The Communist Party of Bolivia () is a communist party in

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

. It was founded in 1950 by Raúl Ruiz González and other former members of the

Revolutionary Left Party The Revolutionary Left Party (, PIR) was a communist party in Bolivia. It was founded by Dr. José Antonio Arze and other Bolivian intellectuals on 26 July 1940 during a left-wing congress held in Oruro. The PIR was sympathetic to the Commun ...

(PIR). It remained small and did not hold its first national party congress until 1959. It soon entered the labor movement and was included in the leadership of the Central Obrera Boliviana and the FSTMB during the 1960s. However, it remained a minority force in most unions. The

Sino-Soviet split The Sino-Soviet split was the gradual worsening of relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the Cold War. This was primarily caused by divergences that arose from their ...

further weakened the PCB. In 1964, Ruiz González and others broke away to form the pro-China Communist Party of Bolivia (Marxist–Leninist). At the time, the U.S. State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 6,500. In 1966, the Cuban-based revolutionary

Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...

planned to initiate a

guerrilla war Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrorism ...

against

René Barrientos René Emilio Barrientos Ortuño (30 May 1919 – 27 April 1969) was a Bolivian military officer and politician who served as the 47th president of Bolivia from 1964 to 1966 and 1966 to 1969. During his first term, he shared power with Alfred ...

, Bolivia's military dictator. The PCB initially pledged its support, but became suspicious of Guevara when he arrived. The party did not participate in Guevara's campaign. Instead, Guevara formed a separate organization, the National Liberation Army (''Ejército de Liberación Nacional''). When democracy was restored in Bolivia in the 1980s, the PCB remained a minor party. In 2003 it lost its designation as a recognized political party. The PCB publishes ''Unidad'' (Unity). As of 2019, Ignacio Mendoza served as the first secretary of the party.Agencia Cubana de Noticias.
Partido Comunista de Bolivia rechaza acciones de EE.UU. contra Cuba
'

General Secretaries

*Simón Reyes Rivera (1950–c. 1967) * Mario Monje Molina, nicknamed "Estanislao" (c. 1967–c. 1970) * Jorge Kolle Cueto (c. 1970–1981) *Marcos Domich Ruiz (1985–2003) *Ignacio Mendoza Pizarro (2003–2008)

References

{{Authority control 1950 establishments in Bolivia Communist parties in Bolivia International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties Political parties established in 1950 Political parties in Bolivia São Paulo Forum