Country Profile
A country of statistical extremes, landlocked Bolivia is the highest and most isolated country in South America.

It has the largest proportion of indigenous people, who make up around two-thirds of the population.

Geography
Landlocked Bolivia is equal in size to California and Texas combined. Brazil forms its eastern border; its other neighbours are Peru and Chile on the west and Argentina and Paraguay on the south. The western part, enclosed by two chains of the Andes, is a great plateau—the Altiplano, with an average altitude of 12,000 ft (3,658 m).
Almost half the population lives on the plateau, which contains Oruro, Potosí, and La Paz. At an altitude of 11,910 ft (3,630 m), La Paz is the highest administrative capital city in the world. The Oriente, a lowland region ranging from rain forests to grasslands, comprises the northern and eastern two-thirds of the country.
Lake Titicaca, at an altitude of 12,507 ft (3,812 m), is the highest commercially navigable body of water in the world.

Overview

Though rich in mineral and energy resources, Bolivia is one of South America’s poorest countries. Wealthy urban elites, who are mostly of Spanish ancestry, have traditionally dominated political and economic life, whereas most Bolivians are low-income subsistence farmers, miners, small traders or artisans.

The country has the second-largest reserves of natural gas in South America, but there have been long-running tensions over the exploitation and export of the resource. Indigenous groups say the country should not relinquish control of the reserves, which they see as Bolivia’s sole remaining natural resource.

Before President Evo Morales came to power, the political fallout from the issue had helped to topple two presidents and had led to calls for regional autonomy, including in prosperous, oil-producing Santa Cruz.

In May 2006, President Morales delighted his supporters but sent shockwaves through the energy world when he put the energy industry under state control.

Bolivia underwent further radical change in January 2009, when voters backed President Morales’ project for a new constitution that aimed to give greater rights to the indigenous majority population.

In the 1980s, Bolivia experienced a deep economic recession. The tin market collapsed, with the loss of about 21,000 jobs, inflation was rampant and the national currency was in severe crisis.

While strict austerity measures, the introduction of a new currency and tax reform succeeded in curbing inflation and restoring foreign confidence, these policies also widened the already huge wealth gap and generated great social unrest.

Facts

* Full Name: Plurinational State of Bolivia
* Population: 9.9 million (UN, 2009)
* Capital: Sucre (official), La Paz (administrative)
* Largest City: Santa Cruz
* Area: 1.1 million sq km (424,164 sq miles)
* Major Languages: Spanish, Quechua, Aymara, Guarani
* Major Religion: Christianity
* Life Expectancy: 63 years (men), 68 years (women)
* Monetary Unit: 1 boliviano = 100 centavos
* Main exports: Soyabeans, natural gas, zinc, gold, silver, lead, tin, antimony, wood, sugar
* GNI per capita: US$1,460 (World Bank, 2008)
* Internet domain: .bo
* International dialling code: +591

Leader
President: Evo Morales
Socialist leader Evo Morales, a figurehead for Bolivia’s coca farmers, was elected in 2005, in a major historical shift for his country. D

Describing himself as the candidate “of the most disdained and discriminated against”, he was the first member of the indigenous majority to be elected president of Bolivia.

He was re-elected with a convincing majority over his conservative opponents in December 2009; his party also gained two-thirds majorities in both houses of parliament.

Mr. Morales has made poverty reduction, the redistribution of wealth, land reform favouring poorer peasants and public control over Bolivia’s oil and gas resources his main priorities. He has nationalised much of the energy sector.

The president draws his support mainly from the poor indigenous majority, concentrated in the western highlands. Middle class voters and the eastern provinces, where most of the resource wealth lies, worry that his policies are too radical.

In 2009, voters overwhelmingly approved a new constitution drafted largely by Mr. Morales’ supporters, despite strong – and at times violent – opposition, mainly from in the eastern provinces.

Drafted by a constituent assembly elected in 2006, the new basic law accords more rights to the indigenous majority, gives greater autonomy to the states and enshrines state control over key resources. It also allowed the president’s stand for a second five-year term in a row.

Himself a former coca farmer, Mr Morales defends the traditional uses of coca leaf among the indigenous population, as distinct from its use as the raw material for cocaine.

His promise to relax restrictions on growing coca irritated the US, which has bankrolled the fight against drugs in the country.

He has also alarmed the US by forging strong links with Venezuela’s left-wing firebrand president, Hugo Chavez.

Born in 1959, Evo Morales is an Aymara Indian from an impoverished family. In his youth he was a llama herder and a trumpet player. The former coca grower lost the 2002 presidential election to the conservative, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada.

He succeeded caretaker leader Eduardo Rodriguez, who took office in June 2005 when President Carlos Mesa resigned amid mass protests demanding the nationalisation of the energy sector.

Media

Private newspapers and broadcasters dominate Bolivia’s media landscape; their ownership is highly concentrated.

Media rights body ‘Reporters Without Borders’ noted in 2007 that Bolivia enjoyed greater press freedom than many of its neighbours. But it said journalists rarely covered sensitive topics, including drug trafficking and corruption.

The organisation said media outlets had become targets in the settling of political scores, with political volatility threatening to “widen the gap” between state-run and private media.

Newspaper readership is limited by low literacy levels. With hundreds of stations across the country, radio is an important medium, especially in rural areas.

INTERNATIONAL:

Mr. Morales is a strong critic of the US, which in turn is concerned about Bolivian coca cultivation; Bolivia has close ties with communist Cuba and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.

(Source BBC News)