[2007 Mormon Historical Association Winner for Article Award of Excellence]
In 1989 two missionaries from Utah were assassinated in Bolivia by a guerrilla organization known as the Frente Armada de Liberacion Zarate Wilke or FAL-ZW. It is clear that the LDS Church was deliberately selected as a target for terrorism, and Knowlton offers an explanation as to why this guerrilla group focused their attention on the Church. At this time in Bolivia, the indigenous population was seeking recognition and political power while fearing that their identity was slipping away. Though the caste system had been abolished in the country, ethnic identity still played a determining factor in economic and political status. Terrorist and guerilla groups saw the Church as an imperialist American organization due to the perception that the Church was supporting right-wing politics, and the high concentration of North American missionaries in La Paz. Finally, the Church had a strong "connection with upward social mobility and the clear rejection of Aymara [Indian] identity...coupled with the association with Bolivian and foreign elites. These factors indicate the ideological and social pressure that Mormon proselyting was placing on thee neighborhoods of migrants."