Bolivia

HISTORY OF BOLIVIA

  • water War

    water War
    Between January and April 2000, a series of anti-privatization protests took place in Cochabamba against the privatization of the municipal water supply that was being pushed through on the recommendation of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The Bolivian government declared martial law, killing several people, arresting protest leaders and shutting down radio stations. After continued disturbances and civic pressure, the government finally rolled back the privatization.
  • Jorge Quiroga President

    Jorge Quiroga President
    Vice-President Jorge Quiroga sworn in as president, replacing Hugo Banzer who was suffering from cancer.
  • Bolivian general election

    Bolivian general election
    General elections were held in Bolivia on 30 June 2002. As no candidate for the presidency received over 50% of the vote, the National Congress was required to elect a President. Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada was elected with 84 votes to the 43 received by Evo Morales.
  • Gas war

    Gas war
    the Bolivian gas conflict was a social confrontation in our country were farmers, indigenous, ordinary citizens, COB trade union, along with community organisations, began widespread protests leading to increasingly violent clashes with Bolivian armed forces to prevent the sale of the nation’s gas reserves to the United States through a Chilean port.
  • Black October

    Black October
    In October 2003, the Gas War reached its peak . By the end of the fighting, 84 people were killed, 400 were wounded and as many tortured.This opposition by Bolivians led to the fall of the de Lozada Government, and the opening of discussions about the nationalisation of hydrocarbons.
  • Lozada resigned

    Lozada resigned
    President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada resigned under pressure from protesters, formally handing over the presidency to his vice-president, Carlos Mesa, in order to preserve the сonstitutional order. Lozada fled the country to the United States.
  • Referendum on gas exports

    Referendum on gas exports
    Referendum on gas exports: Voters back greater state involvement in the industry and approve exports of the resource.
  • Mesa resigned

    Mesa resigned
    As angry street protests continued, President Mesa resigned. Supreme Court head Eduardo Rodriguez is sworn in as caretaker president.
  • The first indigenous President

    The first indigenous President
    Evo Morales of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party was elected President of Bolivia with 54% of the vote, the first time a candidate had received an absolute majority since the flawed 1978 elections.Socialist leader Evo Morales become the first indigenous Bolivian to take office.
  • NATIONALIZATION OF HYDROCARBONS

    NATIONALIZATION OF HYDROCARBONS
    President Morales issued Supreme decree No. 28701 to put the energy industry under state control.
  • REFERENDUM OF AUTONOMY

    REFERENDUM OF AUTONOMY
    Bolivians voted for a national assembly that will rewrite the constitution. They voted "yes" or "no" on a ballot question on whether to offer the country's nine states greater autonomy in political and financial affairs. Voters in four of Bolivia's nine states overwhelmingly chose greater political and economic autonomy for their states.
  • CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

    CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
    Aug 6, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales officially opened a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the nation's constitution.
  • THE NEW DRAFT CONSTITUTION

    THE NEW DRAFT CONSTITUTION
    President Morales formally received controversial new draft constitution which he said would promote re-distribution of the country's wealth and give a greater voice to the indigenous majority.
  • BOLIVIAN RECALL REFERENDUM

    BOLIVIAN RECALL REFERENDUM
    Aug 10, Voters in Bolivia vigorously endorsed President Evo Morales in a recall referendum he devised to try to break a political stalemate and revive his leftist crusade, partial unofficial results showed. More than 62 percent of voters ratified the mandate.
  • THE PORVENIR MASSACRE

    THE PORVENIR MASSACRE
    The Porvenir massacre was a deadly ambush in the early hours of September 11, 2008, allegedly organized by Prefectural authorities of the Bolivian Department of Pando, as part of a civil coup against the government of Evo Morales by members of the right-wing civic movement. As a result of the ambush, at least 12 indigenous protesters of the municipality of El Porvenir died that day.
  • BOLIVIAN CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM

    BOLIVIAN CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM
    New constitution giving greater rights to indigenous majority was approved in a national referendum, with more than 60% voting in favour.
  • TERRORISM CASE

    TERRORISM CASE
    The Raid on the Hotel Las Américas was an operation lead by the Bolivian police on April 16, 2009, in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Three foreign nationals died in the operation, whom the police identified as terrorist mercenaries, while a further two people were arrested. According to the Bolivian police, the group had been planning to assassinate Bolivian President Evo Morales and Vice President Álvaro García Linera.
  • MORALES RE-ELECTED

    MORALES RE-ELECTED
    President Morales is re-elected for a second term with more than 60% of the vote.
  • ANTI-RACISM BILL

    ANTI-RACISM BILL
    Bolivia’s Pres. Evo Morales enacted an anti-racism bill opposed by most of the nation’s newspapers, which said it limited free speech.
  • Bolivians voted for judgeships

     Bolivians voted for judgeships
    More than 60% voters cast invalid ballots in election to choose Bolivia's top judges, in what is interpreted as a major slap in the face for President Morales.
  • BOLIVIA LEFT UN

    BOLIVIA LEFT UN
    Bolivia temporarily left UN Conventions on Narcotics in protest against classification of coca as an illegal drug, signs agreement with US and Brazil to help reduce the production of illegal cocaine.
  • The unconstitutional law

    The unconstitutional law
    Bolivia passed a law paving the way for President Morales to be seek a third term. The constitution states that presidents can only serve two terms, but the supreme court ruled that, because the constitution was changed during Mr Morales' first four years, that term did not count. Opposition politicians denounced the law as unconstitutional.
  • Túpac Katari 1

    Túpac Katari 1
    Bolivia launched its first telecommunications satellite.
  • Bolivian general election

    Bolivian general election
    General elections were held in Bolivia on 12 October 2014, the second to take place under the country's 2009 constitution, and the first supervised by the Plurinational Electoral Organ, a newly created fourth branch of government. Incumbent President Evo Morales was re-elected for a third term.
  • Pope Francis in Boliva

    Pope Francis in Boliva
    Pope Francis rallied tens of thousands of flag-waving Bolivians during his first public Mass.
  • The international court of justice

    The international court of justice
    The United Nations' highest court ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear a case focusing on Bolivia’s access to the Pacific Ocean. Bolivia asked the International Court of Justice in 2013 to order Chile to negotiate over Bolivia's claim to at least part of the 240-mile (400-km) strip of the Pacific coast.
  • 2016 Bolivian constitutional referendum

    2016 Bolivian constitutional referendum
    Bolivia held a referendum to decide if President Evo Morales can stay in power for a fourth term. Days later with 99.72 percent of votes counted, electoral board president Katia Uriona said that 51.3 percent of voters cast "no" ballots in the referendum, against 48.7 percent voting "yes.
  • Gabriela Zapata Case

    Gabriela Zapata Case
    President Evo Morales's ex-girlfriend was sentenced to ten years prison on corruption charges, capping a steamy case that also involved allegations of a hidden love child. Gabriela Zapata, a former manager at the Chinese engineering group CAMC, was accused of using her influence with the president to win $560 million in government contracts
  • the court rejected Bolivia's arguments

    the court rejected Bolivia's arguments
    Judges at the International Court of Justice ruled that landlocked Bolivia cannot force Chile to negotiate over granting it "sovereign access" to the Pacific Ocean, in a setback to Bolivian President Evo Morales.
  • The Chiquitania's wildfires

    The Chiquitania's wildfires
    Nearly 2.9 million hectares of grassland and forest were burned in the Chiquitanía area alone with almost half of that land in protected areas, including in the Otuquis national park.
  • 2019 Bolivian general election

    2019 Bolivian general election
    President Evo Morales was declared the winner with 47.08% of the vote; because this was greater than ten-point margin over his nearest competitor, Carlos Mesa, this was enough for Morales to be announced as a winner without a run-off second-round vot.
  • The “Pitita Revolution”

    The “Pitita Revolution”
    There were 21 days of widespread protests, prompted by the so-called “Pitita Revolution”, that took to the streets in cities all over the country demanding respect for the vote in the October 20 general elections, accompanied by a series of events that precipitated the fall of Evo Morales.
  • Morales resigned

    Morales resigned
    President Morales resigned in wake of street protests after his bid to win a controversial presidential election.
  • Interim President Jeanine Añez

    Interim President Jeanine Añez
    Senate vice-president and conservative Jeanine Añez assumed the interim role of interim president with a Bible in her hand after Pres. Evo Morales took refuge in Mexico following the end of his 14-year socialist rule of the poor Andean nation.
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Bolivia

    COVID-19 pandemic in Bolivia
    The virus was confirmed to have spread to Bolivia on 10 March 2020, when its first two cases were confirmed in the departments of Oruro and Santa Cruz. On 12 March, the government announced seven measures to slow the spread of the disease, including the suspension of educational activities in schools and universities, as well as all commercial flights to and from Europe indefinitely.