The article is a historical approach to indigenous education in Bolivia, with the aim of making the experience and contribution of father Carlos Felipe Beltrán visible. The historical method and fiche technique allowed the collection, description and analysis of written sources. On the one hand, the article seeks to provide an overview of the educational policies implemented in Bolivia during the last 40 years of the nineteenth century (1862-1892), which were implemented in isolation. On the other hand, to clarify the experience of the bilingual educator Beltran with regard to indigenous education, who raised a bilingual literacy and cathequisation in aymara and Quechua languages, based on cultural enhancement, history and language. In short, Beltrán was a precursor to indigenism and laid the foundations for bilingual, intercultural and productive education.