Entering the decade of the 60’s of the last century, Santa Cruz de la Sierra lacked basic services: drinking water, sewage, electricity and paving. Water was obtained from rain, noques or cisterns. Or from water carts that were supplied from unknown sources to later sell to the neighborhood. When night fell, wax candles lit the homes of Santa Cruz. And, depending on the season, the streets became sand dunes or mud pits for the passage of ox-drawn carts. In those times, motorized vehicles were few and far between…
The story of the forgotten and dusty Grigotanian village The situation began to change when, on July 15, 1938, the then president Germán Busch, one of the few people from Santa Cruz who governed the country, promulgated the Oil Royalties Law, which established 11% of the gross oil production for the producing regions. But due to the pettiness of centralism, this law was not promulgated and the payment of royalties to Santa Cruz was not made effective until 26 years later for the takeoff of its development.
It was in 1964 under the mandate of René Barrientos and not before the punitive invasion ordered in 1958 by Hernán Siles Suazo with Army troops and armed militias seeking to subdue and punish, in their holy rebellions, a brave people. Then the struggle of the Pro Santa Cruz Committee and other institutions of Santa Cruz, under the leadership of the patrician Melchor Pinto, was key. This is a fundamental historical milestone that must be recalled in the month of Santa Cruz.
