Military branches Army (Ejercito Boliviano), Navy (Fuerza Naval Boliviana, includes Marines),Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Boliviana), National Police Force (Policia Nacionalde Bolivia)

Military manpower - military age 19 years of age

Military manpower - availability
males age 15-49 : 1,811,952 (1997 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service
males: 1,178,259 (1997 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually
males: 80,606 (1997 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure $145 million (1996)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP 1.9% (1996)

Disputes - international has wanted a sovereign corridor to the South Pacific Ocean since theAtacama area was lost to Chile in 1884; dispute with Chile over Rio Lauca water rights

Illicit drugs world's third-largest cultivator of coca (after Peru and Colombia) withan estimated 48,100 hectares under cultivation in 1996, a one percent decreasein overall cultivation of coca over 1995 levels; Bolivia, however, is thesecond-largest producer of coca leaf; even so, voluntary and forced eradicationprograms resulted in leaf production dropping from 85,000 metric tons in 1995to 75,100 tons in 1996; government considers all but 12,000 hectares illicit;intermediate coca products and cocaine exported to or through Colombia andBrazil to the US and other international drug markets; alternative crop programaims to reduce illicit coca cultivation

Current issues On 21 November 1995, in Dayton, Ohio, the former Yugoslavia's threewarring parties signed a peace agreement that brought to a halt over threeyears of interethnic civil strife in Bosnia and Herzegovina (the final agreementwas signed in Paris on 14 December 1995). The Dayton Agreement, signed byBosnian President IZETBEGOVIC, Croatian President TUDJMAN, and Serbian PresidentMILOSEVIC, divides Bosnia and Herzegovina roughly equally between the Muslim/CroatFederation and the Bosnian Serbs while maintaining Bosnia's currently recognizedborders. In 1995-96, a NATO-led international peacekeeping force (IFOR) of60,000 troops served in Bosnia to implement and monitor the military aspectsof the agreement. IFOR was succeeded by a smaller, NATO-led StabilizationForce (SFOR) whose mission is to deter renewed hostilities. SFOR will remainin place until June 1998. A High Representative appointed by the UN SecurityCouncil is responsible for civilian implementation of the accord, includingmonitoring implementation, facilitating any difficulties arising in connectionwith civilian implementation, and coordinating activities of the civilianorganizations and agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosnian conflictbegan in the spring of 1992 when the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovinaheld a referendum on independence and the Bosnian Serbs - supported by neighboringSerbia - responded with armed resistance aimed at partitioning the republicalong ethnic lines and joining Serb-held areas to form a "greater Serbia." In March 1994, Bosnia's Muslims and Croats reduced the number of warringfactions from three to two by signing an agreement in Washington creatingtheir joint Muslim/Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Federation,formed by the Muslims and Croats in March 1994, is one of two entities (theother being the Bosnian Serb-led Republika Srpska) that comprise Bosnia andHerzegovina.

NOTE: The information regarding Bolivia on this page is re-published from the 1997 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Bolivia Military 1997 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Bolivia Military 1997 should be addressed to the CIA.