Santa Cruz Department

Santa Cruz, with an area of 370,621 km², is the largest of the nine constituent departments of Bolivia. In the 2012 census, it reported a population of 2,655,084. The capital is the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The department is one of the wealthiest departments in Bolivia, with huge reserves of natural gas.

Geography

Santa Cruz Department is the largest of the Bolivian departments and covers a wide and diverse area. In the west lies a series of temperate Sub-Andean ranges and valleys while to the north and south lies two different lowlands areas; the Beni and Chaco lowlands respectively. To the northeast lies the flat Llanos Chiquitanos areas and beyond these the Serranías Chiquitanas ranges. In the far east the departments have small parts of the huge Pantanal wetland.

Provinces

The Department of Santa Cruz is divided into 15 provinces.

Province Capital Area (km²) Andrés Ibáñez Santa Cruz de la Sierra 4,821 1,653,001 Ignacio Warnes Warnes 1,216 108,888 José Miguel de Velasco San Ignacio 65,425 69,972 Ichilo Buena Vista 14,232 92,721 Chiquitos San José 31,429 82,429 Sara Portachuelo 6,886 42,278 Cordillera Lagunillas 86,245 120,111 Vallegrande Vallegrande 6,414 26,576 Florida Samaipata 4,132 32,842 Obispo Santiesteban Montero 3,673 181,169 Ñuflo de Chávez Concepción 54,150 116,545 Ángel Sandoval San Matías 37,442 14,415 Manuel Maria Caballero Comarapa 2,310 23,267 Germán Busch Puerto Suárez 24,903 42,799 Guarayos Ascensión 20,293 48,301

Call for autonomy

Eastern departments in Bolivia, including Santa Cruz, have majority of the natural gas reserves. Bolivian president Evo Morales is planning to introduce legislation to tackle the poverty in the country by redistributing the wealth of the nation.

In May 2008, the rightist government of Santa Cruz began conducting a referendum for autonomy from the national government over, among other things, strains between the local government and President Evo Morales. Morales's attempts to change the constitution have been fiercely opposed by opposition governors who run five of Bolivia's nine regions.

Places of interest

• Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area
• Tucavaca Valley Municipal Reserve
• Shrine of the Virgen de Cotoca (Patron Saint of the Department)