Among the different social and political organizations that were formed as a reaction against the revolution of 1952, one of the more consequential and enduring was the Youth Union for Santa Cruz, based in the heart of urban Santa Cruz. The union, founded in October 1957, has served as both an ideological training ground and a social club for generations of young elites from Santa Cruz who have gone on to play important roles in departmental and national politics and in the development of the regional economy.

The rules of the organization and its methods are in some ways modeled...