Beyond Monroe: Bolivia, Natural Resources, and the Nixon Doctrine in Latin America, 1969–70

Responding to growing calls for more explicit incorporation of Latin America within Global South History, this paper analyzes the response of the United States government to the sudden growth of Third Worldist ideologies in the Bolivian army following the latter's decision to execute Ernesto "Che" Guevara in late 1967. Spearheaded by the country's enigmatic nationalist commander-in-chief, General Alfredo Ovando, Bolivia's post-Che turn radicalization surprised many observers and has largely been misunderstood and even lost to history. Yet the case study contributes important insights to the metastasis of Third World nationalism well beyond the traditionally anti-imperialist politics of the Left, and it contributes a deeper understanding of the Nixon's administration's creative response to the challenges posed by Third World nationalism and raw material sovereignty as the transformative 1970s began.