Santa Cruz Department Information & Santa Cruz Department Links at HealthHaven.com

[edit] Government and Administration

According to current Constitution, the highest authority in the department lies with the prefect (prefecto, similar to a governor but with restricted powers). The prefect was appointed by the President of the Republic till 2005, since then it has been elected by popular vote to serve for a five-year term.

Santa Cruz also has a Departmental Council (Consejo Departamental, similar to a state legislature but with restricted powers) of 23 members called councilors (consejeros). Each of the department's provinces returns at least one councilor, while remaining councilors are assigned to provinces on population basis. By law, the election of councilors is an attribution of municipalities. However, some municipalities such as Camiri (Province of Cordillera) or Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Province of Andrés Ibáñez) have issued internal norms (ordenanzas) in order to have their councilors elected by popular vote.

[edit] Economy

The department covers a vast expanse of territory in eastern Bolivia, much of it rainforests, extending from the Andes to the border with Brazil. The department's economy depends largely on agriculture, with sugar, cotton, soybeans and rice being grown. The amount of land cultivated by modern farming techniques is increasing rapidly in the Santa Cruz area, where weather allows for two crops a year.

In recent years, the discovery of natural gas in the department has led to plans for the development of a regional natural gas industry that is likely to boost the local economy. Bolivia’s energy minister said two proposed liquified petroleum gas plants may allow the country to boost supplies to Brazil and Argentina by 2010, easing a shortage of the fuel after a lack of investment reduced output. The processing plants would be built in Santa Cruz and each would produce about 200 tons of liquified petroleum gas a day. The plants would help turn a deficit of gas into a “surplus”.

The department also hosts El Mutún, the world's second largest iron ore reserve (after Carajás in Brazil) and largest magnesium deposits are also located there. Located in the Germán Busch Province in the Santa Cruz Department of Bolivia, near Puerto Suárez, El Mutún extends across the border into Brazil, where it is called the Serrania de Jacadigo. Also known as the "Serrania Mutún", it has an area of about 75 square kilometers. Its estimated reserves are about 40.205 billion tons of iron ore of 50% iron, mainly in hematite and magnetite form, and in lesser quantities in siderite and manganese minerals. This can be compared with an estimate of the total world reserves of iron ore: 800 billion tons of crude ore containing more than 230 billion tons of iron.

In July 2004, the people voted in a nation-wide referendum to allow for regulated exportation of the gas.^[2]

[edit] Climate

At 416 meters above sea level, it is warm and tropical most of the year. Winters are short and last only 2-3 months but can get very cold very suddenly. "Surazos" (southerly winds that blow in from Argentina) can drop the temperature by as much as 30 degrees overnight. This extreme cold lasts only a few days at a time and the beautiful, sub-tropical Santa Cruz is pleasant throughout most of the year. Here the climate varies by geographical zone: temperate to cold in the western sierras and warm to hot and humid as one descends into the extensive plains.

[edit] Provinces

The Department of Santa Cruz is divided into 15 provinces.

Province	Capital	Area (km²)	Population (2005)
Andrés Ibáñez	Santa Cruz de la Sierra	4,821	1,549,849
Ignacio Warnes	Warnes	1,216	62,417
José Miguel de Velasco	San Ignacio	65,425	64,517
Ichilo	Buena Vista	14,232	82,952
Chiquitos	San José	31,429	70,319
Sara	Portachuelo	6,886	42,157
Cordillera	Lagunillas	86,245	108,843
Vallegrande	Vallegrande	6,414	27,691
Florida	Samaipata	4,132	29,850
Obispo Santiesteban	Montero	3,673	166,267
Ñuflo de Chávez	Concepción	54,150	116,101
Ángel Sandoval	San Matías	37,442	14,362
Manuel Maria Caballero	Comarapa	2,310	22,142
Germán Busch	Puerto Suárez	24,903	37,637
Guarayos	Ascensión	20,293	38,498

[edit] Call for autonomy

Main article: Santa Cruz autonomy referendum, 2008

Eastern provinces in Bolivia including the Santa Cruz has majority of the natural gas reserves. Bolivian president Evo Morales is planning to introduce legislation to tackle the poverty in the country by sharing the wealth of the nation.^[3]

In May 2008, the government of Santa Cruz began conducted an ilegal referendum for autonomy from the national government over, among other things, strains between the local government and President Evo Morales. Fraud, lack of legality and international recognition made the final results from the referendum irrelevant in the end.

[edit] Languages

The languages spoken in the department are mainly Spanish and Quechua due to the migrating waves from the west side of the country. The following table shows the number of those belonging to the recognized group of speakers.^[4]

Language	Department	Bolivia
Quechua	256,480	2,281,198
Aymara	52,698	1,525,321
Guaraní	45,574	62,575
Another native	19,167	49,432
Spanish	1,846,263	6,821,626
Foreign	100,345	250,754
Only native	40,796	960,491
Native and Spanish	315,064	2,739,407
Spanish and foreign	1,559,541	4,115,751

[edit] Places of interest

[edit] References

^ Anti-Morales protests hit Bolivia
^ Gas Referendum
^ Morales offers dialogue to rivals
^ obd.descentralizacion.gov.bo (Spanish)

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 18°25′05″S 65°20′42″W / 18.418°S 65.345°W / -18.418; -65.345

[0] Anti-Morales protests hit Bolivia

[1] Gas Referendum

[2] Morales offers dialogue to rivals

[3] .descentralizacion.gov.bo (Spanish)

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