Archival Explorers

El Diario, June 10^th, 1954

                As I leafed through this issue of the Diario, I was immediately struck by how outwardly focused the articles were. The first five pages were filled with the international politics of United States, China, Russia, Guatemala, and their concern with Communist movements. There was a column about the latest French fashion, and numbers were given for the deaths and injuries in the Bogota student revolt. In these first pages, most mention of Bolivia also had to do with international relations. A big headline detailed how much tin Bolivia had sold to the United States, and how President Estenssoro was to converse with the United States about pricing in the near future. The Minister of Health had just returned from an International Health summit of some kind and spoke of exciting policy changes. He said there existed a readiness in the exterior to cooperate for the betterment of public health of Bolivia. Towards the end of the day’s paper, I finally encountered more Bolivia-centric news.  Apparently, a Jesuit Mission into the interior had been successful, and at the market in Sopocachi, meat vendors 51 and 52 were shut down by officials for being incredibly unsanitary.

                I found this glimpse into Bolivian daily news fascinating, especially in its lack of domestic news. Perhaps Tuesdays were for international affairs, but regardless, today, the country seems mostly focused on internal matters. I don’t hear or see much coverage of international happenings, nor do people seem all too concerned about the Brexit or ISIS. This strikes me as a stark contrast from June 10^th, 1954, when the majority of the headlines were concerned with foreign affairs. Perhaps that has something to do with El Diario’s coverage preference. Much of the Bolivian news back then had its own voice. El Diario might have been, by today’s standards, a more conservative, right-leaning news source (thus reporting on Communist drama). Or, maybe Bolivia then really was concerned with foreign affairs, seeking to play a part in global on-goings. I know that around 1956, Bolivia became a major receiver of USAID, something that will likely never happened under the MAS government. I must assume that the Bolivian government then was much more accepting of “neoliberalism,” be that because of the USAID money or for genuine belief in its mantra. Further, perhaps this majority reporting of external affairs signified a calm within the state. The 1952 Revolution was two years back, so it seems possible that internal politics would have reached some semblance of domestic peace.

Ultimately, I didn’t get the feeling that daily life was all that different from how it is today. The market in Sopocachi is likely much the same as it was then, and concern for public health hasn’t abated in the slightest. An interesting similarity between the present and then is the willingness to look outwards for health initiatives. I know in recent years Bolivia talked with Iran, and planned to open public health clinics similar to those used in the Iranian system. So maybe Bolivia really hasn’t changed that much at all. Natural resources are still sold to foreign countries, and political and economic action (if from a different perspective) is still developmentalist. Again, this is mostly extrapolation. All I can certainly say is that in 1954, the El Diario reported largely on international affairs. Today, while international news still makes headlines, it doesn’t usually consume the first half of the day's paper.