Tag: Bolivia stamp

By 1962, Bolivia was a poor, landlocked country. It’s last chance to date of real wealth came in the 1930s when oil was expected to be found in the Chaco region. Bolivia spent heavily to improve it’s military to be able to hold on to the claim to the area in the face of  the rival claims of Paraguay, a weak country with it’s own history of shrinking wars. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

So if a country never wins a war why celebrate the military history? Instead why not  concentrate on those currently serving in the hopes of the current being proved more useful. Well that is not how Bolivia viewed it in 1962. So here we have a Calvary charge of the Bolivian Army. The only war that I can find with any meaningful deployment of Cavalry was the 1930s Chaco War, so that is the story I will tell below.

Todays stamp is issue A153, a 500 Boliviano stamp issued by Bolivia  on September 5th, 1962. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations displaying different one time sections of the army. there were also semi related air mail issues. By 1962, what had been Cavalry regiments were now mechanized divisions. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

The area of Chaco was recognized as an area of Paraguay although there had been some peaceful intrusion by Bolivian nationals. There was a hope on the part of foreign oil companies that the area might prove rich in oil. Royal Dutch Shell worked through Paraguay to search and Standard Oil worked through the Bolivian government. After having previously lost its outlet to the Pacific in an ill thought out war with Chile, Bolivia built up it’s Army to defend the hoped for big oil strike. An arms deal was struck with the British arms concern Vickers to heavily rearm including with airplanes and even three tanks. The arms package was not completely delivered as Bolivia did not make all the due payments.

When war broke out with Paraguay, Bolivia looked much more powerful on paper, including 7 Cavalry regiments. This was somewhat a paper tiger as over one third of army units were absent or on leave at any one time. Yet Bolivia was confident that under German general Kundt there would be success.

The motorized equipment proved ineffective due to dust and inability to deal with breakdowns. The Cavalry on both sides ended up fighting on foot as the area was too barren for horses to forage or kept watered. Advanced countries cut off arms supplies to both sides. This proved very advantageous to Paraguay which had developed an effective locally made hand grenade called the small turtle. The Paraguayan forces proved faster moving and were kept slightly better supplied as the area was Paraguay. In 1935 Bolivia had lost the war  and the area was recognized as Paraguay, though not officially until 1997. 170,000 people died in the war.

Well what ever happened to the big oil strike that was just around the corner. The corner was further off than thought. In 2012 then Paraguay President Frederico Franco announced an oil strike in the area or the Periti River in Chaco  and that in the name of the 30,000 Paraguayans that died in the Chaco war,  will soon be the richest oil zone in South America. Don’t hold your breath would be my advice.

Well my drink is empty. You think of the quite high losses in these stupid wars over nothing and it becomes difficult to recognize the bravery that this stamp wants you to remember. Come again soon for another story to be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.

So hear we have an animal that lives 10,000 feet up in the Andes. It’s golden fur is specially adopted to allow the animal to live in freezing conditions. Sounds perfect for royalty in need of sweaters and socks. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Many collectors, including this one, delight in a far off place showing off the exotic, which perhaps was not so exotic there. This issue does that not just with the vicuna, but llamas, toucans and even the vicuna’s natural predator, the jaguar.

Todays stamp is issue A91, a 20 Centavo stamp issued by Bolivia on January 21st, 1939. It was an eighteen stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 used. There are imperforate fakes of this stamp and later overstamps to reflect devalued currency that are all too real.

The vicuna is an ancestor of the more common and domesticated alpaca. That the wool is so unique is an adoption to live in such high altitudes. The fur traps warm air close to the animals skin which allows the animal to survive when the furs outer layer freezes. It eats a variety of tall grass that breaks through the snow cap and has adopted to be able to drink water with high salt content. Indeed it likes to lick mountain rocks for their salt content. The animals travel in family herds of one male, 10-15 females, and young.

Local tradition is that the vicuna was much prized by the Inca. Only Royalty was allowed to wear the products of the fur. They believed the vicuna were the reincarnation of young maidens  that had received coats of golden fleece after having consented to the advances of the ugly old king. Every four years the vicuna were shepherded into a lockup where they could be shorn and then released to provide the Royal wool.

The story then follows that the Spanish period did not honor the vicuna in the same way and they were heavily poached for their valuable wool. By the 1960s, the wild herd was down to 6000 vicunas. The USA Peace Corps then stepped in. They trained and paid a group of local game wardens and banned internationally the trade of vicuna wool. The vicuna was declared endangered by the World Wildlife Fund. Herd numbers began to recover.

In 1993, the old traditions of the Incas regarding the vicunas were remembered, or was it invented. The rules on trading the wool were relaxed and now wild vicunas are gathered every three years, shorn and released. The proceeds are used to support the habitat areas. So far it is claimed that the trade has not again endangered the animal. They don’t explain of course how the wild animal is to survive the next winter shorn of it’s special, and slow growing fur.

Well my drink is empty. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Bolivia can be a rough place, but it is a place, and not just a province of Peru. That was due to General Ballivian, who was able to combine Bolivia’s three governments and armies into one and defeat Peru. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp displays General Ballivian and what proports to be transportation in his time 100 years before and in 1943. I suspect transportation in Bolivia still was more represented by the vintage view than the American C45 airplane.

Todays stamp is issue A114, a 10 Centavo airmail stamp issued by Bolivia on November 18th, 1943. It was part of a 5 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents unused.

In the 1840s Bolivia was in a chaotic time. In fact there were three different groups claiming to be the legitimate government of Bolivia. Meanwhile next door, Peru had ambitions of regaining control of Bolivia as during the period of the Spanish Empire.  In a very unusual move, General Ballivian was able to convince the other two governments of the threat and the sides joined up to face Peru. The Peruvians, lead by their President Agustin Gamarra did not expect to face such organized resistance. At the Battle of Ingavi, the Peruvians were defeated and President Gamarra was captured and executed by Bolivia. The remnants of the Peruvian army fled back to Peru and were not pursued. The shocked and delighted ruling class of Bolivia quickly named General Ballivian President. There was perhaps here a missed opportunity in not taking the Peruvian (now Chilean) port of Arica, giving Bolivia it’s long desired outlet to the sea.

There were several opportunities the now President Ballivian took advantage of.. He appointed his friends to high positions. Among the was now Army Commander Manuel Belzu. As a Captain Belzu had married a 15 year old Argentine exile named Juana Manuela Gorriti. She bore him three daughters but the marriage was not a happy one. Separated, Betzu had a child with another women out of wedlock. However in 1845 he came home to find his wife en flagrante with President Ballivian. He drew his pistol and took a shot at the President, missing. General Belzu fled to the countryside with troops loyal to him but arrest warrants for him in the capital. Now Bolivia was getting back to normal.

General Belzu was more of a populist figure and was able to attract around him a large following in the countryside. When his forces later marched on the capital, President Ballivian decided to go into exile in Rio. Belzu became President and managed to hold on for seven years before passing the job to his son in law and become an ambassador at large in Europe. When son in law was couped out of office and later assassinated. Belzu was outraged and attempted a return to Bolivia to retake the Presidency. He was invited to the Presidential Palace and assassinated himself. Should have gone to Rio.

Belzu’s wife Juana(they never divorced), herself moved to Lima and set her self up nicely with a school and a political salon. She began writing melodramatic novels including one about a young man who cannot afford to marry his true love until he finds out he is the beneficiary of an insurance policy. The book was sponsored by an insurance company. Through the political salon she mentored many young Peruvian female writers.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Juana Manuela Gorriti. If there are any insurance bigshots out there, I would be happy to write up a stamp that plays up the benefits of being fully insured. For a small fee, or better yet, a large fee. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

You have to admire the pretentions of early Latin American stamps. When you look deeper, the sad reality comes into view. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The title of this article mentions corruption. This stamp is a good exemplar of that. The original stamp was designed and printed in London under a contract with the Bolivian government. This is normal for a small country, stamps are essentially currency and so have to be printed elaborately to avoid forgery. However a corrupt Bolivian official contracted with a Paris printer for further copies of the same design. The paper of the Paris printing was thicker. The Postal authority initially rejected them but failed to return or destroy the stamps and some were eventually used. Meanwhile further copies of the stamp were fraudulently cancelled in Paris and sold to stamp dealers. My stamp displays this style of cancelation.

Todays stamp is a fraudulent printing of issue A9, a 50 Centavo stamp issued by Bolivia in 1892. The legitimate issue consists of seven stamps of various denominations displaying the then Bolivian coat of arms. The London legitimate printing of my stamp is worth $20 according to the Scott catalog. The fraud attached to my copy leave it worth far less.

Bolivia got it’s independence from Spain in 1825. For a while there was a federation with Peru that marketed itself as a successor to the Inca Empire but the ruling class was still of Spanish heritage. A disastrous series of wars with Chile ended the federation with Peru and then later lost Bolivia it’s outlet to the Pacific ocean. The main industry in Bolivia was mining of silver and copper but without a seaport there was little way to export it. Much of Bolivia is high and dry so the export revenue is necessary to pay for the importation of food. Eventually British investors were enticed to build a railroad that connected Bolivia to the port of Antofagasta in Chile. This arrangement ate up a lot of the profits but gave some security to the ruling landowner class. Their political party marketed themselves as Conservatives and were based in the capital of Sucre.

Meanwhile a rival political movement rose out of La Paz that marketed itself as Liberal. The impetus behind them were tin mining that wanted the railroad extended to them and the capital transferred to La Paz. British investors eventually saw to it that the railroad was extended and now Bolivia has two capitals. The railroad still operates with the British eventually selling out to the Chileans who now benefit from much of the profit of the export of Bolivian resources. To their credit, they have managed to keep the railroad operating without the help of a major power. It seems that Bolivia will forever pay the price for foolish wars from 150+ years ago.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the British investor that accomplished a long lived railroad that locals could not achieve on their own. I suspect it was never as profitable as they hoped and they of course will never receive any thanks from the beneficiaries in Bolivia or Chile. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

When two sides can’t get along, one side gets repressed. Then the other side gets revenge. then the process repeats. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Todays stamp is not well printed but displays the ancient Gate of the Sun. The archway is carved from a single stone and is a relic of the Tiwanaku Empire that ruled the area around Lake Titicaca from 300 BC to about 1150 AD. The Tiwanaku Empire predated the Incas and far predated Spanish Explorers.

The stamp today is an airmail stamp issue C209, a 5000 Boliviano stamp issued by Bolivia on March 26, 1960. The hyper inflation of the era is reflected in the high denomination of the stamp. An airmail issue from five years before was only 50 Bolivianos. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.00 used.

Bolivia has not had much luck with it’s right of center governments. See https://the-philatelist.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=445&action=edit. In the early fifties those on the left were able to unite enough to get a string of their leaders into the presidency. Change was pretty dramatic but the results were not good. The tin mines were a major source of wealth in Bolivia and the new left wing government quickly nationalized them. The labor union that represented the miners was an important part of the coalition. However the output of the mines dropped off and there were constant strikes and the mines were seriously overstaffed.

There was voter and land reform that saw the number of voters go up by five fold as literacy and land owning requirements dropped away. The left assumed  that the reform would bring a large number of new left wing voters. It did this but there was not enough discipline to see that they all voted for the same left wing party. Elections inevitably left the leading candidate with less than 50 percent of the vote leaving the decision to the legislature and by extension the party bosses.

The military, a right wing organization was heavily shrunk and purged. This left the government unable to disarm various peasant militias that though they were sometimes allies, were a huge challenge to achieving stability. Shrinking the military also angered the USA, whose aid was 20 percent of the national budget. All these challenges lead to hyper inflation, which turned the middle class rightward politically. The left was further divided as to whether the proper model for Bolivia was the one left party state of Mexico or a more pure form of socialism. Soon enough the left was splintered enough that when the next military coup came in 1969, it had support of many on the left.

The gate of the sun was built by the Tiwanaku empire that controlled much of Bolivia and some of Peru. It was not conquered so much as died out. A drought lead to a famine  that spelled the end of the people. The relics of the empire were discovered by the Spanish who first wrote of them. They were studied by some of the great archeologists of the 19th century. The site of the gate of the sun is a UNESCO world heritage site. The foreign archeologists have left the site after Bolivia worried that the site was not being properly respected by the team from Harvard that included many students. Bolivia then stepped up its own work at the site but then stopped when UNESCO protested that their changes were not historically accurate.

The study of the gate of the sun makes a point about the failure of a society. Here is hoping that current Bolivian society  does not have the same outcome. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

A leader tries to celebrate honor, work and law but ends up thrown off a balcony and hung from a lamppost. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Cellebrating a coup is a dangerous thing to do on a stamp. There are rare times when a coup can remove an off track government and things can return to normal. More commonly it is a reflection of chaos and desperation. Mob rule, and the mob can turn in an instant. Perhaps a depiction of an angry mob to warn the government would have been a better stamp. Postal authorities just don’t design that type of stamp.

The stamp today is issue A115, a 90 centavo stamp issued by the republic of Paraguay in 1945. The stamp celebrates the December 20th, 1943 revolution with a call for honor, work, and law. It is part of a 6 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used.

Bolivia in the 30s and 40s was much weakened by a disastrous war with Paraguay. The upper class was discredited for getting the country into the war. The military was discredited for losing it. Gaining political power were an urban middle class and a newly organized working class. The industries were mining and oil production that were both owned by outside interest. Both sides had enough power to see nothing got done.

In a decade 3 different military leaders took power by force and try to navigate a middle course. This involved recognizing unions and nationalizing industry but with a big dose of law and order. They also wanted to quash investigations of the military leadership during the war.

The last of these military rulers was Gaulberto Villarroel who took the office of the President in December 1943. He put through several of the reforms described above, angering conservatives and the USA. The USA was soothed by payments for mines seized and the removal of ministers from a political party the USA considered Nazi. This in turn angered the left and the new recognition caused them to demand ever greater benefits from Villarroel. The President instead wanted calm and set to put down the left wing agitators. This went even so far as the killing of members of the opposition and having their bodies thrown over a 3000 foot cliff.

This proved too much. a group of teachers and students surrounded Villarroel in the Presidential Palace. The palace was already known as the burnt palace from having been burned in an attempted storming in 1875. Villarroel announced his resignation from inside the palace but this was not enough for the crowd. The Burnt Palace was stormed and President Villarroel  was shot, then thrown over the balcony to the street below where his corpse was then strung up on the lamppost. The burnt palace stands today as does the lamppost from which he was hung. There is now a bust of Villarroel to honor him or at least his removal.

The previous military ruler committed suicide in office. The next ruler willingly gave power to a new military junta. A prominent Bolivian writer of the time described the country as “A Sick People”. Perhaps not, but  I bet a few of the failed Bolivian leaders wished they had been more circumspect about taking the job.

Well, my drink is empty and so I will open up the discussion in the bellow comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.