Movimiento Revolucionario Tupaj Katari de Liberación (MRTKL)
Movimiento Revolucionario Tupaj Katari de Liberación (MRTKL)
The most electorally successful party of the Bolivian Aymara nationalist movement, known as Katarismo, was the Movimiento Revolucionario Tupaj Katari de Liberación (MRTKL), which first competed in 1985 national elections, winning two deputies' seats. Víctor Hugo Cárdenas, an Aymara intellectual and educator, held one seat, and under his leadership the MRTKL joined a winning electoral alliance in 1993. Cárdenas then became the country's first indigenous vice president, serving until 1997. Seeking a distinct identity for Indians, the MRTKL also sought incorporation into the existing political process. After 1997 Cárdenas failed to institutionalize the MRTKL, and it faded from prominence.
See alsoAymara; Bolivia: Bolivia Since 1825; Cárdenas, Víctor Hugo; Movimiento Indígena Pachacutik.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Patzi Paco, Félix. 1999. Insurgencia y sumisión. Movimientos indígeno-campesinos (1983–1998). La Paz, Bolivia: Muela del Diablo Editores.
Ticona Alejo, Estaban, Gonzalo Rojas Ortuste, and Xavier Albó. 1995. Votos y Wiphalas: Campesinos y pueblos originarios en democracia. La Paz, Bolivia: CIPCA Cuadernos de Investigación.
Van Cott, Donna Lee. 2003. "Institutional Change and Ethnic Parties in South America." Latin American Politics and Society. 45, no. 2: 1-40.
BenjamÍn Kohl