THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION
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.
[Illustration: SEÑOR DON ELIODORO VILLAZÓN, FIRST
VICE-PRESIDENT OF BOLIVIA.]
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.
[Illustration: HIS GRACE ARCHBISHOP PIFFERI OF LA PLATA,
SUCRE.]
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.
[Illustration: LEGISLATIVE PALACE, SUCRE.]
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_.
[Illustration: SEÑOR DR. VALENTIN ABECIA, SECOND
VICE-PRESIDENT OF BOLIVIA.]
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.
[Illustration: CALLE DE RECREO, LA PAZ.]
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.
[Illustration: SEÑOR DR. MIGUEL DE LOS SANTOS TABORGA, THE
LATE ARCHBISHOP OF LA PLATA.]
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.
[Illustration: STREET SCENE, LA PAZ.]
[Illustration: THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF BOLIVIA IN
CONFERENCE WITH THE FOREIGN DIPLOMATIC CORPS.]