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Chaco Boliviano department (proposed in 2006), Bolivia

Last modified: 2009-03-14 by antónio martins
Keywords: coffee | chaco boliviano | guarani |
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Flag of Chaco Boliviano
image by Ivan Sache, 20 Apr 2006
See also:

Description of the flag

The flag is horizontally divided rojo, verde y café (red, green and coffee). Red stands for the blood shed by the Guaranis, green stands for the natural resources and coffee for the land. (The department anthem celebrates Apiaguaiqui Tumpa.)
Ivan Sache, 20 Apr 2006

Presentation

The most advanced claim is for the creation of the tenth department of Bolivia as the department of Chaco Boliviano. The new department (125 755 km²) would be made of the five provinces (in Bolivia, departments are divided into provinces):

  • Cordillera (taken from the department of Santa Cruz),
  • Hernando Siles and Luis Calvo (from Chuquisaca), and
  • Gran Chaco and O’Connor (from Tarija).
On 29 March 2006, the Assembly of the Guarani Nation (Asemblea del Pueblo Guaraní, APG) proclaimed the new department during a ceremony held on the village square of Monteagudo, in the municipality of Chuquisaca. The day was chosen as the 114th anniversary of the death of the Guarani leader Apiaguaiqui Tumpa. Monteagudo is the seat of the Council of the Guarani Captains of Chuquisaca (Consejo de Capitanes Guaraníes de Chuquisaca, CCGCH). Captains representing the nine Guarani zones and the 64 communities in Chuquisaca took part to the ceremony, as well as members of the APG coming from other regions of Bolivia.

The local administration was less enthusiastic than the APG. Whereas the APG wants its proposal to be discussed in the Constituent Assembly, Willy Salguero, President of the Civic Committee of Monteagudo (Comité Cívico de Monteagudo), says that the Committe has to meet first. During the ceremony, the APG hoisted the putative flag of the new department as a way of presenting the department to the country. Salguero considers the flag hoisting more as a symbolic act proving the unity of the Chaco territory.

Lawyer Ricardo Zárate, one of the promoters of the ceremony, said: «The aspiration to the Chaco inhabitants to create their own department is legitimate since we have been historically abandoned.» The Department Council of Santa Cruz stated that the territory of the department was indivisible, being an homogeneous geographical and historical area. Councillor Freddy Landívar accused the Bolivian government to be behind the affair, in order to dismember the most opposing region (there is a strong secessionist movement in Santa Cruz, where most of the oil resources are located). The President of the Civic Committee of Tarija, Francisco Navajas, said he was worried by the projects aimed at dividing the country.

Sources:

Ivan Sache, 20 Apr 2006

It covers about half the area of three current departments, including two of the smallest and the largest, Santa Cruz.
António Martins, 21 Apr 2006

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