1983 Edition

Agriculture

main crops — potatoes, corn, rice, sugarcane, coca, yucca, bananas, coffee; imports significant quantities of wheat

Airfields

564 total, 505 usable; 9 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways over 3,659 m, 10 with runways 2,4403,659 m, 114 with runways 1,220-2,409 m

Branches

executive; bicameral legislature (National Congress — Senate and Chamber of Deputies); Congress began meeting again in October 1982; judiciary

Bolivian Army, Bolivian Navy, Bolivian Air Force (literally the Army of the Nation, the Navy of the Nation, the Air Force of the Nation)

Budget

$720 million revenues, $1,175 million expenditures (1981 est.)

Capital

La Paz (seat of government); Sucre (legal capital and seat of judiciary)

Civil air

58 major transport aircraft

Communists

three parties; PCB/Soviet led by Jorge Kolle Cueto, about 300 members; PCB/Chinese led by Oscar Zamora, 150 (including 100 in exile); POR (Trotskyist), about 50 members divided between three factions led by Hugo Gonzalez Moscoso, Guillermo Lora Escobar, and Amadeo Arze

Elections

presidential elections on 29 June 1980 were won by the UDP coalition candidate, Hernan Siles Zuazo; however, before the planned August inauguration, the government was overthrown by the military; a series of military leaders followed; in September 1982 the military moved to return the government to civilian rule; the 1980-elected congress met on 1 October and selected the winner of the 1980 presidential election, Hernan Siles Zuazo, to head the government; Siles was inaugurated on 10 October Political parties and leaders: the two traditional political parties in Bolivia, the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement of the People (MNR) and the Bolivian Socialist Falange (FSB), are both seriously factionalized; FSB, Mario Gutierrez; MNR, Jaime Arellano; Nationalist Revolutionary Movement of Left (MNRI), Hernan Siles Zuazo; Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), Jaime Paz Zamora; Authentic Revolutionary Party, Walter Guevara Arce; Christian Democratic Party, Benjamin Miguel; Nationalist Revolutionary Party of Left, Juan Lechin Oquendo; Paz Estenssorista MNR, Leonidas Sanchez; Nationalist Democratic Action Party (ADN), Hugo Banzer

Electric power

480,000 kW capacity (1983); 1.8 billion kWh produced (1983), 306 kWh per capita

Exports

$832 million (f.o.b., 1982); tin, petroleum, lead, zinc, silver, tungsten, antimony, bismuth, gold, coffee, sugar, cotton, natural gas

Fiscal year

calendar year Communications

GNP

$5.6 billion (1983), $933 per capita; 77% private consumption, 10% public consumption, 13% gross domestic investment, -2.0% net foreign balance (1981); 1980 growth, -12%

Government leader

Hernan SILES Zuazo, President

Highways

38,830 km total; 1,300 km paved, 6,700 km gravel, 30,836 km improved and unimproved earth

Imports

$522 million (c.i.f., 1982); foodstuffs, chemicals, capital goods, pharmaceuticals, transportation

Inland waterways

officially estimated to be 10,000 km of commercially navigable waterways

Legal system

based on Spanish law and Code Napoleon; constitution adopted 1967; constitution in force except where contrary to dispositions dictated by governments since 1969; legal education at University of San Andres and several others; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Major industries

mining, smelting, petroleum refining, food processing, textiles, and clothing

Major trade partners

exports — Argentina 36%, US 11%; UK 4%, other EC 10%; Brazil 3%; imports— Argentina 22%; US 21%; Brazil 17%; EC 12%; Japan 9%; FRG 6%; UK 2%, other EC 12% (1982)

Member of

FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, I ATP, IBRD, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IDE— InterAmerican Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, ISO, ITC, ITU, IWC— International Wheat Council, LAIA and Andean Sub-Regional Group (created in May 1969 within LAIA [formerly LAFTA]), NAM, OAS, PAHO, SELA, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WMO, WTO Economy

Military budget

estimated for fiscal year ending 31 December 1982, $76.0 million; 12.3% of central government budget

Military manpower

males 15-49, 1,346,000; 881,000 fit for military service; 61,000 reach military age (19) annually

Monetary conversion rate

500 pesos= US$1 (November 1983)

National holiday

Independence Day, 6 August

Pipelines

crude oil, 1,670 km; refined products, 1,495 km; natural gas, 580 km

Political subdivisions

nine departments with limited autonomy

Ports

none (Bolivian cargo moved through Arica and Antofagasta, Chile, and Matarani, Peru)

Railroads

3,651 km total; 3,514 km meter gauge (1.000 m) and 32 km 0.760-meter gauge, all government owned, single track; 105 km meter gauge (1.000 m) privately owned

Suffrage

universal and compulsory at age 18 if married, 21 if single

Telecommunications

new radio-relay system still inadequate; improved international services; 135,000 telephones (2.6 per 100 popl.); 143 AM, 29 FM, and 43 TV stations; 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT station Botswana Defense Forces

Voting strength

(1980 elections) UDP— Democratic Popular Unity Front, a coalition of the MNRI, MIR, and several smaller groups 38.5%; MNR 20.5%; ADN 16.8%