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Bolivia Index

Antidurg agents unloading seized cocaine in Cochabamba Department

Seizure of a cocaine laboratory in the Cochabamba Valley

Under the 1983 antidrug agreement, which established the Umopar, the United States provided an initial US$4 million to form, train, and equip (with nonlethal items) 300 Umopar members and a 30-member detective squad. In July 1984, the Siles Zuazo government undertook to dismantle the nation's billion-dollar drug industry and ensure the receipt of a United States economic aid package by declaring the nation's principal coca-growing area, the Chapare, a military zone. The government sent in up to 1,500 soldiers, including the Umopar, but withdrew the unpopular troops from the region by that September. Social scientist Kevin Healy observed that, with few exceptions, the Siles Zuazo government did not deploy police or military force to deal with the frequent peasant demonstrations against the drug war that took place throughout Bolivia during 1983-85.

The more conservative Paz Estenssoro government adopted a harder line. Following a meeting of the International Drug Enforcement Conference in April 1986, the Paz Estenssoro government requested United States military assistance in reaching isolated areas where drugs were being processed. In early July 1986, after extended negotiations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship authorized the entry of United States troops to provide requested temporary logistical support for National Police Corps find-and-destroy operations against coca-processing facilities in the Chapare region, as well as in Beni and Santa Cruz departments. The resulting United States support operation-- called "Operation Bol-USA" in Bolivia and "Operation Blast Furnace" in the United States--got under way later that month with the arrival at Santa Cruz's Viru-Viru International Airport of a United States C-5A Galaxy transport airplane carrying 160 United States Rangers from Southcom and about 15 DEA members, along with six Black Hawk transport helicopters. The operation involved the United States Army officers--experts on communications and mechanics--in training 1,000 Bolivian soldiers from all three services in counterinsurgency tactics and special police in antinarcotics actions. The role of the United States personnel was limited to transporting police antinarcotics forces by helicopter to drug installations, all of which, however, were found to be deserted, owing to publicity about the operation.

The Bolivian government supported the operation despite negative public reaction. After about 20,000 demonstrators in La Paz protested the continued presence of the United States troops in Bolivia in late August 1986, a majority in Congress approved the United States participation in the antinarcotics operation. To receive greater logistical support for antinarcotics efforts, the Bolivian government extended the presence of the United States troops in the country for a second sixty-day period. The United States effectively ended the operation in mid-November 1986 by withdrawing its soldiers. Once they had departed, however, the coca trade flourished anew.

The Paz Estenssoro government attempted to involve the FF.AA. in the antinarcotics struggle. In late 1986, it established a unit called the Operational Tasks Command (Comando de Tareas Operativas--CTO) to coordinate police and military efforts. The government then formed the FELCN, which by 1988 consisted of 640 Umopar members. Its creation also was intended to reduce the participation in antinarcotics matters of high-ranking police officers and to downgrade the Umopar. The FELCN was envisaged as drawing recruits from the FF.AA., police, and other organizations, such as the GES. The Paz Estenssoro government agreed to pay for the maintenance of the new force's specialized troops, and the United States agreed to outfit it with US$123 million worth of helicopters, weapons, motorboats, and other equipment. Paz Estenssoro appointed a former FAB commander to head the FELCN general command and made the Umopar a subordinate unit.

In 1987 the navy leased eight Piranha patrol boats from the DEA for riverine interdiction in Cochabamba and Beni departments. The Piranhas were to be staffed jointly by naval and antidrug police personnel, with assistance from DEA agents.

FAB's involvement increased in September 1987 when it created the Task Force (Fuerza de Tarea) to provide air support for national antinarcotics efforts. The new unit's inventory included six Huey UH-1H helicopters leased from the United States after Operation Blast Furnace. The United States also provided a thirty-day training course taught by a team of twenty-eight United States military pilots and technical personnel. After forming its Task Force, FAB armed the unit's six Huey helicopters with machine guns in order to provide for the defense of law enforcement officials when they inspected drug crops. In 1987 three of the unit's Huey helicopters were deployed in Trinidad and at the forward base of San Javier, and the three others were in the Chapare.

A United States congressional report issued in 1987 alleged that corruption and indifference among the Task Force's FAB pilots made their participation counterproductive. In any event, in its first year the Task Force completed 1,200 missions totaling 3,200 hours without incident (although three members were killed in February 1989 when their Cessna 206 crashed). In April 1989, the undersecretary of the Social Defense Secretariat reported that Task Force patrols in the Chapare had "completely paralyzed" the flights of small aircraft believed to be involved in drug trafficking. The Task Force was scheduled to receive an additional six Hueys in 1989.

In 1987 a United States Army Special Forces training team began a series of five-week training courses for Umopar personnel in topics such as operations and small-unit tactics, map reading, jungle survival, and communications. The Chapare base camp in Chimoré, a town on the road linking Cochabamba with Yapacani, served as the venue for conducting a basic course; the Umopar camp in Trinidad, capital of Beni Department, provided an advanced tactics course. According to the Department of State, six such courses were provided in 1987, and an additional six were planned for 1988. By mid-1988, 340 troopers, including 7 women, had graduated from the basic course and 200 from the advanced course.

In the spring of 1988, the DEA and local authorities began a new round of antinarcotics programs called "Operation Snowcap." DEA agents in teams of fifteen to twenty-five began serving in the Chapare on a rotating basis. The operation also involved members of the United States Army Special Forces, who were confined to military camps where they trained Bolivian troops. In addition, in simultaneous attempts to interdict laboratory chemicals being smuggled into the Chapare, United States Border Patrol agents aided Bolivian police at road checkpoints, while patrol boats plied rivers in the region. By April 1988, as a result of antidrug operations mainly in the Chapare, where some 90 percent of the 300,000 farmers in the region were involved in growing coca or processing and marketing coca paste, coca prices plummeted temporarily and dozens of coca fields went unharvested.

Data as of December 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)