Bolivia - national flag
The flag dates from 1851 and was officially adopted in 1888; the colors,
however, were used as early as 1825-26. The red color stands for national
bravery and bloodshed in the struggle for independence, the yellow for the
presence of minerals and the green for the fertility of the soil. In the state
flag, the state coat of arms is seen with a condor as well as symbols of
the country's natural riches added in the yellow stripe.
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Bolivia - history
10,000 years ago, Bolivia was populated by hunters and root-gathering Indians
who later became permanent residents, tamed the llama and began growing potatoes
and quínoa.
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The earliest preserved ruins are stone stones in Chiripa from approximately 1200
BC and in the Mojo kingdoms from about 500 BC. From Lake Titicaca to the
Pacific, a high culture, Tiahuanaco, developed with knowledge of metal use. From
it originates the famous Calasasaya Temple on the Acapana Hill from around 600
AD. with the Sun Gate dedicated to the peaceful cultural mediator, the god
Viracocha, as well as the Tunca Punco Palace with the Ten Doors. Tiahuanaco was
about 1200 replaced by several aymaráriger. They became approximately 1450 invaded by
Pachacuti Inca (reigned 1438-71); his successor Topa Inca (1471-93) continued
the conquests, introduced new cultivation methods and migrated large groups of
Quechua-speaking Inca colonists to the area. He founded Collasuyo, one of the
four regions of the Inca Empire.
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The colonial era
In 1538, the Spaniards conquered Gonzalo and Hernando Pizarro Upper Peru,
from 1559 called Charcas, and founded the headquarters Chuquisaca. The forced
labor, in Spanish mita, in the silver mines on Mount Cerro Rico
cost the lives of a very large number of Indians and black slaves, because
the silver was extracted with mercury, which is toxic. Potosí, the city at the
foot of Cerro Rico, was founded in 1545 and was in 1650 the new world's largest
and richest with approximately 150,000 residents. After Cerro Rico was closed due to
insufficient technology, the Oruromine was opened in 1607. Among other
things. the conditions in the mines led to a seven-month Native American
uprising in 1781, led by Tupac Katari and inspired by a simultaneous uprising in
Peru.
Presidents (elected) |
1825-26 |
Simón Bolávar |
1826-28 |
Antonio José de Sucre |
1829-39 |
Andrés de Santa CruzCalahumana |
1841-47 |
José Ballivián |
1848-55 |
Isidoro Belzú |
1857-61 |
José Maráa Linares |
1861-64 |
Jozé M. de Achá |
1864-71 |
M. Melgarejo |
1876-79 |
Hilario Daza |
1880-84 |
Narciso Campero |
1884-88 |
Gregorio Pacheco |
1888-92 |
Aniceto Arce |
1892-96 |
Mariano Baptista |
1896-99 |
Severo Fernández Alonso |
1899-04 |
José M. Pando |
1904-09 |
Ismael Montes |
1909-13 |
Eliodoro Villazón |
1913-17 |
Ismael Montes |
1917-20 |
José Gutiérres Guerra |
1921-25 |
Bautista Saavedra |
1926-30 |
Hernando Siles |
1931-34 |
Daniel Salamanca |
1936-37 |
José David Toro |
1937-39 |
Germán Busch Becerra |
1940-43 |
Enrique Peñaranda |
1943-46 |
Gualberto Villarroel |
1947-49 |
Enrique Hertzog |
1951-52 |
Hugo Ballivián |
1952-56 |
Váctor Paz Estenssoro |
1956-60 |
Hernán Siles Suazo |
1960-64 |
Váctor Paz Estenssoro |
1964-69 |
René Barrientos Ortuño and Alfredo Ovando Candia (alternate) |
1969 |
Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas |
1969-70 |
Alfredo Ovando Candia |
1970-71 |
Juan José Torres |
1971-78 |
Hugo Bánzer Suárez |
1978 |
Juan Pereda Asbún |
1979-80 |
Lidia Gueiler Tejada |
1980-81 |
Luis Garcáa Meza Tejada |
1982-85 |
Hernán Siles Suazo |
1985-89 |
Victor Paz Estenssoro |
1989-93 |
Jaime Paz Zamora |
1993-97 |
Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada |
1997-2001 |
Hugo Banzer Suárez |
2001-02 |
Jorge Quiroga Ramirez |
2002-03 |
Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada |
2003-05 |
Carlos Mesa Gisbert |
2005-06 |
Eduardo Rodríguez |
2006 |
Evo Morales |
The University of Chuquisaca was the center of the first attempt at
independence in 1808, when professors took the lead in the city's revolt. It was
later crushed by the Spanish army, but it became the beginning of the whole
process of secession of South America. The country was declared independent
after the Battle of Tamasla in 1825 thanks to the efforts of Simón Bolívar and
José de Sucre. Independence was affirmed at a congress in Chuquisaca in 1825,
after which the country was renamed Bolivia in honor of the liberator
Bolívar. As an honor, he was appointed president for life, but remained in power
for only six months, drafting Bolivia's first constitution and selling Cerro
Rico to England to redeem the war debt. Sucre then became the first
president-elect.
Wars and civil wars
Attempts to establish a nation-state and a well-functioning political and
economic system in Bolivia failed, and instead led to a series of civil wars,
coups, and conflicts within the military and among landowners. The power
struggles between regional army leaders, caudillos, made the country weak and
vulnerable to neighboring countries and became structural features in the
country's development. This weakening may explain Bolivia's defeat to Chile on
two occasions. The first was in 1836, when Andrés de Santa Cruz formed the
Peruvian-Bolivian Confederation, which was rejected by neighboring Argentina,
Chile, Brazil and Ecuador. Santa Cruz's plan to rule the Pacific coast from
Callao triggered a war with Chile in 1836, which ended with Chile's victory and
the dissolution of the Confederacy in 1839. The second was the Nitrogen War of
1879-83, in which Bolivia again joined forces with Peru against Chile. The
Allies lost the nitrate deposits in the area; Bolivia lost the province of
Antofagasta, access to the sea and the province of Peru Atacama.
In the period 1884-1920, Bolivia experienced greater political stability and
economic growth due to the resumption of silver and tin production, rubber boom,
war compensation from Chile and the sale of the Acre territory to Brazil after a
short war in 1903. Most important, however, was tin extraction and exports,
which boomed from the 1890's, not least due to the progress of the tin can canned
around the world. A new oligarchy, far more internationally oriented and funded
than the silver mine owners, came to sit on the republic's apparatus of power
and carried out a modernization that included the construction of railways, the
expansion of infrastructure, and relocation to sparsely populated areas.
The liberal revolution in 1898 with José Manuel Pando (1848-1917) at
the helm replaced the conservative government, with the help of the
Indians. Before the victory, Pando had promised to abolish serfdom, pongeaje,
and return the Native American communities to their land, but when he became
president, he declared the Indians subhuman, and let many shoot after an
uprising.
From the 1920's until the revolution of 1952, the country was again hit by
political upheavals, during which the military was the main player in an
alliance with the oligarchy, while a growing middle and working class began to
mobilize and demand political influence and better living conditions. Political
instability and social unrest were exacerbated by the worldwide economic crisis
of 1930 and the Chaco War of 1932-35 against Paraguay, during which some 100,000
Bolivians lost their lives. During the four wars with its neighbors between 1836
and 1935, Bolivia lost half of its original territory.
Reforms and coups
The working class organized itself professionally in the Bolivian LO, COB,
whose Trotskyist-oriented leadership had a background as tin miners. Against
this political background, the National Revolutionary Movement, MNR, was formed
under the leadership of Víctor Paz Estenssoro, who won the 1951 presidential
election. The oligarchy, La rosca, and the military refused to
recognize the MNR's victory and gave power to a military junta. A popular
uprising developed in April 1952 almost into a revolution that forced the
military out and put Paz Estenssoro at the head of a government with the support
of the COB, which carried out profound reforms: the Tin mines were nationalized
and administered under the control of the workers; land reforms were launched
while armed peasants occupied the great haciendas. The military was replaced by
popular militias, the Indians were granted civil rights, and unpaid work and
other pre-capitalist working conditions were abolished. MNR governments sought
to promote industry; it failed, after the drastic fall in the price of tin
in the mid-1950's and due to the poor administration of state mining.
Bolivia's history from 1952 is marked by growing economic difficulties,
social conflicts and political instability. Against this background, in 1964 the
military had once again been able to seize power in a coup and play its
traditional role as the extended arm of the oligarchy and the protector of
foreign capital. In 1967, a guerrilla war broke out by the legendary Che
Guevara, who was killed the same year. General Hugo Bánzer Suárez took power in
1971 in a new military coup. Bánzer Suárez retained power until 1978. His rule
suppressed all political and professional organizations, but political
instability continued. There were several coups until 1982, when presidential
elections were held and a process of democratization began. Veteran Victor Paz
Estenssoro became president 1985-89 and saved Bolivia from the economic abyss by
introducing a market-oriented economy with extensive wage freezes and strike
bans. He curtailed human rights violations and fought cocaine production with US
military assistance. His successor, Jaime Paz Zamora, was president 1989-93 and
continued his modernization and market-oriented policies and cooperation with
the United States. In the 1993 presidential election, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada
(b. 1930) from the MNR was elected.
During President Sánchez de Lozada's reign of 1993-97, liberalization
continued, the state sold out of its companies, and reforms were introduced. At
the same time, decentralization was implemented, which meant block grants for
314 newly formed municipalities and real popular participation in the
decisions. A school reform made teaching in Native American languages
compulsory. Former dictator Bánzer Suárez regained power in 1997, implementing
a major austerity program and a massive campaign against coca production. In
four years, with the support of the army, they managed to reduce coca
cultivation by 90%. Bánzer Suárez resigned in August 2001 due to illness and was
replaced by his Vice President, Jorge Fernando Quiroga Ramírez (b. 1960). In the
2002 election, Sánchez de Lozada regained the presidency.
Dissatisfaction with Sánchez de Lozada's government culminated in bloody
protests in 2003, during which more than 100 people lost their lives. Sánchez de
Lozada had to resign, and he was succeeded by Carlos Mesa. Continued unrest
about exports of bolivian natural gas in 2005 led to Mesa also resigning
under the impression of popular protests. Later that year, Evo Morales won the
presidential election, becoming the republic's first Native American leader. The
left-leaning and US-critical Morales had before that emerged as the leader of
the Indian coca farmers, and he was elected on promises of land reforms, and
that the country's natural resources should benefit the population. In 2006, he
thus came under state control of the energy sector, sparking international
protests. He also succeeded in getting Parliament's approval of land reforms.
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