La “defensa social”. Pugnas y competencias en torno a la mano de obra en el Oriente Boliviano, 1890-1910.

Resum

In the late 19th century, the exploitation of rubber trees located in the Bolivian Amazon region, in the northern part of the country, led to profound changes in other regions and, among other issues, in the labour market. The departments of Beni and Santa Cruz became worker sources and the flow of migration to the northern rubber regions grew in proportion to the needs of the rubber entrepreneurs. However, this newly created “source regions”, specifically Santa Cruz, reacted against this draining of workers, developing strategies to control migration or, if possible, to stop it. This process was accompanied by the deployment of several innovative standards in the working context, as a result of a parliamentary debate on the migration issue.