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- @node Geography (Bolivia)
- @section Geography (Bolivia)
-
- @display
-
- Location:
- Central South America, between Brazil and Chile
- Map references:
- South America, Standard Time Zones of the World
- Area:
- total area: 1,098,580 km2
- land area:
- 1,084,390 km2
- comparative area:
- slightly less than three times the size of Montana
- Land boundaries:
- total 6,743 km, Argentina 832 km, Brazil 3,400 km, Chile 861 km, Paraguay
- 750 km, Peru 900 km
- Coastline:
- 0 km (landlocked)
- Maritime claims:
- none; landlocked
- International disputes:
- has wanted a sovereign corridor to the South Pacific Ocean since the Atacama
- area was lost to Chile in 1884; dispute with Chile over Rio Lauca water
- rights
- Climate:
- varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid
- Terrain:
- rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), hills, lowland
- plains of the Amazon basin
- Natural resources:
- tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron ore,
- lead, gold, timber
- Land use:
- arable land:
- 3%
- permanent crops:
- 0%
- meadows and pastures:
- 25%
- forest and woodland:
- 52%
- other:
- 20%
- Irrigated land:
- 1,650 km2 (1989 est.)
- Environment:
- cold, thin air of high plateau is obstacle to efficient fuel combustion;
- overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification
- Note:
- landlocked; shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake,
- with Peru
-
-
-
- @end display
-
- @node People (Bolivia)
- @section People (Bolivia)
-
- @display
-
- Population:
- 7,544,099 (July 1993 est.)
- Population growth rate:
- 2.31% (1993 est.)
- Birth rate:
- 32.83 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)
- Death rate:
- 8.63 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)
- Net migration rate:
- -1.06 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)
- Infant mortality rate:
- 76.7 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)
- Life expectancy at birth:
- total population:
- 62.77 years
- male:
- 60.34 years
- female:
- 65.33 years (1993 est.)
- Total fertility rate:
- 4.31 children born/woman (1993 est.)
- Nationality:
- noun:
- Bolivian(s)
- adjective:
- Bolivian
- Ethnic divisions:
- Quechua 30%, Aymara 25%, mixed 25-30%, European 5-15%
- Religions:
- Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist)
- Languages:
- Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara (official)
- Literacy:
- age 15 and over can read and write (1990)
- total population:
- 78%
- male:
- 85%
- female:
- 71%
- Labor force:
- 1.7 million
- by occupation:
- agriculture 50%, services and utilities 26%, manufacturing 10%, mining 4%,
- other 10% (1983)
-
-
-
- @end display
-
- @node Government (Bolivia)
- @section Government (Bolivia)
-
- @display
-
- Names:
- conventional long form:
- Republic of Bolivia
- conventional short form:
- Bolivia
- local long form:
- Republica de Bolivia
- local short form:
- Bolivia
- Digraph:
- BL
- Type:
- republic
- Capital: La Paz (seat of government); Sucre (legal capital and seat of judiciary)
- Administrative divisions:
- 9 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento); Chuquisaca,
- Cochabamba, Beni, La Paz, Oruro, Pando, Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija
- Independence:
- 6 August 1825 (from Spain)
- Constitution:
- 2 February 1967
- Legal system:
- based on Spanish law and Code Napoleon; has not accepted compulsory ICJ
- jurisdiction
- National holiday:
- Independence Day, 6 August (1825)
- Political parties and leaders:
- Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), Jaime PAZ Zamora; Nationalist
- Democratic Action (ADN), Hugo BANZER Suarez; Nationalist Revolutionary
- Movement (MNR), Gonzalo SANCHEZ de Lozada; Civic Solidarity Union (UCS), Max
- FERNANDEZ Rojas; Conscience of the Fatherland (CONDEPA), Carlos PALENQUE
- Aviles; Christian Democratic Party (PDC), Jorge AGREDO; Free Bolivia
- Movement (MBL), Antonio ARANIBAR; United Left (IU), a coalition of leftist
- parties that includes Patriotic National Convergency Axis (EJE-P), Walter
- DELGADILLO and Bolivian Communist Party (PCB), Humberto RAMIREZ;
- Revolutionary Vanguard - 9th of April (VR-9), Carlos SERRATE Reich
- Suffrage:
- 18 years of age; universal and compulsory (married) 21 years of age;
- universal and compulsory (single)
- Elections:
- Chamber of Deputies:
- last held 7 May 1989 (next to be held 6 June 1993); results - percent of
- vote by party NA; note - legislative and presidential candidates run on a
- unified slate, so vote percentages are the same as in section on
- presidential election results; seats - (130 total) MNR 40, ADN 35, MIR 33,
- IU 10, CONDEPA 9, PDC 3
- Chamber of Senators:
- last held 7 May 1989 (next to be held 6 June 1993); results - percent of
- vote by party NA; note - legislative and presidential candidates run on a
- unified slate, so vote percentages are the same as in section on
- presidential election results; seats - (27 total) MNR 9, ADN 7, MIR 8,
- CONDEPA 2, PDC 1
-
-
-
- @end display
-
- @node Government (Bolivia 2. usage)
- @section Government (Bolivia 2. usage)
-
- @display
-
- President:
- last held 7 May 1989 (next to be held 6 June 1993); results - Gonzalo
- SANCHEZ de Lozada (MNR) 23%, Hugo BANZER Suarez (ADN) 22%, Jaime PAZ Zamora
- (MIR) 19%; no candidate received a majority of the popular vote; Jaime PAZ
- Zamora (MIR) formed a coalition with Hugo BANZER (ADN); with ADN support,
- PAZ Zamora won the congressional runoff election on 4 August and was
- inaugurated on 6 August 1989
- Executive branch:
- president, vice president, Cabinet
- Legislative branch:
- bicameral National Congress (Congreso Nacional) consists of an upper chamber
- or Chamber of Senators (Camara de Senadores) and a lower chamber or Chamber
- of Deputies (Camara de Diputados)
- Judicial branch:
- Supreme Court (Corte Suprema)
- Leaders:
- Chief of State and Head of Government:
- President Jaime PAZ Zamora (since 6 August 1989); Vice President Luis OSSIO
- Sanjines (since 6 August 1989)
- Member of:
- AG, ECLAC, FAO, GATT, G-11, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC,
- ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM, ITU, LAES, LAIA, LORCS, NAM,
- OAS, OPANAL, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WMO,
- WTO
- Diplomatic representation in US:
- chief of mission:
- Ambassador Jorge CRESPO
- chancery:
- 3014 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
- telephone:
- (202) 483-4410 through 4412
- consulates general:
- Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Francisco
- US diplomatic representation:
- chief of mission:
- Ambassador Charles R. BOWERS
- embassy:
- Banco Popular del Peru Building, corner of Calles Mercado y Colon, La Paz
- mailing address:
- P. O. Box 425, La Paz, or APO AA 34032
- telephone:
- [591] (2) 350251 or 350120
- FAX:
- [591] (2) 359875
- Flag:
- three equal horizontal bands of red (top), yellow, and green with the coat
- of arms centered on the yellow band; similar to the flag of Ghana, which has
- a large black five-pointed star centered in the yellow band
-
-
-
- @end display
-
- @node Economy (Bolivia)
- @section Economy (Bolivia)
-
- @display
-
- Overview:
- With its long history of semifeudalistic social controls, dependence on
- volatile prices for its mineral exports, and bouts of hyperinflation,
- Bolivia has remained one of the poorest and least developed Latin American
- countries. Since August 1989, President PAZ Zamora, despite his Marxist
- origins, has maintained a moderate policy of repressing domestic terrorism,
- containing inflation, and achieving annual GDP growth of 3 to 4%. For many
- farmers, who constitute half of the country's work force, the main cash crop
- is coca, which is sold for cocaine processing.
- National product:
- GDP - exchange rate conversion - $4.9 billion (1992)
- National product real growth rate:
- 3.8% (1992)
- National product per capita:
- $670 (1992)
- Inflation rate (consumer prices):
- 10.5% (December 1992)
- Unemployment rate:
- 5% (1992)
- Budget:
- revenues $1.5 billion; expenditures $1.57 billion, including capital
- expenditures of $627 million (1993 est.)
- Exports:
- $609 million (f.o.b., 1992)
- commodities:
- metals 46%, hydrocarbons 21%, other 33% (coffee, soybeans, sugar, cotton,
- timber)
- partners:
- US 15%, Argentina
- Imports:
- 1.185 billion (c.i.f., 1992)
- commodities:
- food, petroleum, consumer goods, capital goods
- partners:
- US 22%
- External debt:
- $3.7 billion (December 1992)
- Industrial production:
- growth rate 7% (1992); accounts for almost 32% of GDP
- Electricity:
- 865,000 kW capacity; 1,834 million kWh produced, 250 kWh per capita (1992)
- Industries:
- mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverage, tobacco, handicrafts,
- clothing; illicit drug industry reportedly produces 15% of its revenues
- Agriculture:
- accounts for about 21% of GDP (including forestry and fisheries); principal
- commodities - coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes, timber;
- self-sufficient in food
- Illicit drugs:
- world's second-largest producer of coca (after Peru) with an estimated
- 47,900 hectares under cultivation; voluntary and forced eradication program
- unable to prevent production from rising to 82,000 metric tons in 1992 from
- 74,700 tons in 1989; government considers all but 12,000 hectares illicit;
- intermediate coca products and cocaine exported to or through Colombia and
- Brazil to the US and other international drug markets
- Economic aid:
- US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $990 million; Western (non-US)
- countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $2,025 million;
- Communist countries (1970-89), $340 million
-
-
-
- @end display
-
- @node Economy (Bolivia 2. usage)
- @section Economy (Bolivia 2. usage)
-
- @display
-
- Currency:
- 1 boliviano ($B) = 100 centavos
- Exchange rates:
- bolivianos ($B) per US$1 - 3.9437 (August 1992), 3.85 (1992), 3.5806 (1991),
- 3.1727 (1990), 2.6917 (1989), 2.3502 (1988), 2.0549 (1987)
- Fiscal year:
- calendar year
-
-
-
- @end display
-
- @node Communications (Bolivia)
- @section Communications (Bolivia)
-
- @display
-
- Railroads:
- 3,684 km total, all narrow gauge; 3,652 km 1.000-meter gauge and 32 km
- 0.760-meter gauge, all government owned, single track
- Highways:
- 38,836 km total; 1,300 km paved, 6,700 km gravel, 30,836 km improved and
- unimproved earth
- Inland waterways:
- 10,000 km of commercially navigable waterways
- Pipelines:
- crude oil 1,800 km; petroleum products 580 km; natural gas 1,495 km
- Ports:
- none; maritime outlets are Arica and Antofagasta in Chile, Matarani and Ilo
- in Peru
- Merchant marine:
- 2 cargo ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 14,051 GRT/22,155 DWT
- Airports:
- total:
- 1,225
- usable:
- 1,043
- with permanent-surface runways:
- 9
- with runways over 3,659 m:
- 2
- with runways 2,440-3,659 m:
- 7
- with runways 1,220-2,439 m:
- 161
- Telecommunications:
- microwave radio relay system being expanded; improved international
- services; 144,300 telephones; broadcast stations - 129 AM, no FM, 43 TV, 68
- shortwave; 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT earth station
-
-
-
- @end display
-
- @node Defense Forces (Bolivia)
- @section Defense Forces (Bolivia)
-
- @display
-
- Branches:
- Army (Ejercito Boliviano), Navy includes Marines (Fuerza Navala), Air Force
- (Fuerza Aereo de Bolivia), National Police Force (Boliviano Policia
- Nacional)
- Manpower availability:
- males age 15-49 1,786,137; fit for military service 1,162,160; reach
- military age (19) annually 78,125 (1993 est.)
- Defense expenditures:
- exchange rate conversion - $80 million, 1.6% of GDP (1990 est.)
-
-
-
- @end display
-