Socialización and labor unions in waterway port development in the Bolivian Amazon

• Bolivia’s socialización process offers limited democratic participation in infrastructure planning. • Labor unions gained partial victories in shaping the Ichilo-Mamoré waterway design. • State-led socialización exacerbates tensions between labor unions and Indigenous groups. • Labor-led socialización integrates technical and Indigenous knowledge in infrastructure design. • Democratizing infrastructure planning requires participation in early design phases. This article critically examines Bolivia’s socialización (public participation) process in large-scale infrastructure projects through an institutional ethnography lens. The 2013 Bolivian Socialización Law, a post-neoliberal participatory framework, mandates that infrastructure project design and implementation involve participation of all ‘organized civil society actors’, including Indigenous groups, labor unions, and other social movements. Here we examine labor union participation in waterway modernization through a case study of the new Ichilo-Mamoré waterway ’Stretch 1’ ( Tramo I ) in the Bolivian Amazon, which borders the municipality of Santa Ana del Yacuma, where the Regional Labor Central (COR-SAY) has expanded its support base and political relevance since 2017 with MAS party support. The socialización process yielded partial victories for labor unions, with the inclusion of a labor-formulated Municipal Port Terminal in the national waterway program and recognition of COR-SAY as the local representative in infrastructure projects. The port terminal integrated expert and local knowledge, though COR-SAY’s new role diminished the influence of Indigenous organizations. Despite these labor gains, the article reveals constraints in achieving deeper democratic change through infrastructure program participation. This stems from the State’s focus on managed consensus-building, which contrasts with labor unions view of socialización as a means to advance sectoral demands through infrastructure development. Thus, in Bolivia’s post-neoliberal context, consensus over infrastructure projects—potentially harmful to Indigenous livelihoods—generates new struggles for socio-economic progress.