Plurinational State of Bolivia
Bolivia, 1825 to today. Draft, not yet reviewed
Following an unsuccessful rebellion in Sucre on May 25, 1809, sixteen years of fighting would follow before the establishment of the republic, named for Simón Bolívar. Over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Bolivia lost control of several peripheral territories to neighboring countries, such as the Acre territory after Brazil's 1899–1903 takeover, and the Pacific coastal region which Chile seized in 1879. Bolivia was ruled by an oligarchy composed of land-owning and mining interests, in which the people who were apart of the oligarchy were Simón Iturri Patiño, Moritz Hochschild, and Carlos Víctor Aramayo, until the Bolivian National Revolution of 1952 established universal suffrage, nationalized lucrative tin mining and made a limited land reform. There was a succession of military and civilian governments with the last non-elected military ruler leaving office in 1982.
Seat of power: Sucre
Rulers
Andrés de Santa Cruz
president of Bolivia, 1829–1839
His measures included purging conspirators, reforming and strengthening the Army, reforming the bureaucracy, reforming public finances, issuing new currency, issuing a new Constitution, issuing a new Civil Code based on the Napoleonic Code and establishing Cobija as a free port. He also served as Supreme Protector of the short-lived Peru-Bolivian Confederation from 1836 to 1839, a political entity created mainly by his personal endeavors.
Portrait of Andrés de Santa Cruz: Manuel Ugalde, Public domain, file
José Ballivián
president of Bolivia, 1841–1847
Elected at the ballot box in 1842, Ballivián was a capable leader who enacted important reforms, including a revision of the Constitution. He advocated during his reign for free-trade economic policies. At the Battle of Ingavi (November 1841), Ballivián achieved a decisive victory against Gamarra, whom he took prisoner and ordered executed.
Portrait of José Ballivián: Antonio Villavicencio, Public domain, file
Manuel Isidoro Belzu
president of Bolivia, 1848–1855
Under his presidency, the current national anthem and flag of Bolivia were adopted. He came to power in 1848 after defeating incumbent president José Miguel de Velasco's forces in the Battle of Yamparaez. He defeated two insurrections in 1849, a third in 1853 and a fourth in 1854.
Portrait of Manuel Isidoro Belzu: Antonio Villavicencio, Public domain, file
José María Linares
president of Bolivia, 1857–1861
Linares, Bolivia's first civilian president, declared himself dictator in 1858 and confronted the power of the clergy and the military through a reform program. He repressed several uprising attempts, and in 1861, he was deposed by his own supporters and replaced by a triumvirate that sentenced him to exile.
Portrait of José María Linares: Unknown author, Public domain, file
Mariano Melgarejo
president of Bolivia, 1864–1871
He assumed power in 1864 after staging a coup d'état against president José María de Achá, thus beginning six-year dictatorship, popularly known as the Sexenio. He was of controversial personality and his dictatorship is remembered in Bolivia mainly for its poor government administration and its abuses against the indigenous population, in addition to having signed unfavorable border treaties with Chile and Brazil in 1866 and 1867, which proved to be devastating in coming years.
Portrait of Mariano Melgarejo: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Tomás Frías Ametller
president of Bolivia, 1872–1876
His first term was mostly devoted to the organization, supervision, and scrutiny of the general election of 1873. During his second term, the Boundary Treaty of 1874 between Chile and Bolivia was signed, supposedly ending the border conflict between the two nations. Weakened by the constant revolts, Frías was eventually ousted by his former Minister of War, Hilarión Daza.
Portrait of Tomás Frías Ametller: Krisgabwoosh, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
Narciso Campero
president of Bolivia, 1880–1884
In 1880, a Convention, convened in February of that year, ratified Campero as constitutional president for a period of 4 years, accompanied by Aniceto Arce as his vice president. In his institutional performance, Campero promulgated a new constitution that inaugurated the cycle of the "oligarchic republic", under the influence of the liberal ideas professed by the new mining elite.
Portrait of Narciso Campero: Unknown authorUnknown author, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
Gregorio Pacheco
president of Bolivia, 1884–1888
In 1884, he won a tight general election, defeating Aniceto Arce, of the Conservative Party, and Eliodoro Camacho, of the Liberal Party. Pacheco was a magnanimous president, he built the Sucre Psychiatric Institute at his own expense and several other social institutions to aid the lower classes of Bolivia. Throughout his administration, Pacheco began the industrialization and modernization process in Bolivia.
Portrait of Gregorio Pacheco: Fotografía Valdez Hermanos, Public domain, file
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Aniceto Arce
president of Bolivia, 1888–1892
As had been agreed upon, Pacheco supported Arce in the 1888 elections. Through his stakes in the silver-mining company Compañía Minera Huanchaca Arce was Bolivia's wealthiest man.
Portrait of Aniceto Arce: Unknown, Public domain, file
José Manuel Pando
president of Bolivia, 1899–1904
He fought the so-called Acre War with Brazil, which led to Bolivia's loss of the Acre territories. He was head of the Liberal Party of Bolivia until the end of his presidency.
Ismael Montes Gamboa
president of Bolivia, 1904–1909
He served as the 26th president of Bolivia twice nonconsecutively, from 1904 to 1909 and from 1913 to 1917. During his first term, the Treaty of Peace and Friendship with Chile was signed on 20 October 1904.
Portrait of Ismael Montes Gamboa: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Hugo Banzer
president of Bolivia, 1971–1978
Banzer rose to power via a coup d'état against socialist president Juan José Torres and repressed labor leaders, clergymen, indigenous people, and students during his 1971–1978 dictatorship. Several thousand Bolivians were either forced to seek asylum in foreign countries, arrested, tortured, or killed during this period, known as the Banzerato.
Portrait of Hugo Banzer: Ezarate, Public domain, file
Evo Morales
president of Bolivia, 2006–2019
Once elected president in 2005, Morales increased taxation on the hydrocarbon industry to bolster social spending and emphasized projects to combat illiteracy, poverty, and racial and gender discrimination. His administration opposed the autonomist demands of Bolivia's eastern provinces, won a 2008 recall referendum, and instituted a new constitution that established Bolivia as a plurinational state. Following the disputed 2019 election and ensuing unrest, Morales resigned and went into temporary exile.
Portrait of Evo Morales: EneasMx, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
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Luis Arce
president of Bolivia, 2020–2025
Domestically, Arce's first year in office saw success in combating the COVID-19 pandemic and stabilizing the economy during the pandemic's outbreak. The initial successes of Arce's government were eventually overshadowed by a socioeconomic crisis in Bolivia upon a shortage of foreign currency reserves beginning in 2023, exacerbated by decreased exports of natural gas and high inflation. In July 2024, an attempted coup against Arce took place in Plaza Murillo, with Morales accusing Arce of staging a self-coup due to declining popular support.
Portrait of Luis Arce: Plurinational Legislative Assembly, CC BY 2.0, file
Rodrigo Paz
president of Bolivia, 2025 to today
Paz went on to defeat Quiroga in a second round run-off, the first time in the country's history that the mechanism had been used. Upon assuming office, Paz has pledged to resolve a socioeconomic crisis inherited from his predecessor Luis Arce by replenishing foreign currency reserves and ending shortages of gasoline and diesel.
Portrait of Rodrigo Paz: Lula Oficial, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
Culture
- In 2009, a new constitution changed the official name to "Plurinational State of Bolivia" to reflect the multi-ethnic nature of the country and the strengthened rights of Bolivia's indigenous peoples under the new constitution.
- Spanish is the official and predominant language, although 36 indigenous languages also have official status, of which the most commonly spoken are Guaraní, Aymara, and Quechua.
- Bolivia's defeat by Paraguay in the Chaco War (1932–1935), where Bolivia lost a great part of the Gran Chaco region in dispute, marked a turning point.
Picture
Sucre is the de jure capital city of Bolivia and has one of the best preserved Hispanic colonial and republican historic city centres in the Western Hemisphere.
Image: Parallelepiped09, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.