People. Bolivia's ethnic distribution is estimated to be 56%-70% indigenous people,
and 30%-42% European and mixed. The largest of the approximately three-dozen
indigenous groups are the Quechua (2.5 million), Aymara (2 million),
Chiquitano (180,000), and Guarani (125,000). There are small German,
former Yugoslav, Asian, Middle Eastern, and other minorities, many of
whose members descend from families that have lived in Bolivia for several
generations.
Bolivia is one of the least-developed countries in South America. Almost
two-thirds of its people, many of whom are subsistence farmers, live in
poverty. Population density ranges from less than one person per square
kilometer in the southeastern plains to about 10 per square kilometer (25
per sq. mi.) in the central highlands. The annual population growth rate
is about 2.74% (2004).
La Paz is at the highest elevation of the world's capital cities--3,600
meters (11,800 ft.) above sea level. The adjacent city of El Alto, at 4,200
meters above sea level, is one of the fastest-growing in the hemisphere.
Santa Cruz, the commercial and industrial hub of the eastern lowlands,
also is experiencing rapid population and economic growth.
The great majority of Bolivians are Roman Catholic (the official religion),
although Protestant denominations are expanding strongly. Many indigenous
communities interweave pre-Columbian and Christian symbols in their religious
practices. About half of the people speak Spanish as their first language.
Approximately 90% of the children attend primary school but often for a
year or less. The literacy rate is low in many rural areas.
The cultural development of what is present-day Bolivia is divided into
three distinct periods: pre-Columbian, colonial, and republican. Important
archaeological ruins, gold and silver ornaments, stone monuments, ceramics,
and weavings remain from several important pre-Columbian cultures. Major
ruins include Tiwanaku, Samaipata, Incallajta, and Iskanwaya. The country
abounds in other sites that are difficult to reach and have seen little
archaeological exploration.
The Spanish brought their own tradition of religious art which, in the
hands of local indigenous and mestizo builders and artisans, developed
into a rich and distinctive style of architecture, painting, and sculpture
known as "Mestizo Baroque." The colonial period produced not
only the paintings of Perez de Holguin, Flores, Bitti, and others but also
the works of skilled but unknown stonecutters, woodcarvers, goldsmiths,
and silversmiths. An important body of native baroque religious music of
the colonial period was recovered in recent years and has been performed
internationally to wide acclaim since 1994.
Bolivian artists of stature in the 20th century include, among others,
Guzman de Rojas, Arturo Borda, Maria Luisa Pacheco, and Marina Nunez del
Prado. Bolivia has rich folklore. Its regional folk music is distinctive
and varied. The "devil dances" at the annual carnival of Oruro
are one of the great folkloric events of South America, as is the lesser
known carnival at Tarabuco.
History and political conditions. The Andean region probably has been inhabited for some 20,000 years. Beginning
about
the
2nd century
B.C., the Tiwanakan culture developed at the southern
end of Lake Titicaca. This culture, centered around and named for the great
city of Tiwanaku, developed advanced architectural and agricultural techniques
before it disappeared around 1200 A.D., probably because of extended drought.
Roughly contemporaneous with the Tiwanakan culture, the Moxos in the eastern
lowlands and the Mollos north of present-day La Paz also developed advanced
agricultural societies that had dissipated by the 13th century of our era.
In about 1450, the Quechua-speaking Incas entered the area of modern highland
Bolivia and added it to their empire. They controlled the area until the
Spanish conquest in 1525.
During most of the Spanish colonial period, this territory was called "Upper
Peru" or "Charcas" and was under the authority of the Viceroy
of Lima. Local government came from the Audiencia de Charcas located in
Chuquisaca (La Plata--modern Sucre). Bolivian silver mines produced much
of the Spanish empire's wealth, and Potosi, site of the famed Cerro Rico--"Rich
Mountain"--was, for many years, the largest city in the Western Hemisphere.
As Spanish royal authority weakened during the Napoleonic wars, sentiment
against colonial rule grew. Independence was proclaimed in 1809, but 16
years of struggle followed before the establishment of the republic, named
for Simon Bolivar, on August 6, 1825.
Independence did not bring stability. For nearly 60 years, coups and short-lived
constitutions dominated Bolivian politics. Bolivia's weakness was demonstrated
during the War of the Pacific (1879-83), when it lost its seacoast and
the adjoining rich nitrate fields to Chile.
An increase in the world price of silver brought Bolivia a measure of relative
prosperity and political stability in the late 1800s. During the early
part of the 20th century, tin replaced silver as the country's most important
source of wealth. A succession of governments controlled by the economic
and social elites followed laissez-faire capitalist policies through the
first third of the century.
Living conditions of the indigenous peoples, who constituted most of the
population, remained deplorable. Forced to work under primitive conditions
in the mines and in nearly feudal status on large estates, they were denied
access to education, economic opportunity, or political participation.
Bolivia's defeat by Paraguay in the Chaco War (1932-35) marked a turning
point. Great loss of life and territory discredited the traditional ruling
classes, while service in the army produced stirrings of political awareness
among the indigenous people. From the end of the Chaco War until the 1952
revolution, the emergence of contending ideologies and the demands of new
groups convulsed Bolivian politics.
Revolution and Turmoil. The Nationalist Revolutionary Movement
(MNR) emerged as a broadly based party. Denied its victory in the 1951
presidential elections, the MNR led
the successful 1952 revolution. Under President Victor Paz Estenssoro,
the MNR introduced universal adult suffrage, carried out a sweeping land
reform, promoted rural education, and nationalized the country's largest
tin mines.
Twelve years of tumultuous rule left the MNR divided. In 1964, a military
junta overthrew President Paz Estenssoro at the outset of his third term.
The 1969 death of President Rene Barrientos, a former member of the junta
elected President in 1966, led to a succession of weak governments. Alarmed
by public disorder, the military, the MNR, and others installed Col. (later
General) Hugo Banzer Suarez as President in 1971. Banzer ruled with MNR
support from 1971 to 1974. Then, impatient with schisms in the coalition,
he replaced civilians with members of the armed forces and suspended political
activities. The economy grew impressively during most of Banzer's presidency,
but human rights violations and eventual fiscal crises undercut his support.
He was forced to call elections in 1978, and Bolivia again entered a period
of political turmoil.
Elections in 1978, 1979, and 1980 were inconclusive and marked by fraud.
There were coups, counter-coups, and caretaker governments. In 1980, Gen.
Luis Garcia Meza carried out a ruthless and violent coup. His government
was notorious for human rights abuses, narcotics trafficking, and economic
mismanagement. Later convicted in absentia for crimes, including murder,
Garcia Meza was extradited from Brazil and began serving a 30-year sentence
in 1995.
After a military rebellion forced out Garcia Meza in 1981, three other
military governments in 14 months struggled with Bolivia's growing problems.
Unrest forced the military to convoke the Congress elected in 1980 and
allow it to choose a new chief executive. In October 1982--22 years after
the end of his first term of office (1956-60)--Hernan Siles Zuazo again
became President. Severe social tension, exacerbated by economic mismanagement
and weak leadership, forced him to call early elections and relinquish
power a year before the end of his constitutional term.
Return to Democracy. In the 1985 elections, the Nationalist
Democratic Action Party (ADN) of Gen. Banzer won a plurality of the popular
vote (33%), followed by former
President Paz Estenssoro's MNR (30%) and former Vice President Jaime Paz
Zamora's Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR, at 10%). But in the congressional
run-off, the MIR sided with MNR, and Paz Estenssoro was chosen for the
fourth time as president. When he took office in 1985, he faced a staggering
economic crisis. Economic output and exports had been declining for several
years. Hyperinflation had reached an annual rate of 24,000%. Social unrest,
chronic strikes, and unchecked drug trafficking were widespread.
In 4 years, Paz Estenssoro's administration achieved economic and social
stability. The military stayed out of politics, and all major political
parties publicly and institutionally committed themselves to democracy.
Human rights violations, which badly tainted some governments earlier in
the decade, were not a problem. However, Paz Estenssoro's remarkable accomplishments
were not won without sacrifice. The collapse of tin prices in October 1985,
coming just as the government was moving to reassert its control of the
mismanaged state mining enterprise, forced the government to lay off over
20,000 miners. The highly successful shock treatment that restored Bolivia's
financial system also led to some unrest and temporary social dislocation.
MNR candidate Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada finished first in the 1989 elections
(23%), though, as usual, no candidate received a majority of popular votes
so Congress determined who would be president. The Patriotic Accord (AP)
between Gen. Banzer's ADN and Jaime Paz Zamora's MIR, the second- and third-place
finishers (at 22.7% and 19.6%, respectively), led to Paz Zamora’s
assuming the presidency.
Paz Zamora was a moderate, center-left president whose political pragmatism
in office outweighed his Marxist origins. He continued the neoliberal economic
reforms begun by Paz Estenssoro. Paz Zamora also took a fairly hard line
against domestic terrorism, a 1990 attack on terrorists of the Nestor Paz
Zamora Committee and authorizing the 1992 crackdown on the Tupac Katari
Guerrilla Army (EGTK).
The 1993 elections continued the tradition of open, honest elections and
peaceful democratic transitions of power. The MNR defeated the ruling coalition,
and the "Goni" Sanchez de Lozada was named president by a coalition
in Congress.
Sanchez de Lozada pursued an aggressive economic and social reform agenda,
relying heavily on successful entrepreneurs-turned-politicians like himself.
The most dramatic program--"capitalization", a form of privatization
under which investors acquired 50% ownership and management control of
the state oil corporation, telecommunications system, airlines, railroads,
and electric utilities, with moneys directed to the pension system instead
of the Treasury--was strongly opposed by certain segments of society, with
frequent and sometimes violent protests from 1994 through 1996.
In the 1997 elections, Gen. Hugo Banzer, leader of the ADN, beat the MNR
candidate (22% of the votes. 18%). The Banzer government basically continued
the free market and privatization policies of its predecessor, and the
relatively robust economic growth of the mid-1990s continued until regional,
global and domestic factors contributed to a decline in economic growth.
Job creation remained limited throughout this period, and public perception
of corruption was high. Both factors contributed to increasing social protests
during the second half of Banzer's term.
Banzer instructed special police units to physically eradicate the illegal
coca of the Chapare region. The policy produced a sudden and dramatic four-year
decline in Bolivia's illegal coca crop, to the point that Bolivia became
a relatively small supplier of coca for cocaine. In 2001, Banzer resigned
from office after being diagnosed with cancer. He died less than a year
later. Banzer's U.S.-educated Vice President, Jorge Quiroga, completed
the final year of the term.
Current Administration. In the 2002 national elections,
former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (MNR) again placed first with
22.5%
of the vote, this time followed by
illegal-coca agitator Evo Morales (Movement Toward Socialism, MAS) with
20.9%. The MNR platform featured three overarching objectives: economic
reactivation (and job creation), anti-corruption, and social inclusion.
A four-year economic recession, tight fiscal situation, and longstanding
tensions between the military police led to the February 12-13, 2003 violence
that left more than 30 people dead and nearly toppled the Sanchez de Lozada’s
government. The government stayed in power but remained unpopular.
Trouble began again in September 2003 when a group of tourists became trapped
in the town of Sorata. After days of unfruitful negotiations, the Government
of Bolivia security forces launched a rescue operation, but on the way
out, were ambushed by armed peasants and a number of persons were killed
on both sides. The incident ignited passions throughout highlands and united
a loose coalition of protestors to pressure the Government of Bolivia into
halting the proposed project to export liquefied natural gas, most likely
through Chile. Anti-Chile sentiment and memories of three major cycles
of non-renewable commodity exports (silver through the 19th century, guano
and rubber later in that century and tin in the 20th century) touched a
nerve with many citizens. Events slowly built as La Paz became trapped
by the protester's blockades. Violent confrontations ensued, and most of
the 60-80 deaths occurred when security forces tried to bring supplies
into the surrounded city. In the end, many ordinary citizens pressured
Sanchez de Lozada to resign on October 17, 2003 to prevent further bloodshed.
After a vote in Congress, Vice President Carlos Mesa Gisbert assumed office
and restored order. Mesa appointed a non-political cabinet and promised
to revise the constitution through a constituent assembly, revise the hydrocarbons
law, and hold a binding referendum on the country’s natural gas deposits.
The referendum took place on July 18, 2004, and Bolivians voted overwhelmingly
in favor of development of the nation’s hydrocarbons resources. But
the referendum did not end social unrest. Large-scale protests led to Congress
approving a confiscatory hydrocarbons law on May 17, 2005. After a brief
pause, however, demonstrations resumed, particularly in La Paz and El Alto.
President Mesa offered his resignation June 6, and Eduardo Rodriguez, the
president of the Supreme Court, assumed office in a constitutional transfer
of power. Rodriguez announced that he was a transitional president and
would call for early elections within six months.
Source: http://www.state.gov