<P> In late 1864 General Mariano Melgarejo (1864 - 71) seized the presidency and became the most notorious of Bolivia's caudillos . Relying primarily on the military, he remained in power for more than six years despite his mismanagement, drunkenness, and corruption, as well as constant intrigues against him . Hoping to improve the economy by opening up the country to foreigners, Melgarejo signed a series of free trade treaties with Chile and Peru . In an 1867 treaty with Empire of Brazil to secure water rights to the Atlantic Ocean, he ceded 102,400 square kilometers of territory, hoping to break Bolivia's isolation . </P> <P> Melgarejo started a formidable assault on Indian communal land, ostensibly in order to improve agricultural production . He decreed that Indians cold become owners of their parcels if they paid a large fee within sixty days . If they failed to do so, their land would be auctioned off . The resulting land sales increased the size of the haciendas, and massive Indian uprisings against his rule became more violent . Opposition against Melgarejo mounted in all sectors of society as the term melgarejismo came to signify amoral militarism; in 1871 he was overthrown and later murdered in Lima . </P> <P> Agustín Morales (1871--72) continued Melgarejo's ruling style, despite his promise of "more liberty and less government". Morales was killed by his nephew in 1872 . </P> <P> Two presidents with high integrity, Tomás Frías Ametller (1872--73) and General Adolfo Ballivián (1873--74), did not last long because of constant intrigues . Under their rule Bolivia opened the port of Mollendo, which reduced the country's isolation by connecting the Altiplano by train and steamship on Lake Titicaca to the Pacific coast . </P>

When did the silver market drop sharply hurting bolivia's income