*Bolivia, Geography

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

*Bolivia, People

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)

*Bolivia, Government

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

*Bolivia, Government

 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

*Bolivia, Economy

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

*Bolivia, Economy

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

*Bolivia, Communications

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

*Bolivia, Defense Forces

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.)