case, but once again the reader is reminded
that these patterns consistently act in concert or
sequentially and are merely components of a total system
of popul ati on f 1 ows ,

1. Single-Phase Migration

Of the total sample population of 154 persons,
less than one-third reported that moving to their present
location was their sole experience with migration.
The majority of the single-phase migrants either were
residents of the city of Santa Cruz and had arrived from
a highland city, or were colonial inhabitants who had
come directly from rural areas. The incidence of single-
phase migration in Montero was proportionately much lower
than that encountered in the extreme urban or extreme
rural situation. In Warnes and San Carlos there were
no migrants who had moved there directly from the place
0 f 0 r i g i n .

It is also notable that those migrants from rural
backgrounds who had made a single move from the place of
origin were to be found only in the Yapacanf colony which

367

Table 46
Single-Phase Migrants

Location

mber

Total Sample

Percentage

23

66

48.0

0

20

00.0

3

26

11.0

0

7

00.0

10

29

34.0

0

6

00.0

Santa Cruz
Warnes
Montero
San Carlos
Yapacanf
San Julicin

has a long history of settlement. In most cases these
persons were early colonists who had been brought from
the interior by CBF directly to the colony in the early
1960's. The San Julicin residents, along with the more
recent Yapacant settlers, entered these colonization
areas after harvest seasons in other lowland sectors
or, in the case of the repatriates, after having worked
in the exterior.

Only in the case of highly urbanized situations,
then, was single-phase migration a s igni f icant contri bu-
tion to contemporary migration processes in the lowlands.
It should be emphasized nevertheless that as may be the
case with other types of migration, single-phase may

368

represent only a particular stage in a total sequence'of
migrations by the individual. It would be an interest-
ing project to return to the study area at a later time
to determine how many of the single-phase migrants have
picked up stakes and moved on.

2 . Temporary or Seasonal Migration

It has been estimated by personnel of Obras
PClblicas and the Federacidn de Campesinos that over half
of the highlanders entering the Department of Santa Cruz
do so as the result of harvesting opportunities. Many
persons use seasonal migration as a means of preadapta-
tion to lowland life. There may be numerous return
trips made during a span of several years, or migrants
may decide to remain after their first experience with
the Santa Cruz harvests. Another contingent of migrants
is perpetual seasonal workers using the income derived
from harvesting as a slack season supplement to farm
incomes.

Seasonal migration nevertheless may continue
even after definitive relocation in the lowlands has
occurred. Migrants who entered Santa Cruz via the
cane- or cottonfields but who subsequently have obtained
private ownership of land will often return to the fields
as seasonal migrants like their highland counterparts.
The rice harvest does not conflict with that of cane

369

or cotton and so many migrants working their own small
farms will return to harvesting while awaiting the next
planting season. Thus seasonality may continue as a way
of life for many migrants engaged in near-subsistence
horticulture.

Rural migrants who have become urban dwellers
also frequently join the seasonal work force. In Warnes
and Montero, for example, during the peak of the harvest
season when field laborers are in demand, trucks or
tractors with trailers are driven through the migrant
neighborhoods in search of volunteers.

The influx of seasonal migrants directed toward
fieldwork is accompanied concurrently by that of the
camp-followers. Chicheras and people engaged in com-
merce often migrate from the interior solely for the
duration of the harvest after which they return to the
highlands.

3 . Step Migration

The progressive movement from one locality to
another is regularly occurring among the migrant popula-
tion of Bolivia. Before coming to the lowlands, 18 per
cent of the sample group had made a previous rural-urban
move. Rural-urban migration by stages continues to occur
among highlanders already in the lowlands, and, as men-
tioned previously, Montero may become an important

37 0

intermediate step toward residence in the city of Santa
Cruz. ,

Harvesting, however, has contributed to the
largest incidence of step migration in the lowlands.
Among the rural migrants, 64 per cent used harvesting
as a first stage in acquiring the necessary exposure
for permanent settlement in the lowlands. Some har-
vesters moved to Warnes and Montero to begin an urban
existence, but many others subsequently obtained farm-
land near villages. Of those individuals who initially
selected rural life after working in the harvests, many
ultimately acquired urban property and left the farm.

Step migration is also to be found among the
colonist group. After a decade or so in an agricultural
settlement, a family may decide to move to a nearby
village or even to Montero where public services such
as schools are aval labl e. In this and other examples
of movement by stages, the steps may not always be in
a direct progression toward increased urbanism or rural-
ity, or consistent monetary gain. For example, a rural
highlander may make a single-phase migration to a colony
or arrive there via the harvest. After several years
of labor in the colony a move is made to a village such
as San Carlos where a house may be purchased. Viewed
over time, each of these discreet patterns of migra-
tion (i. e., single-phase, seasonal, rural-rural.

371

rural-urban) may be considered "steps" toward eventual
establ i shment in a particular locality. Step migration,
then, may be retrogressive at times or involve other
types of migration along the way.

4 . Sequential Migration

Among many of the urban-oriented migrants, a
series of sequential horizontal moves has become an
expected part of existence. Because of unstable eco-
nomic conditions in the interior, highlanders often
find it necessary to move from city to city in order to
maintain continual employment. Over one-third of the
migrant sample population in the city of Santa Cruz had
migrated among highland cities prior to coming to the
lowlands. For many of these individuals, the move to
Santa Cruz was considered just one in a sequence of
similar lateral migrations.

In rural areas of the lowlands, sequential moves
are a well-established part of campesino existence whe-
ther Camba or Kolla. When farmlands are depleted and
the agriculturalist has neither the capital nor the
inclination to convert to cattle ranching, the property
often reverts to those with the resources and incentive
to put in pasture for forage animals. The swidden horti-
culturist will then move to another parcel of forest
which can be cut and burned for dry rice cultivation.

372

In previous years, there was adequate monte to permit
slash-and-burn horticulture with very little concern for
land ownership. Squatters' rights were upheld, and even
the landed gentry often looked the other way when someone
cut down a hectare or two for rice. Today, however, prop-
erty suitable for farming is at a premium, making the
practice of shifting agriculture increasingly difficult.
Many farmers now must settle for second-growth forest
instead of the preferred virgin monte alto. In the
future, pressures for land can be expected to hinder
significantly the mobility of the swidden horticultur-
al ist.

5. Chain Migration

Perhaps more than any single factor influencing
the development of migration streams in Bolivia and
perhaps in other areas of the world aswellhas been
that of chain migration. In all five study sites there
was consistent affirmation of the important role that
other migrants had played in the decision to move to
the 1 owl ands .

Chain migration was operative in the city of
Santa Cruz both in augmenting the volume and rate of
migration and. in determining composition of barrios.
Among the seasonal migrants yearly sojourns in the low-
lands had a multiplying effect, and more and more persons

373

were encouraged to leave their highland farms and vil-
lages to migrate to Santa Cruz. The agricultural colo-
nies are filled with extended kin groups and regional
residential units which recruited their migrant membership
as a result of chain migration.

With few exceptions, individuals interviewed
during the investigation revealed that someone has sup-
plied the additional information or impetus which re-
sulted in migration. The rapid increase in rates and
volumes of highlanders leaving the interior for lowland
residence may be viewed as a direct consequence of chain
migration. As increasing numbers of migrants enter the '
Santa Cruz region and find employment and other oppor-
tunities, positive feedback occurs and even greater inci-
dences of migration are generated. Although the govern-
ment's dream of redistributing the highland population
into the lowland regions is at last becoming reality,
this process has occurred almost in spite of national
efforts to organize and execute migration programs.

6. Multiple Resource Migration

While groups of migrants are involved in sequen-
tial, step, seasonal or other patterns of migration,
another segment of the immigrant population is concerned
with the exploitation of multiple resources through the
exercise of a type of migration which permits the

374

simultaneous management of spatially and economically
diverse holdings. As far as the researcher was able to
determine, multiple resource migration seems to be
restricted to rural migrants. Because this type of
migration often involves a combination of rural and urban
property acquisitions, the urban dweller does not seem to
be in the initial position necessary for resource expan-
sion along these lines. Perhaps the closest the urbanite
in the city of Santa Cruz comes to multiple resource
migration is through the attainment of rental properties
within the city. However, a fine distinction does exist
between property acquired specif ical ly for the use of
nonkin and property which is considered an extension
of the family residence, the latter case representing
actual multiple resource migration.

Wherever rural people are found, however, mul-
tiple resource migration is also present. The acquisi-
tion of numerous properties in differing social and
economic environments seems to be a response to the
migrant's propensity for entrepreneurial endeavors as
well as a result of long-standing highland traditions.
The migrant unit which engages in multiple resource
migration usually has been more successful and more
astute in managing and accumulating resources than its
counterpart which moves by step progressions or hori-
zontally. In the latter cases, property holdings

375

normally must be liquidated to finance the next migration
The individuals who engage in multiple resource migration
on the other hand have consolidated adequate capital to
allow for the simultaneous holding of diverse properties
in several localities.

This pattern of migration has proved to be ex-
tremely adaptive to the present economic structure of
the Department of Santa Cruz. The small farmer finds it
difficult to expand his income solely through agricul-
tural activities. Swidden horticulture is labor inten-
sive so, unless a family has a large number of resident
males, profits must give way to labor costs. By moving
into other economic endeavors, not only are new sources
of income available, but they also allow for a greater
division of labor. Females, the elderly, and often
children who contribute only partially to farm incomes
are now engaged in commercial or other enterprises which
render these individuals full participants in the eco-
nomic sphere of family activity.

The Process of Migration:
Testing the Lee Hypotheses

The movement of individuals from one place to
another is not random but rather exhibits certain regu-
larities. According to Everfett Lee, population flows or
streams result from discernible processes which are

376

governed by numerous factors at the points of origin and
destination, by the intervening obstacles, and by a series
of personal attributes. As outgrowth of this initial
theoretical framework, Lee has devised a set of hypothe-
ses concerning the volume of migration under varying
conditions, the development of a stream and counterstream,
and migrant characteristics. These hypotheses were gen-
erated with the intent of providing a series of principles
with universal applicability for the analysis of migra-
tion processes. The Lee hypotheses of migration will now
be tested with reference to the Santa Cruz data.

Volume of Migration

1. The volume of migration within a given territory
varies with the degree of diversity of areas in-
cluded in that territory.

In the case of Santa Cruz, this first principle
has particular relevance. As the economic situation in
the department improves, more areas are made accessible
for settlement by agriculturalists and revenues are
available for urban development. The existence of
diverse socioeconomic environments in both the urban and
rural sectors has given great impetus to the movement
of population from the interior of Bolivia to the low-
lands. This wide range of opportunity has created strong
incentives for migration not only among the urban and
rural poor, but also has occasioned a less visible stream

377

of white collar workers and wealthy elite who have found
lowland life not only profitable but enjoyable. The
contemporary American phrase , "That ' s where the action
is" may be translated as "movimiento" in Spanish, and
Santa Cruz certainly is the Bolivian center of movimiento

2. The volume of migration varies with the diversity
of peopl e.

This second hypothesis is derived from the first.
A diversity of settlement si tuations cal 1 s forth a diver-
sity of migrants. The greater the settlement diversity,
the greater the opportunities for the individual seeking
his or her particular niche at the point of destination.
Whereas the first migrants to the Department of Santa
Cruz were primarily agriculturalists, the expansion of
the lowland economy has created a whole new set of occu-
pational possibi 1 i ties which many types of highlanders
may pursue. Then too, the mere presence of migrants in
the area has also brought about the introduction of
occupational specialties previously not found in Santa
Cruz (i. e., chicheras, seamstresses to manufacture
polleras, and coca vendors). As job diversity increases,
more migrants are attracted to the lowlands, which aug-
ments rates and volumes of population flows, which
generate more jobs. Diversification thus becomes a
self-perpetuating mechanism for increasing migration flow
to an area .

378

3. The volume of migration is related to the difficulty
of surmounting the intervening obstacles.

The presence or absence of roads in Bolivia has
been an important factor in influencing migration. Until
the Santa Cruz-Cochabamba highway was opened in 1954,
there was virtually no migration in or out of the depart-
ment. Once the road was completed, however, individuals
gradually began to move to the lowland region on their
own initiative or were brought there by government agen-
cies to become colonists. Not only did highways facili-
tate travel, but transportation costs were reduced. As
more roads were opened through Santa Cruz, migration
increased in volume and expanded in spatial distribution.

Factors of distance also have been of signifi-
cant consequence in determining the differential flows
of migration into the department. As was outlined in
the "Characteristics of Migrants" section of the present
chapter, Cochabamba, the nearest highland center, has
supplied the greatest number of migrants to Santa Cruz.
After Cochabamba, each region is represented propor-
tionately according to its relative distance from the
lowlandterritories.,

4. The volume of migration varies with fluctuations
in the economy.

Reference to this fourth proposition has been
made repeatedly while discussing the previous hypotheses.

379

highlighting the integrative nature of migration pro-
cesses. The economic problems of the interior of Bolivia
appear to be getting worse while economic prosperity in
the lowlands is on an upswing. Both of these push and
pull factors are influencing the mounting volume of
Santa Cruz-bound migrants. It is also notable that
although transportation routes to the lowlands had been
open for some time, it was not until the economic boom
in Santa Cruz that migration to the department began
to occur on a large-scale basis. If there were to be a
slowdown or a reversal of the present economic decline
in the highlands, the number of migrants coming to Santa
Cruz also would be expected to decrease proportionately.

5. Unless severe checks are imposed, both volume and
rate of migration tend to increase with time.

As mentioned with regard to the first and second
hypotheses, diversification of settlement areas and of
migrants in Santa Cruz has led to greater volumes and
rates of population flow. This process is enhanced fur-
ther by the pattern of chain migration. If relative
success is achieved in the new lowland environment, each
established migrant has a multiplying effect on further
movement to the point of destination. Word is carried
back to the point of origin by the migrant in person or
is passed along an informal network, often resulting in

380

the positive influence on additional persons to make the
move to Santa Cruz. Unless checks are imposed, therefore,
volume and rate of migration to the department will con-
tinue to increase over time.

6. The volume and rate of migration vary with the state
of progress in a country or area.

This final hypothesis concerning rate and volume
of migration does not appear to be valid for the Santa
Cruz situation. What Lee evidently had in mind when
he formulated this sixth principle was the movement from
nonindustrial nations to industrial, or the internal
movement within a country from nonindustrial areas to
those which are. He states that "we should, therefore,
expect to find heavy immigration to developed countries
where this is permitted, and within such countries a
high rate of internal migration" (Lee 1968:292). Whereas
this hypothesis seems to fit patterns in highly indus-
trial ized nations , it does not explain the current migra-
tion p r o c e s s e s i n B o 1 i v i a .

It is very debatable whether the Department of
Santa Cruz can be considered more developed and as
exhibiting a higher degree of "progress" than the re-
mainder of the nation. Progress is a very subjective
concept, and for Santa Cruz should only be used in terms
of the region's relatively more rapid economic growth.

381

Roads are being constructed at a faster pace in the low-
lands than is occurring in the interior, and more funds
are available for rural and urban development. Still,
in other ways, most urban as well as rural areas of
Santa Cruz are less than, or only as developed as those
of the highlands. Among the lowland cities, available
services are on a par with the urban centers of the
interior, and in many instances are a good deal inferior
to those of the highland cities. In the rural areas of
the department, there is the same absence of creature
comforts as is encountered in mountain villages. It is
not "progress" in terms of increased avai 1 abi 1 i ty of
goods and services which seems to be attracting migrants
to Santa Cruz, but economic opportunity and land options.
In many instances such as col oni zation , an individual
may opt for less "progress" than was left behind in
the highlands.

Stream and Counterstream

1. Migration tends to take place largely within well
defined streams.

Movement to the Department of Santa Cruz follows
distinctive flow patterns. People seek specific destina-
tions in the lowlands or move in recognizable streams
from one lowland settlement area to another. Since this

382

aspect, of migration will be the topic of the following
section, the particular flow patterns throughout the
department for the moment will be described only briefly.
There are two discreet population movements to the 1 ow-
lands, one urban and one rural. Once in the Santa Cruz
region, the urban migrants do not display the mobility
of their rural counterparts. The rural migrant, however,
enters into a system involving numerous patterns of
migration which enable continued and/or increased access
to available resources. These internal streams will be
examined in detail as the flow model for migration in*the
department is developed.

2. For ewery major stream, a counterstream develops.

Although return to the highlands has been dis-
cussed only peripherally, primarily in relation to sea-
sonal migration, it can be considered an integral part
of the Santa Cruz migration arena. Unfortunately, as
was the case with migration flows into the department,
there are no statistics available concerning the rate
of return. The researcher is of the opinion that
counterstreams at present, except in the case of seasonal
migrants, are negligible. Very few informants expressed
a desire to return to their place of origin. What
apparently does occur, nevertheless, is a temporary
counterstream. Over half of the total sample population

383

stated that they made periodic visits to the interior,
and several individuals commented that they frequently
engaged in trading forays to the highlands.

The efficiency of the stream (ratio of stream to
counterstream or the net redistribution of popula-
tion affected by the opposite flows) is high if
the major factors in the development of a migration
stream were minus factors at origin.

As Lee emphasized, "this point is so obvious that
it hardly needs elaboration. Few of the Irish who fled
famine conditions returned to Ireland, and few American
Negroes return to the South" (Lee 1968:294). Although
it can be argued that plus factors at the point of des-
tination were equally if not more influential than
minus factors at origin in the development of migration
streams to Santa Cruz, the negative aspects of highland
life certainly have contributed to the high efficiency
of these streams. Migrants often cited a harsh environ-
ment, poor soils, inadequate farmlands, and lack of
opportunity as major deterrants to returning to the
highlands.

4. The efficiency of stream and counterstream tends
to be low if origin and destination are similar.

The Santa Cruz data do not confirm this hypothe-
sis because one is dealing with dissimilar socioeconomic
environments. However, the data do suggest that the

384

hypothesis i s bi conditi onal since hi ghl and origin and
lowland destination in Bolivia are unalike, and the
efficiency of the stream directed toward the Santa Cruz
region remains high. This is evidenced by the large
number of negative responses by informants regarding
the desire to return to the interior.

5, The efficiency of migration streams will be high
if the interveningobstaclesare great.

Regarding this principle, Lee hypothesizes that
"migrants who overcome a considerable set of intervening
obstacles do so for compelling reasons, and such migra-
tions are not undertaken lightly" (Lee 1968:294).

Perhaps the most striking Bolivian example of
this proposition is to be found in the comparative statis-
tics of lowland colonization projects. The Alto Beni
east of La Paz and the Chapare east of Cochabamba are
within less than a day's journey from their respective
highland regions. Consequently, time and travel expense
are minimal. On the other hand, the Yapacam' project
northwest of Santa Cruz until recently was several days
from the highlands and required considerable cash outlay
to make the trip. In looking at the rates of abandonment
for these three colonies, however, it is evident that
the Yapacanf, with a ten-year abandonment average of 33
per cent, was lower than either the Alto Beni at 55 per
cent or the Chapare at 46 per cent (Gal 1 egui 1 1 os 1970:4-6)

385

Colony officials in these latter two zones frequently
complained that migrants would put in a crop and then go
back to the highlands where they would remain until har-
vest time. The short distance and relative ease of
movement between the colonies and their nearest highland
population center were viewed as detrimental to the
colonization effort. In the Yapacanf, this process of
seasonal colonization was much less evident (Stearman, M.
1967). Again, this suggests a biconditional hypothesis
since the efficiency of migration streams is low if the
intervening obstacles are not great.

6. The efficiency of a migration stream varies with

economic conditions, being high in prosperous times
and low in times of depression.

Everett Lee explains this hypothesis as follows.

During boom times the usual areas of
destination, that is, the great centers
of commerce and industry, expand rap-
idly, and relatively few persons, either
return migrants or others, make the
countermove. In times of depression,
however, many migrants return to the
area of origin, and others move toward
the comparatively "safer" nonindus-
trialized areas. (Lee 1968:294)

At present the economic boom in Santa Cruz is
contributing to the high efficiency of the stream of
migrants into the department. If a recession should hit
the area, or, as Lee has failed to include in his hypothe-
sis, if prosperity should come to the highlands, a

386

substantial counterstream would develop, lowering the
efficiency of the stream. If Santa Cruz were to experi-
ence an actual depression, it may then be hypothesized
that stream and counterstream would be reversed, with
the majority of migrants along with lowland natives
moving toward the Bolivian interior if conditions there
were better.

Characteristics of Migrants

1. Migration is selective

Migrants are not a random sample of the popula-
tion at the place of origin, according to Lee, but are
those individuals who have responded selectively to the
plus and minus factors at the points of origin and des-
tination. As Stillman Bradfield discovered during his
study of brothers in Huaylas and Lima, Peru, migrants
possess certain attributes which make them more likely
to migrate than someone with a different set of personal
characteristics. In Santa Cruz, the average migrant
tended to be young, married (usually to another high-
lander), entrepreneurial in orientation, and had a
history of previous migrations.

Aside from personal attributes of the migrants,
selectivity may also reflect the degree of settlement
site diversification. During the early years of migration

387

by highlanders to the lowlands, available opportunities
tended to select landless campesinos who were attracted
to agricultural colonies in the hinterlands. As diver-
sity in settlement types and opportunities expanded
throughout the department, selectivity also began to
widen its scope to include a greater field of prospec-
tive migrants.

2. Migrants responding primarily to plus factors at
destination tend to be positively selected. .

It is doubtful that many of the Bolivian migrants
in the lowlands were exclusively selected positively
or negatively which according to Lee implies that "these
persons are under no necessity to migrate but do so
because they perceive opportunities from afar and they
can weigh the advantages and disadvantages at origin
and destination" (Lee 1968:295). The only segment of
the Santa Cruz migrant population which is positively
selected according to Lee's criteria would be the
elite. It might be argued, however, that positive
selection is a matter of degree and is not an absolute.
Prospective Bolivian migrants may be well aware of
negative factors influencing their need to migrate.
Even so, positive attractions may have much greater
influence on the decision to relocate in the lowlands.
Lee no doubt would question whether such migrants are

in fact positively selected; nevertheless, it can be
argued that although Lee's premise is essentially correct,
it does not reflect reality, at least in the Bolivian
case.

3. Migrants responding primarily to minus factors at
origin tend to be negatively selected; or where the
minus factors are overwhelming to entire population
. groups, they may not be selected at all.

Once again, both negative and positive factors
enter into the decision to migrate, and many migrants may
not conform absolutely to Lee's definition of negative
selection. Among the migrant population in Santa Cruz,
exiles, runaways, and Bolivian repatriates would probably
comeclosestto Lee's criteria for negative selection,
but the remaining migrants would necessarily fall at
some intermediary, point between the negative and positive
polarities.

4. Taking all migrants together, selection tends to
be bimodal .

Everett Lee's explanation of this fourth hypothe-
sis evolves out of the idea that migrants are either
positively or negatively selected and, when viewed as a
total population, tend to arrive at an equilibrium creat-
ing bimodal selection. This investigator contends that
many individual migrant decisions may be bimodal, with
both positive and negative selection operating concurrently.

389

Santa Cruz migrants frequently discuss motivations in
terms of both minuscharacteri sties in the interior and
plus factors in the lowlands. Only rarely was an infor-
mant certain that he or she had responded exclusively
to push factors at origin or pull factors at destination

5. The degree of positive selection increases with
the difficulty of the intervening obstacles.

Although migrants generally may be bimodally
selected, if intervening obstacles are great enough,
then those persons who exhibit greater positive motiva-
tions are more likely to migrate. The individual who is
equally motivated by plus and minus factors will view
the intervening obstacles as an additional negative
input, and migration risks then become too high.

Since Bolivians who did not migrate do not enter
into the present study, it cannot be determined what
influence intervening obstacles have on prospective
highland migrants. Nevertheless, regional volumes of
migration do differ according to relative proximity to
the lowlands, leading one to postulate that those migrants
from distant localities tend to be more positively
selected than those from nearby districts.

6. The heightened propensity to migrate at certain
stages of the life-cycle is important in the
selection of migrants.

Lee proposes that migration may be conceived as
a type of rite de passage affecting certain age groups

390

or persons of altered status (i. e. , discharged soldiers,
newlyweds, or the widowed). The Santa Cruz data support
this hypothesis in certain cases, but it could not be
considered a general theme of migration process in the
lowlands. In several instances, young girls and boys
who have reached puberty mark their entrance to sexual,
if not social maturity by joining the seasonal harvest
force. They often come to the lowlands in pairs of the
same sex or in mixed groups and are unaccompanied by -
parents or other adult relatives. Regarding newlyweds,
however, it was much more common to find the male or
female migrating first as a single person, then either
marrying a highlander in the lowlands or returning to
theinterior to find a spouse. Other migrant couples
generally were married for at least a year before coming
toSantaCruz.

7. The characteristics of migrants tend to be inter-
mediate between the, characteri sties of the popula^
tion at origin and the population at destination.

Since data regarding the individuals who remained
at the point of origin have not entered into the present
study, only tentative conclusions may be reached con-
cerning the ambivalent status of Bolivian migrants.
Since migration is selective, one may assume that
migrants do differ qualitatively from those who stay
behind. However, in speakirtg of migrants meeting half-way

391

the characteristics of persons at the point of destination,
Lee seems to be focusing primarily on rural-urban migrants.
When these persons leave the place of origin, they have
already adopted many "intermediate characteristics" of
the population at destination such as manner of dress,
language and values. Most of the rural-urban migrants
in the lowlands have been urbanized in the highlands
and so have attained many of the traits associated with
the urbanite before they arrive in the lowlands. They
know how to function in a large population center in
most realms of endeavor. It is notable, however, espe-
cially among female migrants, that pressures to give up
traditional language and dress are not as great as would
be expected. Many migrant women display pride rather than
shame in clinging to the old highland ways and proudly
wear thepollera down the main streets of Santa Cruz.
This may be due in part to the highlander's failure to
project the expected image of social inferiority as is
encountered in many similar cases of acculturation where
one group is in a dominant position. Rather, migrants
perceive of themselves as superior in many ways -to their
Camba neighbors, conforming to what Ralph Linton terms
a "dominant/dominated-superi ority contact situation"
(Linton 1965:503).

The rural highlander generally selects an initial
rural environment in the lowlands such as harvesting or

392

farming in a colony. There is no need, therefore, to
acquire "intermediate characteristics" since migration is
occurring between two homologous situations.

The hypotheses of Everett Lee are by no means
a definitive statement on migration theory, and in many
instances they demonstrate the same prejudices of other
contemporary migration studies which assume that all
significant migration is of a rural-urban nature. Lee
nevertheless has provided a partial framework for the
exploration and analysis of push and pull factors, volume
of migration, stream and counterstream and characteris-
tics of migrants as they pertain to the Santa Cruz case.

Migration and the Department of Santa Cruz:
A Flow Model

After an absence of six years, the researcher
returned to the Santa Cruz region to find many changes had
occurred, including the recent arrival of an overwhelm^ing
number of Bolivian highlanders. In 1968, persons from
the interior were to be encountered only in limited num-
bers and in certain areas of the department. Although
there were at the time highlanders residing in the
cities of Santa Cruz and Montero, they were few and
not highly visible. The majority of migrants remained
located in the agricultural colonies or entered the
region on a seasonal basis to work in the sugarcane harvest.

393

By 1975, highlanders were to be seen everywhere. Large
barrios of migrants had sprung up on the outskirts of
the city of Santa Cruz and Montero. The market places
were now dominated by women wearing derby hats and pol-
leras, and new markets had opened to meet the growing
demands of a rapidly expanding population. Cotton had
been introduced to the agricultural scene and numerous
small Camba towns became caught up in the flurry of com-
mercial farming. Migrants began to settle in these
communities, many of which for the first time could
count highlanders among their populations. Migrants
even had invaded the peasant vi 1 1 ages scattered through-
out the region. And of course, colonization continued
as a major attraction for rural migrants.

In viewing the foregoing migrant scene, the
first image to emerge was that of utter chaos. High-
landers were in eyery nook and cranny of Santa Cruz,
riding on buses and trucks, swarming in the market
places, and settling in any available space. But as
Everett Lee maintains, "migrants proceed along well
defined routes toward highly specific destinations"
(Lee 1968:292). As each study site was investigated
during the research project, patterns soon began to
emerge from the apparent chaos. Migration to, within,
and out of the department eventually could be discerned
as an orderly, systematic process which displayed specific

394

flows or streams of migrants. This is graphically repre-
sented inFigurelO.

Primary Fl ows

There are two primary flows or streams of migrants
to the lowlands. The first consists of urban-oriented
individuals who have obtained urbanity as the result of
a prior rural-urban move in the highlands or urban
ascription. The large majority of these individuals
arrive in the lowlands to locate in the city of Santa
Cruz where they continue an urban existence not di ssimi 1 ar
to that whch they left in the interior. A small number
of city dwellers from the highlands use harvesting as
a means of entry, but these persons subsequently move
either to Santa Cruz or Montero. Another segment of
the urban stream goes directly to Montero where they
commonly engage in commercial activities such as merchan-
dising or in chicha sale.

The second primary stream is composed of rural
highlanders. A substantial portion of this flow enters
the lowland region via harvesting. Another smaller seg-
ment immediately heads for colonization zones in search
of land. After the initial entry of the rural migrant,
secondary flows of migration commence.

395

396

Secondary FT ows

A secondary migration flow may be defined as that
which occurs subsequent to arrival in the lowlands. Since
most urban migrants tend to remain in their urban points
of destination, secondary migration streams appear negli-
gible among this group. Rural migrants, however, engage
in numerous patterns of secondary moves which follow
differing flow directions.

a. Harvest to small town (e. g. Warnes)

b. Harvest to Montero

c. Harvest - Montero - village (e. g. San Carlos)

d. Harvest - Montero - colony (e. g. Yapacanf,

San Jul icin )

Montero as a labor and information brokerage
becomes a temporary site of residents for rural-bound
migrants, and in many cases serves only as a point of
departure to other areas in the northern Santa Cruz
regi on.

Tertiary Flows

After lowland residence has been established by
the migrant, usually rural, in villages or colonies,
additional migration may subsequently occur. This may
take the form of step, lateral, multiple resource, or
seasonal migrations. Although return to a place of origin
normally would be considered a counterstream, it often

397

becomes a tertiary flow in the case of Santa Cruz migrants
For example, many rural migrants enter Montero after the
harvest and depart from that locality for other settle-
ment areas. Nevertheless, after having lived for a number
of years in a village or in a colony, the migrant unit
may acquire property in Montero as the result of a desire
to optimize its resources or opportunities.

Another tertiary flow exists among those migrants
living in remote agricultural areas. Rather than Mon-
tero, they frequently will select a small village as a
subsequent or additional settlement site.

In the colonies, tertiary flows are evident among
those migrants who move within and among colonial centers
as a result of the need to acquire more land or land
more productive than that which they presently hold.

Finally, many rural migrants continue to operate
within the seasonal labor force. Thus a tertiary flow
of migrants based on seasonality and which proceeds from
villages and colonies to zones of commercial agriculture
is evident during the harvest period. These highland
migrants are extremely influential in the process of
chain migration in that they come into direct contact
with newly arrived migrants from the interior. The
older, settled migrant is often instrumental in convinc-
ing the new person to remain.

398

Bolivian Migrants from the Exterior

The movement of persons across international
borders between Bolivia and its contiguous neighbors is
a common occurrence. Many Bolivians enter these coun-
tries legally, but illegal migration is also prevalent.
If fortunate, illegal aliens may not be caught. They
may marry nationals and thereby establish legal resi-
dence, or they may acquire a set of falsified documents.
When they are discovered, however, they must return to
Bolivia. In recent years, these repatriates, of both
rural and urban orientation, are choosing to migrate to
Santa Cruz in preference to returning to the interior.
Many of those coming out of Argentina, for example,
are persons who have worked in the grape and vegetable
harvests in the Mendoza area, and they easily make the
transition to cane and cotton harvesting in Santa Cruz.
Others, such as the repatriates from Chile, do not adapt
well to lowland life, or at least to that of the colo-
nies, and have found, means of returning to their adopted
country.

Lowland Migration Flows

The process of migration among lowlanders has not
been a focus of this study which is concerned primarily
with the presence of highlanders in Santa Cruz. This

399

parallel stream of migrants, although separate from that
of high! anders , is a definite influencing factor on much
of the intradepartmental movement by persons from the
interior. The Camba migration stream is mainly one of
a rural-urban nature, and it is directed toward the city
of Santa Cruz in contrast to the highland rural-urban
flow toward Montero. This movement by lowlanders has left
vacancies in other areas, and these newly unoccupied
socioeconomic slots are being fil led by highl anders .
In 1885, E. G. Ravenstein described a similar situation
in Great Britain: "The inhabitants of the country
immediately surrounding a town of rapid growth flock
into it; the gaps thus left in the rural population are
filled up by migrants from more remote districts. . . ."
(Ravenstein 1885:199). In the case of Santa Cruz,
these migrants "from the more remote districts" are
usually highlanders.

The Impact of Migration on Camba Society

It is always dangerous to speak about the traits
of entire populations, and many social scientists who
have done so have been criticized from all quarters for
their sweeping generalizations. The same problem is *
inherent in trying to assess how highlanders and low-
landers view each other, why certain prejudices exist and
what will be the outcome of continued acculturation.

400

Most lowlanders express certain stereotyped images
of the "typical" highlander while highlanders are just
as adamant that they have accurate perceptions of the
average Camba. Most Cambas maintain that highlanders are
hard workers but dirty, slow witted, and not to be trusted,
Highlanders, on the other hand,, will often describe Cambas
as lazy, drunkards, unfaithful to their spouses, but fun-
loving. The intensity of first-hand contact i s begi nning
to erode many of these stereotypes, but as yet prejudice
remains strong.

The animosity of lowlanders toward Bolivians
from the interior is a long-standing problem of national
integration. Many Crucenans insist they are "racially
superior" to highlanders because of a believed higher
percentage of European admixture. Even so, the great
hatreds toward highlanders have developed as a result
of a long history of political turmoil on a national
as well as international level. The independent Crucenan
has always resisted and resented the political hegemony
of the highlands. Order in the Department of Santa Cruz
traditionally has been maintained by highland soldiers,
exacerbating an already volatile situation. During the
Chaco War, Cambas were not allowed to form their own
regiments, and when the MNR came to power in 1952, once
again contingentsof wool-cladhighland recruitswere
sent to Santa Cruz to help implement the Reform.

401

Whereas mariy 1 owl anders publ icly admit to a dis-
like of persons from the interior, it is also common to
find real hatreds actively cultivated. Like all preju-
dice, it begins as a part of the enculturative process,
and children are taught the popular derisive phrases.
"Kolla de porra" ( knothead Kol 1 a ) , "Kolla de mierda"
(shitty Kolla), and "Kolla de puta" (whore ' s Kolla) are
frequently repeated by Camba youth.

When most highlanders arrive in Santa Cruz,
they are aware that such prejudices exi st , but are
unprepared for the level of animosity which is often
demonstrated. If highlanders come to Santa Cruz with
a desire to get along with Camba s, they learn quickly
that the best they can hope for at present is mutual
tolerance. Still, a certain degree of reverse discrimi-
nation is practiced by highlanders, and those who are
jibed by Cambas may be heard to . retort "Camba flojo"
(lazy Camba), "Camba pfcaro" (Camba rogue) or the
old standby, "Camba de mierda."

Although mutual acceptance by highlanders and
lowlanders is a long way from realization, the situation
has Improved somewhat over the years. When the researcher
was in Santa Cruz in 1968, it v/as not uncommon for a
village shopkeeper to refuse service to a highland campe-
sino. Today, this would seldom occur. There are top many
highlanders in the region to simplyignore them. Buteven

402

more importantly, lowlanders are very much aware that
highlanders have contributed appreciably to the economic
prosperity shared by all.

The migrants who come to Santa Cruz for the most
part are upwardly mobile and ambitious. They are also
entrepreneurs and will turn most any venture into a
capital gain. Lowlanders stand bewildered at the rate
at which the Crucenan economic scene is being dominated
by highlanders. The Kolla is outfarming and outselling
the Camba in every corner of the region. Some lowlanders
accept philosophically the apparent take-over of their
territory, but for others it only leads to more bitter-
ness i

As yet, assimilation is occurring slowly. Most
highlanders prefer to select their spouses from among
other migrants or return to the interior to marry.
Their children, however, may initiate the first moves
toward the eventual merging of these two cultural enti-
ties. Highland migrant children are eager to throw off
the ways of their parents and adopt those of Cambas.
They want to dress like lowlanders, speak only Spanish,
and choose their peers from among Cambas. It is quite
probable that many of these first-generation Crucenans
will choose lowlanders for spouses.

Although Cambas are now the numerically dominant
social group, most highlanders do not accept cultural

403

domination by lowlanders. As a result, many highland
traditions not only are preserved by the migrant sector
but are i ntentional ly . perpetuated by it. Ralph Linton,
in discussing some aspects of nativistic movements,
refers to this activity as "rational perpetuative nativ-
ism" whereby certain characteristics of a culture become
"symbols of the society's existence as a unique entity"
(Linton 1965:501). Thus traditions such as highland
hairstyles, the use of the poUera and the presence
of chicherfas take on even greater importance to migrants
than could be expected in the native habitat. Linton
also mentions that retention of specific cultural ele-
ments may become a means by which group solidarity is
maintained. Hence social sanctions such as avoidance
and malicious gossip often are directed toward those
highland women who forsake traditional dress and thereby
represent a threat to migrant cohesi veness .

Santa Cruz also presents an interesting case in
that it manifests an uncommon acculturative situation
in which a pattern of dominance by the Cambas exists

but, at the same time, in which there is an absence of

f

the expected self-perception of inferiority by the high-
landers. Consequently, mountain traditions persist not
only because they are symbols of ethnic pride or because
they have become a means to maintain migrant solidarity,
but because highlanders feel that their way of life is in
many respects superior to that of Cambas.

i04

Due to the migrants' trenchant perpetuation of
highland custom, their presence is being felt strongly
among the dominant lowlanders. Cambas have adopted new
dietary patterns and marketing traditions previously
unknown in Santa Cruz. Then too, the industrious and
ambitious highlander is beginning to spur the less com-
petitive lowlander into fuller participation in the
regional and national economic scene.

Highlanders are changing the face of Santa Cruz,
often in ways which the Camba finds distressing. Never-
theless, few lowlanders would disagree that, since the
advent of large-scale migration of highlanders to Santa
Cruz, the department has at last begun to move on a
steady course of economic prosperity and increased indi-
vidual opportunity. In 1928, the noted sociologist,
Robert Parke, commented

Migrations, with all the incidental col-
lisions, conflicts and fusions of peoples
and cultures, have been accounted among
the decisive forces in history. It has
been said that ewery advance in culture
commences with a new period of migra-
tion and movement of populations.
(Parke 1928:881)

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

ATlyn Mac Lean Stearman was born in Los Angeles,
California, on May 2, 1943. She attended California public
schools until 1960 when she entered the University of
California at Santa Barbara. Her course of study at Santa
Barbara comprised a major in Spanish language and literature
with minors in art and education. Ms. Stearman received
the B.A. degree with Honors in June, 1964. That same
month she was invited to participate in a training program
for prospective Peace Corps volunteers at the University
of Oklahoma at Norman. After completing training, she was
sent to eastern Bolivia to work in rural community develop-
ment. At the close of her four years' tour of service
in Bolivia, she married Michael Stearman, a fellow
volunteer.

After working for a year as a recruiting team
for the Peace Corps in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1969 the
Stearmans moved to Gainesville, Florida, where Mr. Stearman
enrolled at the University of Florida. Ms. Stearman was
employed by the University of Florida Libraries as the
Library Assistant for the Latin American Collection.
She also began at this time course work in anthropology.
In 1972, Ms. Stearman received an NOEA Title VI Graduate

413

414

Fellowship and began full-time studies in anthropology.
She received her M.A. degree in the latter subject in
December, 1973.

As the result of having been awarded a Social
Science Research Council Latin American Dissertation
Fellowship in 1974, Ms. Stearman returned to eastern
Bolivia in 1975 to complete field research for the Ph.D.
degree. Upon her return to the United States, she began
teaching anthropology at Florida Technological University
in Orlando, Florida, and will continue on the faculty as
Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology in September,
1976.

Ms. Stearman has publ i stied an article in Human
Organization , "Colonization in Eastern Bol i via--Probl ems
and Prospects," and an ethnography of the village of
San Carlos under the title San Rafael --Camba Town. The
Stearmans reside in Eustis, Florida, and have two children,
Garrett and Erin.

I certify that I have read this study and that in
my opinion itconforms to acceptable standards ofscholarly
presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality,
as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

^^'A:

William E. Carter, Chairman
Professor of Anthropology

I certify that I have read this study and that in
my opinion it conforms to acceptable standards of scholarly
presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality,
as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Paul L. Dought
Professor of An

ology

I certify that I have read this study and that in
my opinion it conforms to acceptable standards of scholarly
presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality,
as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

<-^ #1.^1

Louis A. Pagat/i/i
Assistant Pron^^ssor of
Geography

I certify that I have read this study and that in
my opinion it conforms to acceptable standards of scholarly
presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality,
as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Maxine Margolis
Associate Professor of
Anthropology

I certify that I have read this study and that in
my opinion it conforms to acceptable standards of scholarly
presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality,
as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

_d3,

Thomas D. Boswel 1
Assistant Professor of
Geography

This dissertation was submitted to the Graduate Faculty
of the Department of Anthropology in the College of Arts
and Sciences and to the Graduate Council, and was accepted
as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy.

August, 1976

Dean, Graduate School