Performative politics: The Camba countermovement in eastern Bolivia

Evo Morales, the indigenous, leftist president of Bolivia, has faced serious challenges to his social‐democratic project. His new constitution and proposals for redistributive legislation have sparked much resistance from white elites in the country's eastern region. In this article, I explore the component elements of right‐wing movement building in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, which include festive and celebratory performances of regional pride and paramilitaristic carnivals of violence. I suggest that these kinds of spectacles—one of invented cultural tradition, the other of aggression and brutality—represent the desperate attempt of a minority white, mestizo population to restore political and economic order through extralegal means.