“Carabineros de Bolivia”

By Soldados de Bolivia, Facebook:

Carabineros Unit, on Saavedra Avenue (now Estado Mayor), in La Paz, in the late 1930s

The Carabineros institution in Bolivia was founded in January 1937. At that time, the government merged the Security Police with the riflemen regiments to create a new corps called “Carabineros of Bolivia,” inspired by the Italian police force and the Carabineros Corps of Chile.

Institutionally, it was composed of former Chaco War combatants, who were incorporated with the ranks they had earned during the war. However, in terms of their capabilities, they lacked training in public security (control and prevention) and crime fighting—this was also true for the conscripts assigned to the Carabineros Regiments.

The institution’s mid- and high-level leadership was held by army officers, which meant that its vision, mission, objectives, and internal regulations (permits, punishments, and others) were entirely military. Since its formation in 1937 (when the Security Police and the Carabineros Regiments were merged), it continued to be organized under the Regulatory Law of the Security Police dated November 11, 1886, and despite the reforms implemented—for both Carabineros and Police—it still remained an improvised institution.

BASED ON: Thesis “National Corps of Carabineros and Police (1952–1956)” by Jhosmane Jesús Rojas Padilla

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