From Reform to Counter-Reform: Public Servant, Peasants and Technicians in the Agrarian Reform in Colchagua (1964-1978)

Abstract

 Through direct and indirect accounts from experts, officials, and settlers, this research examines the processes of technical training and capacity-building for rural communities during the Chilean agrarian reform between 1964 and 1978. By analyzing both the evolution of training policies and the personal and professional trajectories of the interviewees, it argues that the deepening of the reform was not accompanied by a comparable expansion in the training of human resources required for its implementation. The limited number of qualified staff, together with the intensification of political conflict and the growing politicization of grassroots members and officials, further hindered and complicated the reform process. These factors became central to the dictatorship’s critical assessment of the reform and its subsequent counter-reform agenda, which involved the purging, dismissal, and harassment of officials, as well as a reduction in state support for settlers, ultimately prioritizing the dismantling of the process. Focusing on the province of Colchagua, a region broadly representative of Chilean rural society, this study highlights the complex interplay of political, social, and institutional factors that shaped the implementation of the reform. In doing so, it emphasizes the socio-political commitments and agency of the actors involved, while offering new perspectives on the achievements, limitations, and contradictions of the agrarian reform process.