The political career of Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz (1931–80) followed an unusual trajectory—from a privileged family background, he gradually developed a thoroughgoing critique of class domination and eventually took an uncompromising stand on behalf of socialism, democracy, and national self-determination. A son of the Cochabamba aristocracy who achieved international literary acclaim, he started out politically in the Christian Democratic Community (cdc) and became a member of parliament in 1966. He challenged General René Barrientos in a congressional impeachment case, known as a “trial of responsibilities,” for violating national sovereignty by allowing the cia to conduct spying in the...