Bolivia 2014

Yearbook 2014

Bolivia. Bolivia population in 2020 is estimated at 11,673,032. President Evo Morales won an overwhelming victory in the October 12 presidential election. According to the National Electoral Commission, he won over 61% of the votes cast, while his closest competitor Samuel Doria Medina from the opposition alliance UD (Democratic unity) received 24%. Thus, Morales, who was first elected in 2005, became the president who will have been sitting at the longest post. While the victory margin was smaller than at the last presidential election in 2009, it was clear that it was mainly Morale’s poverty reduction program that was the reason for his popularity. The program was launched in 2006 and has reduced the overall poverty level in the country from 60% to 38%. Growth in the economy, almost 7% in 2013, also helped Morale’s opinion figures.

The election results also showed that Morales managed to win large parts of the electorate in the eastern part of the country (La Media Luna), where opposition to, among other things, his enforcement of a new constitution in 2008 was great. He won, for example, for the first time the majority of the votes in the eastern provinces of Santa Cruz and Pando. Only in Beni did the opposition candidate Doria Medina win.

According to topb2bwebsites, the congress election held at the same time led to a reduced number of seats for the ruling party MAS (the Movement for Socialism), which is still the largest party in both chambers. In the House of Representatives, 80 out of 130 seats were secured and in the Senate 24 out of 36, which did not give the party the two-thirds majority required for constitutional amendments. In four provinces (Chuquisaca, Santa Cruz, Beni and Pando), MAS increased its support while it declined in the four major provinces (La Paz, Cochabamba, Oruro and Potosí) and remained virtually unchanged in Tarija.

At the same time, criticism came against the electoral tribunal, not only from the opposition but also from Morale’s own party MAS and from international observers. The criticism was about slow voting – only ten days after the election there was an election result – and the electoral procedure in two municipalities had to be changed again. In early March, an important agreement was signed with Brazil on the exploitation of oil and gas deposits in Santa Cruz. The agreement consolidated Brazil’s position as one of Bolivia’s fastest growing trading partners and third most important source of foreign investment, after Spain and Sweden.

Bolivia – La Paz / Sucre

La Paz

La Paz, a town in the province of La Paz in western Bolivia; 757,200 residents (2013), in the metropolitan area 2. 4 million residents. La Paz is the country’s commercial, industrial, cultural and political center and in reality its capital (since 1898 seat of government and parliament; formally Sucre is the capital). The city is located in a protected valley near 4,000 meters above sea level. (La Paz is considered the world’s largest metropolis). Industrial production mainly comprises food and consumer goods. La Paz is an important traffic hub. The international airport is located in El Alto on the plateau. The city has two universities.

La Paz was founded in 1548 by the Spaniards under Alonso de Mendoza at the site of an Indian village. It was named Ciudad de Nuestra Señora de la Paz (‘Our Lady of the City of Peace’). During the 17th century, the resort developed into a hub on the silver and trade route to Lima in present-day Peru. After the victory in the freedom struggle against the Spaniards at Ayacucho in 1824, the city was renamed La Paz de Ayacucho in 1825. When the seat of the Bolivian government in 1898 was moved from Sucre to La Paz, armed riots erupted, resulting in Bolivia having since then had two capitals. Sucre maintained some central legal institutions, while most of the other capital functions were located in La Paz.

Sucre

Sucre, formal capital of Bolivia; 238,800 residents (2013). Sucre, located in the province of Chuquisaca in central Bolivia, has the country’s highest court; other capital functions were moved to La Paz in 1898. The city’s role as a business and agricultural center has grown in recent years.

Sucre has been listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list since 1991.

Sucre was founded in 1538 as Villa de la Plata by Spaniards at the site of the village of Chuquisaca. It became the seat of the Archbishop in 1609 and became a university in 1624. As Bolivia’s capital, from 1839, it was renamed after the hero of Antonio José de Sucre.