Agrarian Reform: Historical Implications of Rural Democracy for Latin America

Abstract

Objective. To analyze the agrarian reform processes in the Andean countries —Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina— throughout the twentieth century, aiming to examine their impact on rural productive structures and on the relationships among the State, elites, and peasantry. The study is justified by the need to understand how different political and economic orientations shaped land redistribution and agrarian transformation in Latin America. Method. A historical-comparative methodology based on documentary and bibliographic sources was employed, structured according to the typology of agrarian reforms established by the UN-FAO-ILO (1977).
Results. The findings show that Peru and Chile experienced structural, revolutionary reforms aimed at dismantling the traditional oligarchic system, whereas Colombia and Ecuador developed conventional, negotiated, and modernizing reforms that preserved the latifundist base. Argentina, in contrast, implemented marginal and conservative initiatives that perpetuated the existing power structure.
Conclussion.  The effectiveness of agrarian reforms depends on the strength of social movements and the political will to integrate peasant demands into state policies. When these conditions were absent, reforms became technocratic or paternalistic, failing to reduce the structural inequalities that continue to characterize Latin American rural societies