Muerte en El Loreto. Ciudadanía armada y violencia política en Bolivia (1861-1862)

Abstract

The «Loreto Massacre» and the subsequent process of popular justice to which its author was brought illustrate how the arming of the inhabitants of this district of La Paz combated not only the partisan abuse of power, but also the threat posed to Bolivia's constitutional legal framework by military revolutions. In a process of «political fusion», the «people on the streets» and the people as represented by the government took armed and associative action against an attempted military coup. This process also implied the employment of political action as an instrument against the devaluation of labour and artisan production.