conventional long form: Republic of Bolivia
conventional short form: Bolivia
local long form: Republica de Bolivia
local short form: Bolivia

BL

republic

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

9 departments (departamentos, singular -
departamento); Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, Beni, La Paz, Oruro, Pando,
Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija

6 August 1825 (from Spain)

Independence Day, 6 August (1825)

2 February 1967; revised in August 1994

based on Spanish law and Napoleonic Code; has not
accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

18 years of age, universal and compulsory (married); 21
years of age, universal and compulsory (single)

chief of state: President Hugo BANZER Suarez (since 6 August 1997);
Vice President Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez (since 6 August 1997);
note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Hugo BANZER Suarez (since 6 August
1997); Vice President Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez (since 6 August
1997); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of
government
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president
elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by
popular vote for five-year terms; election last held 1 June 1997 (next
to be held June 2002)
election results: Hugo BANZER Suarez elected president; percent of
vote - Hugo BANZER Suarez (ADN) 22%; Jaime PAZ Zamora (MIR) 17%, Juan
Carlos DURAN (MNR) 18%, Ivo KULJIS (UCS) 16%, Remedios LOZA (CONDEPA)
17%; no candidate received a majority of the popular vote; Hugo BANZER
Suarez won a congressional runoff election on 5 August 1997 after
forming a "megacoalition" with MIR, UCS, CONDEPA, NFR and PDC

bicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional
consists of Chamber of Senators or Camara de Senadores (27 seats;
members are directly elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
and Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (130 seats; members are
directly elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: Chamber of Senators and Chamber of Deputies - last held 1
June 1997 (next to be held June 2002)
election results: Chamber of Senators - percent of vote by party - NA;
seats by party - ADN 11, MIR 7, MNR 4, CONDEPA 3, UCS 2; Chamber of
Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - ADN 32, MNR
26, MIR 23, UCS 21, CONDEPA 19, MBL 5, IU 4

Supreme Court (Corte Suprema), judges appointed for
10-year terms by National Congress

Alternative of Democratic Socialism or
ASD ; April 9 Revolutionary Vanguard or VR-9
; Bolivian Communist Party or PCB ;
Bolivian Renovating Alliance or ARBOL [Marcelo FERNANDEZ, Hugo
VILLEGAS]; Bolivian Socialist Falange or FSB ; Christian
Democrat or PDC ; Civic Solidarity Union or UCS
; Conscience of the Fatherland or CONDEPA [Remedios
LOZA Alvarado]; Free Bolivia Movement or MBL ; Front
of Katarista Unity or FULKA ; Front of National
Salvation or FSN ; Katarismo National Unity or
KND ; Movement of the Revolutionary Left or MIR
; Movement Towards Socialism-Popular Instrument for
Solidarity with the People or MAS-IPSP ;
Nationalist Democratic Action or ADN ; Nationalist
Katarista Movement or MKN ; Nationalist Revolutionary
Movement or MNR ; New Republican Force or
NFR ; New Youth Force ;
Patriotic Axis of Convergence or EJE-P ; Popular
Patriotic Movement or MPP ; Revolutionary Front of the
Left or FRI ; Socialist Party One or PS-1 ;
Solidarity and Democracy or SYD ; Tupac Katari
Revolutionary Liberation Movement or MRTK-L [Victor Hugo CARDENAS
Conde]; United Left or IU ; Unity and Progress Movement
or MUP 
note: political blocs include: left - MBL, EJE-P, VR-9, ASD, FRI, PCB,
IU, FSN, PS-1, FSB, and MAS; center left - MIR, PDC, and New Youth
Force; center - MNR; center right - ADN and NFR; populist - UCS,
CONDEPA, SYD, MUP, and MPP; evangelical - ARBOL; indigenous - MRTK-L,
MKN, and KND

Cocalero Group

CAN, ECLAC, FAO, G-11, G-77,
IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO,
Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur (associate),
MONUC, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO,
UNMIK, UNTAET, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO

chief of mission: Ambassador Marlene FERNANDEZ del Granado
chancery: 3014 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone:  (202) 483-4410
FAX:  (202) 328-3712
consulate(s) general: Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Francisco

chief of mission: Ambassador Donna Jean HRINAK
embassy: Avenida Arce 2780, San Jorge, La Paz
mailing address: P. O. Box 425, La Paz; APO AA 34032
telephone:  (2) 430251
FAX:  (2) 433900

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