Bolivia

The Bolivian constitution is one of the most liberal in South America. Out of the Constitución Boliviano, given by the great liberator in the first days of the republic, has been evolved the code of the government as it stands to-day, a credit to the democratic principles of the nation and a monument to the good judgment of its leaders, establishing the sovereign rule of the majority in the common interest of the whole people. It is a reflection of the patriotic sentiments and the clear judgment of those who framed it, and in adhering to its principles the Bolivian nation need take no second place in the political progress of the twentieth century.

The present constitution was adopted October 28, 1880, under the presidency of General Campero, and few amendments have been made since its inauguration. By its terms the republic of Bolivia is constituted a sovereign and independent nation, under a Unitarian, democratic representative government. The exercise of its sovereign powers is vested in the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches of the government, each of which is independent of the others.

The legislative power is in the hands of a national Congress, consisting of two chambers, the Camara de Diputados, or House of Representatives, and the Camara de Senadores, or the Senate. The Camara de Diputados is composed of seventy-two members, elected by direct vote of the people for a term of four years, the camara being renewed by halves, every two years. To qualify for a deputy the citizen must be twenty-five years of age and have an annual income of two hundred bolivianos. The Camara de Senadores consists of sixteen members, two for each department. The senators are also elected by a direct vote of the people, the senatorial term being for six years, with a renewal by thirds every two years. A senator must be thirty-five years of age and have an annual income of four hundred bolivianos. Senators and deputies may be reëlected indefinitely. Congress meets annually, usually opening on the 6th of August, in the capital of the republic, unless for sufficient reason it is convoked to meet elsewhere. The regular session lasts sixty days, though it may be extended to ninety days. Extraordinary sessions may be assembled by a concurrent vote of the majority of both camaras, or by proclamation of the executive, giving the place, time, and object of such session. The first vice-president of the republic is also president of the Senate and of Congress. The legislative power provides for the necessities of the state, dictating its laws in accordance with the precepts of the constitution.

The executive power is vested in the president and two vice-presidents of the republic, whose authority is exercised through the secretaries or members of the Cabinet. The president and vice-presidents are elected every four years by direct vote of the people, and are ineligible for the next succeeding term. In case that no candidate obtains an absolute plurality of votes, Congress then chooses the three who hold the highest majority, and by its vote decides the successful candidate. The president directs the foreign policy, manages the public interest, is commander-in-chief of the army, and patron of the official Church. The vice-presidents are appointed to take charge of the presidential duties successively in case of the resignation, absence, or death of the president, the qualifications for first or second vice-presidents being the same as for a senator, except that they must necessarily be native born Bolivians. By appointment of the president, six secretaries form a Cabinet of State to assist the chief executive in the various departments of the administration; these ministers are jointly responsible with the president for all administrative acts in their respective offices, and the ministers are jointly responsible for all acts performed in their Cabinet meetings. Decrees and orders issued by the president must also bear the signature of the minister or secretary of the respective departments, to be enforced. Cabinet ministers may take part in the debates of either chamber of Congress, but must leave the place before a vote is cast. Each minister is required to send to Congress, at its opening session annually, a complete report of the work done in his department during the year.

The judiciary power of the government is represented by a National Supreme Court, Superior District Courts, Lower District Courts, courts for the preparation of criminal cases, and parochial courts. The Supreme Court resides in Sucre, the capital of the republic, and consists of seven ministers of justice, appointed by the Chamber of Deputies from a ternary list, submitted by the Senate. To be eligible to the supreme bench, it is necessary to be a Bolivian by birth or naturalization, to be not less than forty-five years of age, to have resided permanently in the country for five years, to have been a judge in a superior court of justice or district attorney for five years, and to have been a practising lawyer in good standing for ten years. According to the constitution, the duties of the Supreme Court, in addition to those devolving upon it by virtue of the laws of the nation, are, in general terms: To hear and determine on appeals for the reversing of a sentence passed by the lower courts, and to establish the chief points at issue; to hear and determine on all questions of a purely legal nature, upon the decision of which depends the constitutionality of a law, decree, or other resolution; to hear and determine all cases concerning the responsibility of diplomatic and consular agents, judges of the superior courts, district attorneys, and other public officers for offences committed in the discharge of their respective duties; to hear and determine on cases arising from contracts, negotiations, and concessions granted by the executive power, and on suits brought against the executive, arising from executive action; to hear and determine on matters relating to the national patronage exercised by the supreme government, and to settle controversies between municipal councils, between these and the political authorities, and between either of them and the provincial municipal boards. Publicity of judicial proceedings is the essential condition of the administration of justice, except in cases which might offend against public morals.

The Ministerio Publico, or Fiscal, a judicial organization, is established to protect the constitutional guarantees and to see to the fulfilment of the laws. Its ministers, or fiscales, are agents of the executive power, and in the tribunals represent the interests of society. The administration of justice is gratuitous. The highest authority of the ministerio, called a fiscal general, is an official elected by the executive for a period of ten years from a ternary proposed by the Camara de Diputados. He coöperates with the Supreme Court in decisions relating to justice, and with the executive in matters of administration. He is assisted in the discharge of his duties by district fiscales, who have charge of the duties of the Ministerio Publico in each department; their relation with the Superior District Court is the same as that existing between the fiscal general and the Supreme Court. They supervise the administration of the public treasury and form part of the Board of Public Auction. The fiscales de partido and agentes fiscales rank in inferior importance, exercising supervision in matters under the jurisdiction of the lower district courts, the prefectures, and the municipalities. There is also a fiscal de gobierno, who advises in matters of public administration.

Under the constitution, the government of each of the eight departments into which the state is divided is placed in the hands of a prefect, who, by virtue of his office, is also a colonel in the army, and directly responsible to the executive power. He is appointed by the president of the republic, and is the immediate representative or agent of the executive power, having under his jurisdiction all public functionaries of whatever class and denomination within the limit of his department; he is elected for a term of four years. The president also appoints the sub-prefects, who govern the provinces; the corregidores, or district authorities, and the alcaldes territoriales, or petty justices of the smaller subdivisions, are appointed by the prefect. The alcaldes territoriales are quite distinct in their official capacity from the chief municipal authority, the mayor, who is also called alcalde. In addition to the political administration of the departments, there is in each department capital a Municipal Council, and in each provincial capital and river port a Municipal Board, or junta. Municipal agents are appointed annually by the respective juntas of the provinces, with authority in the smaller subdivisions known as cantons. In the more important departments the municipal councils consist of twelve members, while in others there are nine. These corporations have authority to make mutual agreements or contracts for the construction and maintenance of roads and highways between two or more of their respective departments, whenever such agreements affect the revenue or moneys of the municipal treasuries of the departments interested.

Besides the divisions of the republic into departments, provinces, and cantons, there are ecclesiastical divisions in conformity with the terms of the national constitution, by which the chief executive is the patron of the ecclesiastical government of the country. The established church of Bolivia is, according to law, the Roman Catholic, one of the clauses of the constitution reading: “The State recognizes and supports the Roman Apostolic Catholic religion, the public exercise of any other worship being prohibited, except in the Colonies, where it is tolerated.” It is necessary to add that in the legislature of 1905 a bill was introduced declaring the necessity for changing the last part of this clause to read: “the public exercise of all other worships being permitted.” The passage of this bill places Bolivia in the vanguard among the Spanish-American countries, so far as religious freedom is concerned. The ecclesiastical divisions consist of one archbishopric and three bishoprics. The archbishopric of La Plata embraces the departments of Chuquisaca, Potosí, Oruro, and Tarija, having the cathedral church at Sucre, and covering a territory of nearly five hundred thousand square kilomètres, with a population of about eight hundred thousand. It has authority over one hundred and forty-six parishes, five monasteries, and three colleges for the propagation of the Faith. The cathedral church was erected into an episcopal see in 1552 and raised to an archbishopric in 1609. Five bishops and twenty-eight archbishops have successively ruled the diocese up to the present time. The archbishop is appointed by the executive from a ternary list submitted by the Senate. The bishops are appointed in the same way. The bishopric of La Paz, created in 1605 by Pope Paul V., contains one hundred and two parishes, three convents, two monasteries, and a missionary college. The bishopric of Cochabamba, erected by Pope Pius IX. in 1847, has sixty-nine parishes, three monasteries, a convent, and a missionary college. The bishopric of Santa Cruz, which includes the department of the Beni as well as that of Santa Cruz, was also established in 1605, and has at present seventy-three parishes and a missionary home. The missionary work of the Church among the Indians of the remote districts, where Christian teaching can only be done in this way, is in charge of missionary colleges established for the Propaganda Fide, there being at present about eighteen missions in the heart of the rubber forests and in the remote wilds of the Chaco. Missionaries have gone to Bolivia from time to time, representing Protestant church societies of North America and England, but their chief work has been teaching and proselyting. They have not relieved the Catholic Church of any of its arduous labors among the indigenes. Just why missionaries should be sent to the Spanish-Americans any more than to the Spaniards is a little difficult to understand, though they have undoubtedly rendered valuable services as school teachers, in spite of their being handicapped with the ill-chosen title of “missionaries.”

The constitution confirms the adoption of the national emblems, and the national anniversaries for the celebration of great events in the history of the country. The Bolivian coat of arms very beautifully and artistically symbolizes the resources of this rich country, and is emblematic of the national aspirations. It is of elliptical form, the band which marks the oval having on its lower half nine stars, and on the upper half the word “Bolivia.” Within the oval is the figure of the noble Cerro de Potosí, in coloring a faithful reproduction of that wonderful mountain of metal, red, brown, purple, and grey in spots where eager miners have burrowed into its sides; to the right of the cerro stands an alpaca, the denizen of its plateaux, and to the left a sheaf of wheat and a breadfruit tree, to typify the wealth of its valleys and forests. The rising sun, bright in the glory of its beaming rays, is seen behind the cerro. On each side of the oval are three national flags draped in graceful folds, a cannon, two rifles; an Inca hatchet to the left and a liberty cap to the right leave just space enough between, at the top of the shield, for the great condor of the Andes, posing ready for flight, in the midst of two wreaths of laurel and olive, the outside field being pearl blue. The Cerro de Potosí symbolizes the mineral, the sheaf of wheat the vegetable, and the alpaca the animal kingdom; the rising sun represents the hopeful future of the country, the nine stars stand for the nine departments into which the republic was divided, before the territorial change made in 1905, the flags are emblematic of the national patriotism, the rifles and cannon represent the arms of defence, the laurel is for victory, and the olive for peace, the condor, to which tradition attributes the faculty of seeing through infinite space and from remote distances, is chosen because it bears a significant relation to the dearest interests of the beloved country. The national flag is tricolored, formed of three horizontal bands of red, gold, and green, of equal width, placed with the red across the top, the gold in the middle, and the green below. In the centre of the flag is the national coat of arms, between two branches of laurel and olive. The red of the flag symbolizes the animal kingdom; the gold the mineral; and the green the vegetable. The national holidays are February 3d, which is the birthday anniversary of General Sucre; July 24th, General Bolivar’s birthday; August 6th, Independence Day; and December 9th, the anniversary of the battle of Ayacucho, or the general independence day of all Spanish South America. Upon these occasions the patriotism of the people bursts forth in a flood of oratory, and the churches are filled with the devout, who offer prayers for the prosperity of the beloved patria.

While the constitution represents a perfect system of legislative, executive, and judicial government, its most remarkable feature is shown in the equitable and liberal character of those clauses which relate to the guarantee of individual rights and liberty. In conformity with the best principles of freedom, slavery is abolished, all slaves becoming free upon their arrival in Bolivian territory. Suffrage is granted to all single male citizens who have reached twenty-one years of age and to married men when they have attained the age of eighteen, provided they are able to read and write, possess an income of two hundred bolivianos, and that their names are inscribed in the civil register. Personal security is protected, and torture or other corporal punishment is absolutely forbidden under any and all circumstances. The death penalty is abolished, except as a punishment for murder, parricide, and treason. Arrest or imprisonment must be made in strict accordance with the law, but in cases of flagrante delicto, can be made without a warrant and by any person. Civil and criminal law apply equally to all. Political offences cannot be punished by confiscation of property. Political and civil rights are freely granted, the freedom of the press and the right of peaceable assembly are recognized, any lawful trade or profession may be pursued, and it is permitted to teach under government supervision. The sanctity of the home is inviolable, all property, private correspondence, trademarks, and copyrights are protected, and private correspondence, if violated, cannot be used as legal evidence. The public debt, and all contracts and agreements entered into by the state, according to law, are guaranteed. The right of transit throughout the republic is free, except as restricted by international law.

As the constitution provides that “all men enjoy in Bolivia the same civil rights, the exercise of which is regulated by civil law,” the foreigner receives due consideration. If he wishes to become a citizen, he may declare this intention before the municipal authorities wherever his place of residence is located, after having been a resident of the republic for one year, or he may obtain his certificate of naturalization as a concession from the Chamber of Deputies. In any case he enjoys the immunities granted by the law to sons of the country; he may freely manifest his political and religious ideas without molestation; he pays the same taxes as the native Bolivian, and is not obliged to serve in the army. As a citizen he may be appointed a deputy, senator, minister of state, minister of justice, prefect, general or captain in the army. The foreigner may make his home in any part of the republic that offers an inducement to enterprise, feeling that there is no danger of molestation, unless he choose to seek adventure in the trackless forests of the Chaco or to hunt big game in the remote regions of the Beni. A traveller may journey through the country peacefully, and, indeed, the rural districts of Bolivia are as safe as the streets of a quiet town of New England. Never has Bolivia faced a more promising outlook than at the present time, when peace reigns in its foreign and domestic relations; when industrial progress is showing greater signs of activity than ever before; when public instruction is broadening out, and seeking higher levels; and when, as the president’s message of 1905 expresses it, there is “a strongly accentuated tendency toward the improvement of the national finances.” This very satisfactory condition of affairs is largely due to the superior executive and administrative ability of the president, his excellency, General Ismael Montes, who, since his election in 1904, has consecrated every effort to promote the progress and well-being of his country.

One of the youngest presidents in the world, being still in the early forties, the chief executive of Bolivia exemplifies in his life and character the highest aspirations of patriotism and public-spirited enterprise. President Montes is by birth a Paceño, as natives of La Paz are called, and his public career began at a very early age, his sterling moral qualities and the vigor and energy of his mind combining to make him a conspicuous figure among the students of the university long before he became noted as a lawyer of ability and a journalist famous for the austerity of his principles and his uncompromising fidelity to the laws of justice and equity. In the midst of the most turbulent crises of politics, his voice and his pen have always been guided by serene and unwavering judgment. It was soon recognized that the young politician possessed the rare qualities of a leader, and that he was destined to achieve the highest positions of the state. When the Liberal revolution was installed in La Paz, he rose rapidly in the esteem of the Federal party, and was made colonel and chief of staff of the army which under General Pando defeated and overthrew President Alonso. Later, as minister of war in President Pando’s Cabinet, his genius as an organizer and as an executive chief became noted through many reforms, and the fortitude of his character was evinced in an especial manner. At the head of a division, he took part in the Acre campaign against Brazil, marching with his troops across the mountains and through the forests of northern Bolivia to the remote frontier. In a second expedition to Acre, which he made in company with President Pando, his animated and audacious spirit, the correctness of his manner of living, and the strict system of discipline maintained in his army, as well as the serenity of his disposition and his indefatigable zeal, so completely won the admiration of his countrymen, that he began to be looked upon as their choice for a political chief, and to be named as the prospective president of the country. The proof of the political prestige which he had gained without apparent effort is seen in the triumph of his election, with its enormous majority. The administration of President Montes is marked by progress in every department, of a character to reveal constantly the calm, strong, and independent judgment of a statesman who looks always forward, like a good helmsman guiding the ship of state without fear and without favor across the uncertain sea of national politics.

The president’s first representative, Señor Dr. Don Eliodoro Villazón, vice-president of the republic and president of the national Congress, is among the greatest of Bolivia’s statesmen. His career has been one of marked distinction, not only during the present administration, but through a long period of devoted service to his country. It is a pronounced trait of his character that “his word is as good as his bond,” and that in all his acts are shown a lofty sense of duty and a firm and unwavering purpose. As diplomatist, orator, financier, and politician, Dr. Villazón ranks with the best that South America has produced, and, as Mr. Elihu Root observed in a recent address on the subject, “there are many remarkably good statesmen in South America.”

The second vice-president, Señor Dr. Don Valentin Abecia, represents the best ideals of the nation in his sterling character and superior intellectual gifts. Dr. Abecia is not only a statesman, but a scholar as well, and he has done a great deal to stimulate a love of learning in his country. As president of the Geographic Society of Sucre, and as director of the Medical School, his name is associated with modern progress in Bolivia along the lines of research and scientific experiment. In politics, Dr. Abecia is esteemed for his correct principles and scrupulous honor.

In the ecclesiastical government of Bolivia the executive is represented by the Archbishop of La Plata, one of the highest dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church, reverenced for his great piety and esteemed for rare mental gifts. Archbishop Pifferi was appointed to succeed the much beloved Archbishop Taborga, by whose death in December, 1905, the whole Bolivian nation was plunged into grief, so greatly had the noble prelate, during a long and useful lifetime, endeared himself to the hearts of the people. The present archbishop is of Italian birth, and is fifty-eight years of age. He came to Bolivia first as a missionary of the Franciscan order in 1872, and from the Franciscan college at Tarija he directed his labors to the savage districts of the northern Chaco, where he became very popular with the Indians, learning their language and constituting himself their protector. From this “footstool of humility,” the young missionary rose to be prefect of missions, then to be guardian of the order in Tarija, and later commissary-general of the Franciscan order in Bolivia, during which time he visited every mission in the country, travelling two thousand five hundred miles on muleback. After twenty-seven years in Bolivia he returned to Rome, remaining only for a short time, when he was appointed by Pope Leo XIII. Apostolic Vicar of the Beni. Soon afterward, Archbishop Taborga, with the approval of President Montes, called him to the charge of archbishop’s coadjutor, with the right of succession, and he was consecrated in Rome in October, 1905. Archbishop Taborga died before the arrival of his assistant; and as soon as Archbishop Pifferi reached La Paz, he was notified of his succession to the archiepiscopal see by the foreign minister, Señor Don Claudio Pinilla, who is also the minister of worship. The illustrious Bishop of La Paz, Dr. Armentia, is one of the most learned churchmen of South America, and the Bishops of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz are devoted propagandists of the national religion.

Never in the history of the republic have the ruling powers in both Church and state worked with greater zeal for the interests of national progress and prosperity than under the existing government, and the outlook is promising for the advancement of the country in all that pertains to its development.