In arriving at a verdict, the judge considers the
nature of the
crime committed and the existence of special circumstances
surrounding the case before imposing a penalty or
punishment. The
judge must give special attention to the criminal's
intent.
Bolivia's Penal Code distinguishes clearly between
felonies and
misdemeanors. The former is committed voluntarily and in a
spirit
of malice; the latter, without malice. The Penal Code
recognizes
the following three types, or orders, of punishment that
may be
imposed on criminals, regardless of whether or not the
offense
was a felony or misdemeanor: corporal punishments that
involve
some form of restraint or restriction on the person of the
offender, such as imprisonment; noncorporal punishments
that call
for nonphysical penalties, such as deprivation of a civil
right,
surveillance, bonding, or reprimand; and pecuniary
punishments
that exact a fine or other form of monetary payment.
Although the 1961 constitution abolished capital
punishment, it
was restored in October 1971 for terrorism, kidnapping,
and
crimes against government and security personnel. In 1973
the
Supreme Court of Justice upheld the constitutionality of
Article
109, one of several state security provisions of the Penal
Code
that entered into force in 1973, which mandates the death
penalty, by firing squad, for any Bolivian who takes up
arms
against the nation, joins its enemies, or collaborates
with the
enemy in the event of a foreign war. In 1981 the death
penalty
was extended to drug trafficking. A death sentence could
not be
carried out, however, until the president decided against
commutation. The president could commute the death penalty
in
favor of the second most severe punishment, which was
thirty
years at hard labor, with no recourse to pardon or
clemency.
Thirty years at hard labor was also mandated under
Article 111
(espionage) and Article 118 (sabotage). Under Article 133,
terrorist actions carried a penalty of two to ten years in
prison
or, in the event of the death or severe wounding of the
victim,
twenty to thirty years. Engaging in armed actions against
the
security and sovereignty of the state was punishable under
Article 121 by a penalty of fifteen to thirty years in
prison.
Article 128 provided that any attempt against the life or
security of the president or other high government
officials
would be punishable by five to ten years of prison.
Article 17
established that the penalties for drug-related offenses
would
never exceed thirty years' imprisonment. Most other crimes
did
not carry a greater penalty than ten years' imprisonment.
At the
request of a condemned individual, a judge could also
choose to
suspend a sentence or grant a parole or conditional
liberty.
Bolivia's Penal Code also included a statute of
limitations. A
severe criminal offense could not be prosecuted unless the
offender was brought to justice within ten years of the
date of
its commission. Judicial pardon did not exist in the
Bolivian
penal system, but both the president and Congress had this
power
in certain limited circumstances. Both were authorized to
declare
amnesty for political offenses, and Congress was empowered
to
pardon offenders in either criminal or civil cases,
provided that
the Supreme Court of Justice concurred.
Bolivia had several penal institutions, including the
San Pedro
national penitentiary (known as Panóptico) in La Paz and
one in
each of the nine departments. Most departments had jails
to
accommodate local offenders whose crimes were serious
enough to
warrant long-term imprisonment. Other facilities included
a
correctional farm at Caranavi in the Yungas, a reformatory
for
women at La Paz, and three reformatories for juveniles,
one at La
Paz and two near Cochabamba. These institutions, with the
exception of the juvenile reformatories, were under the
general
supervision of the Ministry of Interior, Migration, and
Justice,
which assigned detachments of carabineers to provide guard
and
security forces.
Conditions at the Caranavi correctional farm, where
prisoners
engaged in common work in the fields during the day, were
better
than in most penal institutions in Bolivia. Regulations
there
were strict, and prisoners were tightly secluded in their
cells
at night under enforced silence. Communication with the
outside
world was regulated closely, and families were rarely
permitted
to visit inmates. Nevertheless, by being close to the
source of
food supply, the Caranavi prisoners had better meals than
did
inmates in urban prisons. The Women's Reformatory at La
Paz, with
a capacity for only thirty women, had the best conditions
of all
institutions in the system. It was operated under contract
by a
Roman Catholic order of nuns.
According to the Department of State, in 1989 there
continued to
be occasional reports of abuse of prisoners and detainees
by
individual police and security officers, although the
Constitution prohibits torture and the Siles Zuazo, Paz
Estenssoro, and Paz Zamora governments neither condoned
nor
practiced such activity. According to evidence made public
in
late 1989, forty or more severely mistreated prisoners
were
reported to have died and been secretly buried in a
clandestine
cemetery at the Espejos Rehabilitation Farm in Santa Cruz
Department. Police, prison, and security personnel were
rarely
tried and punished for cruelty toward or degrading
treatment of
detainees. Corruption, malnutrition, and unsanitary
conditions
were endemic in Bolivia's underfinanced prison system.
Although
reportedly built at a cost of US$600,000, Santa Cruz
Department's
new Public Prison (Cárcel Pública) for juvenile
delinquents,
renamed the Santa Cruz Young Men's Rehabilitation Center
(Centro
de Rehabilitación de Varones Santa Cruz), was the site of
inmate
sabotage in early 1989.
|
Background | | Bolivia, named after independence fighter Simon BOLIVAR, broke away from Spanish rule in 1825; much of its subsequent history has consisted of a series of nearly 200 coups and countercoups. Democratic civilian rule was established in 1982, but leaders have faced difficult problems of deep-seated poverty, social unrest, and illegal drug production. In December 2005, Bolivians elected Movement Toward Socialism leader Evo MORALES president - by the widest margin of any leader since the restoration of civilian rule in 1982 - after he ran on a promise to change the country's traditional political class and empower the nation's poor, indigenous majority. However, since taking office, his controversial strategies have exacerbated racial and economic tensions between the Amerindian populations of the Andean west and the non-indigenous communities of the eastern lowlands. In December 2009, President MORALES easily won reelection, and his party took control of the legislative branch of the government, which will allow him to continue his process of change.
|
|
Location | | Central South America, southwest of Brazil
|
|
Area(sq km) | | total: 1,098,581 sq km
land: 1,083,301 sq km
water: 15,280 sq km
|
|
Geographic coordinates | | 17 00 S, 65 00 W
|
|
Land boundaries(km) | | total: 6,940 km
border countries: Argentina 832 km, Brazil 3,423 km, Chile 860 km, Paraguay 750 km, Peru 1,075 km
|
|
Coastline(km) | | 0 km (landlocked)
|
|
Climate | | varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid
|
|
Elevation extremes(m) | | lowest point: Rio Paraguay 90 m
highest point: Nevado Sajama 6,542 m
|
|
Natural resources | | tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower
|
|
Land use(%) | | arable land: 2.78%
permanent crops: 0.19%
other: 97.03% (2005)
|
|
Irrigated land(sq km) | | 1,320 sq km (2003)
|
|
Total renewable water resources(cu km) | | 622.5 cu km (2000)
|
|
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) | | total: 1.44 cu km/yr (13%/7%/81%)
per capita: 157 cu m/yr (2000)
|
|
Natural hazards | | flooding in the northeast (March-April)
|
|
Environment - current issues | | the clearing of land for agricultural purposes and the international demand for tropical timber are contributing to deforestation; soil erosion from overgrazing and poor cultivation methods (including slash-and-burn agriculture); desertification; loss of biodiversity; industrial pollution of water supplies used for drinking and irrigation
|
|
Environment - international agreements | | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Marine Life Conservation
|
|
Geography - note | | landlocked; shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake (elevation 3,805 m), with Peru
|
|
Population | | 9,775,246 (July 2009 est.)
|
|
Age structure(%) | | 0-14 years: 35.5% (male 1,767,310/female 1,701,744)
15-64 years: 60% (male 2,877,605/female 2,992,043)
65 years and over: 4.5% (male 193,196/female 243,348) (2009 est.)
|
|
Median age(years) | | total: 21.9 years
male: 21.3 years
female: 22.6 years (2009 est.)
|
|
Population growth rate(%) | | 1.772% (2009 est.)
|
|
Birth rate(births/1,000 population) | | 25.82 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
|
|
Death rate(deaths/1,000 population) | | 7.05 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
|
|
Net migration rate(migrant(s)/1,000 population) | | -1.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
|
|
Urbanization(%) | | urban population: 66% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 2.5% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
|
|
Sex ratio(male(s)/female) | | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
|
|
Infant mortality rate(deaths/1,000 live births) | | total: 44.66 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 48.56 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 40.57 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
|
|
Life expectancy at birth(years) | | total population: 66.89 years
male: 64.2 years
female: 69.72 years (2009 est.)
|
|
Total fertility rate(children born/woman) | | 3.17 children born/woman (2009 est.)
|
|
Nationality | | noun: Bolivian(s)
adjective: Bolivian
|
|
Ethnic groups(%) | | Quechua 30%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry) 30%, Aymara 25%, white 15%
|
|
Religions(%) | | Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) 5%
|
|
Languages(%) | | Spanish 60.7% (official), Quechua 21.2% (official), Aymara 14.6% (official), foreign languages 2.4%, other 1.2% (2001 census)
|
|
Country name | | conventional long form: Plurinational State of Bolivia
conventional short form: Bolivia
local long form: Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia
local short form: Bolivia
|
|
Government type | | republic; note - the new constitution defines Bolivia as a "Social Unitarian State"
|
|
Capital | | name: La Paz (administrative capital)
geographic coordinates: 16 30 S, 68 09 W
time difference: UTC-4 (1 hour ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
note: Sucre (constitutional capital)
|
|
Administrative divisions | | 9 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento); Beni, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, La Paz, Oruro, Pando, Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija
|
|
Constitution | | 7-Feb-09
|
|
Legal system | | based on Spanish law and Napoleonic Code; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction; the 2009 Constitution incorporates indigenous community justice into Bolivia's judicial system
|
|
Suffrage | | 18 years of age, universal and compulsory (married); 21 years of age, universal and compulsory (single)
|
|
Executive branch | | chief of state: President Juan Evo MORALES Ayma (since 22 January 2006); Vice President Alvaro GARCIA Linera (since 22 January 2006); note - the president is both chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Juan Evo MORALES Ayma (since 22 January 2006); Vice President Alvaro GARCIA Linera (since 22 January 2006)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president
elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for a single five-year term; election last held 6 December 2009 (next to be held in 2014); note - per the new constitution, presidents can serve for a total of two consecutive terms
election results: Juan Evo MORALES Ayma elected president; percent of vote - Juan Evo MORALES Ayma 64%; Manfred REYES VILLA 26%; Samuel DORIA MEDINA Arana 6%; Rene JOAQUINO 2%; other 2%
|
|
Legislative branch | | bicameral Plurinational Legislative Assembly or Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional consists of Chamber of Senators or Camara de Senadores (36 seats; members are elected by proportional representation from party lists to serve five-year terms) and Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (130 seats; 76 members are directly elected from their districts [7 or 8 of these are chosen from indigenous districts] and 54 are elected by proportional representation from party lists to serve five-year terms).
elections: Chamber of Senators and Chamber of Deputies - last held 6 December 2009 (next to be held in 2015)
election results: Chamber of Senators - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - MAS 26, PPB-CN 10; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - MAS 89, PPB-CN 36, UN 3, AS 2
|
|
Judicial branch | | Supreme Court or Corte Suprema (judges elected by popular vote from list of candidates pre-selected by Assembly for six-year terms); District Courts (one in each department); Plurinational Constitutional Court (five primary or titulares and five alternate or suplente magistrates elected by popular vote from list of candidates pre-selected by Assembly for six-year terms; to rule on constitutional issues); Plurinational Electoral Organ (seven members elected by the Assembly and the president; one member must be of indigenous origin to six-year terms); Agro-Environmental Court (judges elected by popular vote from list of candidates pre-selected by Assembly for six-year terms; to run on agro-environmental issues); provincial and local courts (to try minor cases)
|
|
Political pressure groups and leaders | | Bolivian Workers Central or COR; Federation of Neighborhood Councils of El Alto or FEJUVE; Landless Movement or MST; National Coordinator for Change or CONALCAM; Sole Confederation of Campesino Workers of Bolivia or CSUTCB
other: Cocalero groups; indigenous organizations (including Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Eastern Bolivia or CIDOB and National Council of Ayullus and Markas of Quollasuyu or CONAMAQ); labor unions (including the Central Bolivian Workers' Union or COB and Cooperative Miners Federation or FENCOMIN)
|
|
International organization participation | | CAN, FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur (associate), MIGA, MINUSTAH, MONUC, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNASUR, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
|
|
Flag description | | three equal horizontal bands of red (top), yellow, and green with the coat of arms centered on the yellow band
note: similar to the flag of Ghana, which has a large black five-pointed star centered in the yellow band; in 2009, a presidential decree made it mandatory for a so-called wiphala - a square, multi-colored flag representing the country's indigenous peoples - to be used alongside the traditional flag
|
|
Economy - overview | | Bolivia is one of the poorest and least developed countries in Latin America. Following a disastrous economic crisis during the early 1980s, reforms spurred private investment, stimulated economic growth, and cut poverty rates in the 1990s. The period 2003-05 was characterized by political instability, racial tensions, and violent protests against plans - subsequently abandoned - to export Bolivia's newly discovered natural gas reserves to large northern hemisphere markets. In 2005, the government passed a controversial hydrocarbons law that imposed significantly higher royalties and required foreign firms then operating under risk-sharing contracts to surrender all production to the state energy company. In early 2008, higher earnings for mining and hydrocarbons exports pushed the current account surplus to 9.4% of GDP and the government's higher tax take produced a fiscal surplus after years of large deficits. Private investment as a share of GDP, however, remains among the lowest in Latin America, and inflation remained at double-digit levels in 2008. The decline in commodity prices in late 2008, the lack of foreign investment in the mining and hydrocarbon sectors, and the suspension of trade benefits with the United States will pose challenges for the Bolivian economy in 2009.
|
|
GDP (purchasing power parity) | | $43.38 billion (2008 est.)
$40.88 billion (2007 est.)
$39.08 billion (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
|
|
GDP (official exchange rate) | | $16.6 billion (2008 est.)
|
|
GDP - real growth rate(%) | | 6.1% (2008 est.)
4.6% (2007 est.)
4.8% (2006 est.)
|
|
GDP - per capita (PPP) | | $4,500 (2008 est.)
$4,300 (2007 est.)
$4,200 (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
|
|
GDP - composition by sector(%) | | agriculture: 11.3%
industry: 36.9%
services: 51.8% (2008 est.)
|
|
Labor force | | 4.454 million (2008 est.)
|
|
Labor force - by occupation(%) | | agriculture: 40%
industry: 17%
services: 43% (2006 est.)
|
|
Unemployment rate(%) | | 7.5% (2008 est.)
7.5% (2007 est.)
note: data are for urban areas; widespread underemployment
|
|
Population below poverty line(%) | | 60% (2006 est.)
|
|
Household income or consumption by percentage share(%) | | lowest 10%: 0.5%
highest 10%: 44.1% (2005)
|
|
Distribution of family income - Gini index | | 59.2 (2006)
44.7 (1999)
|
|
Investment (gross fixed)(% of GDP) | | 18% of GDP (2008 est.)
|
|
Budget | | revenues: $8.039 billion
expenditures: $7.5 billion (2008 est.)
|
|
Inflation rate (consumer prices)(%) | | 14% (2008 est.)
8.7% (2007 est.)
|
|
Stock of money | | $3.998 billion (31 December 2008)
$3.032 billion (31 December 2007)
|
|
Stock of quasi money | | $6.339 billion (31 December 2008)
$4.729 billion (31 December 2007)
|
|
Stock of domestic credit | | $5.433 billion (31 December 2008)
$4.759 billion (31 December 2007)
|
|
Market value of publicly traded shares | | $NA (31 December 2008)
$2.263 billion (31 December 2007)
$2.223 billion (31 December 2006)
|
|
Economic aid - recipient | | $582.9 million (2005 est.)
|
|
Public debt(% of GDP) | | 45.2% of GDP (2008 est.)
46.3% of GDP (2007 est.)
|
|
Agriculture - products | | soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber
|
|
Industries | | mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing
|
|
Industrial production growth rate(%) | | 10.6% (2008 est.)
|
|
Current account balance | | $2.015 billion (2008 est.)
$1.984 billion (2007 est.)
|
|
Exports | | $6.448 billion (2008 est.)
$4.49 billion (2007 est.)
|
|
Exports - commodities(%) | | natural gas, soybeans and soy products, crude petroleum, zinc ore, tin
|
|
Exports - partners(%) | | Brazil 60.1%, US 8.3%, Japan 4.1% (2008)
|
|
Imports | | $4.641 billion (2008 est.)
$3.24 billion (2007 est.)
|
|
Imports - commodities(%) | | petroleum products, plastics, paper, aircraft and aircraft parts, prepared foods, automobiles, insecticides, soybeans
|
|
Imports - partners(%) | | Brazil 26.7%, Argentina 16.3%, US 10.5%, Chile 9.5%, Peru 7.1%, China 4.8% (2008)
|
|
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | | $7.722 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$5.318 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
|
|
Debt - external | | $5.931 billion (31 December 2008)
$5.385 billion (31 December 2007)
|
|
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home | | $5.998 billion (31 December 2008)
|
|
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad | | $NA
|
|
Exchange rates | | bolivianos (BOB) per US dollar - 7.253 (2008 est.), 7.8616 (2007), 8.0159 (2006), 8.0661 (2005), 7.9363 (2004)
|
|
Currency (code) | | boliviano (BOB)
|
|
Telephones - main lines in use | | 690,000 (2008)
|
|
Telephones - mobile cellular | | 4.83 million (2008)
|
|
Telephone system | | general assessment: privatization begun in 1995; reliability has steadily improved; new subscribers face bureaucratic difficulties; most telephones are concentrated in La Paz and other cities; mobile-cellular telephone use expanding rapidly; fixed-line teledensity of 7 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular telephone density slighly exceeds 50 per 100 persons
domestic: primary trunk system, which is being expanded, employs digital microwave radio relay; some areas are served by fiber-optic cable; mobile cellular systems are being expanded
international: country code - 591; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2008)
|
|
Internet country code | | .bo
|
|
Internet users | | 1 million (2008)
|
|
Airports | | 952 (2009)
|
|
Pipelines(km) | | gas 4,883 km; liquid petroleum gas 47 km; oil 2,475 km; refined products 1,589 km (2008)
|
|
Roadways(km) | | total: 62,479 km
paved: 3,749 km
unpaved: 58,730 km (2004)
|
|
Ports and terminals | | Puerto Aguirre (inland port on the Paraguay/Parana waterway at the Bolivia/Brazil border); Bolivia has free port privileges in maritime ports in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay
|
|
Military branches | | Bolivian Armed Forces: Bolivian Army (Ejercito Boliviano, EB), Bolivian Navy (Fuerza Naval Boliviana, FNB; includes marines), Bolivian Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Boliviana, FAB) (2009)
|
|
Military service age and obligation(years of age) | | 18-49 years of age for 12-month compulsory military service; when annual number of volunteers falls short of goal, compulsory recruitment is effected, including conscription of boys as young as 14; 15-19 years of age for voluntary premilitary service, provides exemption from further military service (2009)
|
|
Manpower available for military service | | males age 16-49: 2,295,746
females age 16-49: 2,366,828 (2008 est.)
|
|
Manpower fit for military service | | males age 16-49: 1,666,697
females age 16-49: 1,906,396 (2009 est.)
|
|
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually | | male: 108,304
female: 104,882 (2009 est.)
|
|
Military expenditures(% of GDP) | | 1.9% of GDP (2006)
|
|
Disputes - international | | Chile and Peru rebuff Bolivia's reactivated claim to restore the Atacama corridor, ceded to Chile in 1884, but Chile offers instead unrestricted but not sovereign maritime access through Chile for Bolivian natural gas and other commodities; an accord placed the long-disputed Isla Suarez/Ilha de Guajara-Mirim, a fluvial island on the Rio Mamore, under Bolivian administration in 1958, but sovereignty remains in dispute
|
|
Electricity - production(kWh) | | 5.495 billion kWh (2007 est.)
|
|
Electricity - production by source(%) | | fossil fuel: 44.4%
hydro: 54%
nuclear: 0%
other: 1.5% (2001)
|
|
Electricity - consumption(kWh) | | 4.665 billion kWh (2007 est.)
|
|
Electricity - exports(kWh) | | 0 kWh (2008 est.)
|
|
Electricity - imports(kWh) | | 0 kWh (2008 est.)
|
|
Oil - production(bbl/day) | | 51,360 bbl/day (2008 est.)
|
|
Oil - consumption(bbl/day) | | 60,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)
|
|
Oil - exports(bbl/day) | | 10,950 bbl/day (2007 est.)
|
|
Oil - imports(bbl/day) | | 6,172 bbl/day (2007 est.)
|
|
Oil - proved reserves(bbl) | | 465 million bbl (1 January 2009 est.)
|
|
Natural gas - production(cu m) | | 14.2 billion cu m (2008 est.)
|
|
Natural gas - consumption(cu m) | | 2.41 billion cu m (2008 est.)
|
|
Natural gas - exports(cu m) | | 11.79 billion cu m (2008)
|
|
Natural gas - proved reserves(cu m) | | 750.4 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
|
|
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate(%) | | 0.2% (2007 est.)
|
|
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | | 8,100 (2007 est.)
|
|
HIV/AIDS - deaths | | fewer than 500 (2007 est.)
|
|
Major infectious diseases | | degree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, and yellow fever
water contact disease: leptospirosis (2009)
|
|
Literacy(%) | | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 86.7%
male: 93.1%
female: 80.7% (2001 census)
|
|
Education expenditures(% of GDP) | | 6.4% of GDP (2003)
|
