Holy Cross of the Sierra

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Santa Cruz de la Sierra is a city located in the eastern plains of Bolivia, on the banks of the Piraí River. It is currently the most populous city in the country with a total of approximately 1.9 million inhabitants in 2022. It is the capital of the Department of Santa Cruz, the department with the highest Gross Regional Product in Bolivia, and one of the most developed cities in the country, with a high municipal indicator of sustainable development of 64.1.

The city is part of the municipality of the same name and is the epicenter of the metropolitan area of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, which is currently the most populous urban center in Bolivia, with an estimated population of more than 3.8 million inhabitants in in 2022. This metropolitan area is made up of a conurbation of seven municipalities in the department: Santa Cruz de la Sierra, La Guardia, Warnes, Cotoca, El Torno, Porongo and Montero.

Founded on February 26, 1561 by the Spanish captain Ñuflo de Chaves, the city underwent several changes of location. In the century XVII, the area became a center for evangelizing missionary expeditions. On September 24, 1810, its first libertarian cry against Spanish rule was given. At the beginning of the century XX, in the south, the war broke out over the territory of Chaco. Since the 1950s, due to physical integration with the rest of the country, the city it experienced strong population growth. Currently, Santa Cruz de la Sierra is a dynamic, cosmopolitan city and is considered the economic and industrial engine of Bolivia since its metropolitan area concentrates a significant number of industries, agricultural, forestry, mining and hydrocarbons.

History

Pre-Colonial Period

The current geographic space of the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra was known by the name The Grigotá Plains by the Chanés Indians, an ethnic group of Arawak origin that immigrated from the Caribbean Sea from 2500 years ago occupying the plains of eastern Bolivia. The Chané called their kings Grigotá. Starting in the 16th century, the area was conquered by Guarani bands migrating from the southeast, currently lands of Paraguay and Brazil. The cause of this exodus, carried out at various times, is due to the search for the legendary Land Without Evil.

The Chiriguanae or Chiriguaná arose from the Chané-Guarani miscegenation, which has been interpreted as "the one who has a Chané wife". The Chiriguanos who adopted the Guarani language and customs, identifying themselves as Guarani, were feared both by the native ethnic groups and by the resistance against the Spanish settlers, being the only indigenous group to which the Spanish monarchy officially declared war under the government of the viceroy. Francisco de Toledo in 1573.

Colonial period

Governorates of the Río de la Plata and Paraguay and the Tucumán, and the provinces of Charcas and Santa Cruz de la Sierra (year 1600).

Santa Cruz de la Sierra was founded on February 26, 1561 by Ñuflo de Chaves, after an expedition made up of 158 soldiers that departed from the city of Asunción in Paraguay. The new population was baptized with the name of Santa Cruz de la Sierra in honor of the founder's hometown in Castilian Extremadura. The foundation was made on the banks of the Sutó stream in the Chiquitos mountain range —current archaeological site of Santa Cruz la Vieja— as an outpost to the east of the territories occupied by the Spanish Empire (near where San José de Chiquitos is located today, which was founded as a Jesuit mission town of Chiquitania in 1697). After the foundation, Ñuflo de Chaves went to Asunción and managed to convince the inhabitants of that city to emigrate to Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The governor, the bishop and a great majority of the inhabitants of Asunción emigrated to Santa Cruz de la Sierra; where they were well received.

They settled in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, which was adding population and causing a vertiginous development that reached almost 40 urbanized blocks, making it the most important in the La Plata region. A chronicler of the time recorded the life of Santa Cruz de la Sierra in 1564:

“Those who enter will remain
more than they want, because it's good to eat and stay
with a lot of familiarity and courtesy...
Ruy González

When Chaves was preparing an expedition to reach the Moxos' territories in September 1568, he was killed by an indigenous man in the province of Itatín, while he was resting after holding a meeting of caciques.

Later, the city of San Lorenzo el Real de la Frontera was founded by Governor Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa on September 13, 1590 on the left bank of the Guapay River —in the place where the ephemeral New Asunción was de la Barranca since August 18, 1559, erected by Chaves, and was destroyed by the aborigines in 1564—and then moved to the east on May 21, 1595, in the Grigotá plains of the Boreal Chaco —where the fort of Santa Ana de Grigotá had been since 1584, near Santa Cruz la Vieja and the later mission of San José de Chiquitos already mentioned— and who he named as his first lieutenant governor general of San Lorenzo to Gonzalo Solís de Holguín. This city came to rival the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

Due to historical vicissitudes, the city of Santa Cruz had two transfers, after many hardships, the inhabitants of the original city moved in 1590 by order of the Royal Court of Charcas to another site near what is now the "Sanctuary de Cotoca", where they settled keeping the name of the hometown: Santa Cruz de la Sierra (II). In 1591, part of the people who arrived from Chiquitania continued their journey to San Lorenzo la Real de la Frontera on the Guapay River. Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in the place of its first foundation (in Chiquitania), had an existence of 43 years. After 17 years of living in Cotoca, most of its people accepted the Jesuit priests, and the favorable proposal in 1621 of the then lieutenant governor of Santa Cruz, Diego de Trejo (ca. 1620-1637) to the provincial governor Nuño de la Cueva. (1619-1623) to move to the place where the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (III) is currently located and to which would be added the population of the abandoned city of San Lorenzo el Real de la Frontera.

The province of Santa Cruz de la Sierra was mainly the region where the largest Jesuit settlements, missions or indigenous reductions were created. Since a large number of indigenous towns still existed in the surroundings (many of them defended from the Spanish advance), the missionary work of the Jesuits reached its peak with the catechization of all these towns and the construction of missionary complexes that until today They endure, being named by Unesco as Cultural Heritage of Humanity, so much so that the main settlement of the Jesuit Missions of the New World was established in Bolivia.

Independence

Ignatius Warnes, one of the prosceres of cross-border independence.

Already in the XIX century, in an America that is totally convulsed due to the loss of doctrinal unity, Antonio Vicente Seoane, together with José Manuel Lemoine, convinced Colonel Antonio Suárez (on September 24, 1810) to join the revolutionary cause and mutiny the militias under his command. The citizens met in an open town hall to decide the dismissal of the Spanish authorities and the constitution of a government board. So Santa Cruz de la Sierra decided to stop being part of the Spanish domain to be something else that will be configured in the next 15 years. In these events, the figures of Ignacio Warnes and José Manuel Baca (also known as Cañoto) stood out in a special way.

On February 9, 1825, a decree was promulgated that summoned all the provinces of Charcas to a constituent assembly. According to the decree, Santa Cruz de la Sierra chose Antonio Vicente Seoane and Vicente Caballero as representatives to attend the constituent assembly of the Audiencia de Charcas, which would give birth to the Republic of Bolivia. Due to various circumstances, the representatives of Santa Cruz did not arrive on time for the deliberations, but they did arrive on time for the signing of the act of independence on August 6, 1825.

The advent of the Republic changed the political-administrative status of the region, becoming the department of Santa Cruz, becoming one of the five founding departments of Bolivia, while Santa Cruz de la Sierra would be designated the capital of said department.

Beginning of the 20th century

Some analysts such as Pinto Mosqueira consider several political currents in this century. The first is called 'integrationist', with some ideas of a nationalist tinge. This line is reflected in the content of the 1904 Memorandum, presented by the Society of Geographical and Historical Studies of Santa Cruz to the Bolivian Congress, which in one of its parts said: "We ask for a railway, because we have the right to ask for it, not for the benefit of the East, but for the general welfare of the Republic; because our conscience and good faith oblige us to demonstrate the truth, lifting the provincialist veil that covers the eyes of our compatriots from the West”. In short, the 1904 Memorandum should be understood as a 'geopolitical project for national development', perhaps the first since the birth of the Republic, which sought to integrate the national territory from the Paraguay or Pilcomayo rivers to the Amazon and Andes basins., with the purpose of saving Bolivia from its cloistering (Memorandum 2003. Bulletin of the Society for Geographical and Historical Studies of Santa Cruz. No. 55. 2003: 58).

In this line, a very singular fact to highlight was the creation of the regionalist and orientalist parties. As background, let us remember that the peace treaties with Brazil in 1903 and with Chile in 1904, granted part of the money that the liberals used to build railways that linked the Andean world with itself and modernized the cities. These railway lines did not reach the east. The people of Santa Cruz saw in the construction of the railway that linked them with the West the way out of poverty and the continuous economic crisis. As the construction of the Cochabamba - Santa Cruz branch was postponed each time, in 1920 the new president Bautista Saavedra proposed the construction of a highway instead of railways. This was decisive for the formation of these two political parties from Santa Cruz, the 'Orientalist' and the 'Regionalist', local factions of the liberal and the republican. In their proposals, which were national and integrationist, they demanded the construction of a railway and the inclusion of the East in national policies. The slogan was 'railroad or nothing'.

Another current Gustavo Pinto calls it 'integrationist and assimilationist', because it fully identifies with Bolivian Andean-state nationalism. According to this author, it is expressed in books by some authors from Santa Cruz, such as Molina Mostajo, Vázquez-Machicado, Enrique Finot, and others.

Here a third trend could be added during this century. It is about the so-called 'military socialism', led by President Lieutenant General Germán Busch Becerra (1903-1939). For this hero of the Chaco War and signer of the 11% law:

“the state must be the justifying regulator of economic relations with the human and profound national purpose of establishing a social justice regime... Neither with Rosca nor Russia: with Bolivia.”

The 1938 Constitution that he promulgated was eminently socialist in nature and protector of national majorities. He also dictated the Labor Code and approved just social laws such as the Caja de Ahorro Obrero. He nationalized the Central Bank and created the Banco Minero. Based on his economic nationalism, he broke the pongueaje to the mining super state with the decree of June 7, 1939 that forced the total delivery of foreign currency, which until then the exporting miners handled at their discretion, which did not mean "nor the abolition nor the confiscation of private property”. Thirteen years later, when the nation is politically and socially mature enough to apply it, it will determine the nationalization of the large mining companies. It was therefore a precursor who gave the initial impetus for economic liberation. (Fernando Díaz de Medina. Portrait of a hero. El Diario, Sunday, August 28, 1966.)

National Integration

Fourth place was the 'integrationist and developmentalist' political thought from Santa Cruz, which followed the guidelines of the Bohan Plan, implemented by the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR). In 1942, a US government mission led by Merwin Bohan outlined some lines of action, convinced that "Bolivia had the capacity to be self-sufficient, at least in terms of food production." It proposed: 1) Economic diversification; 2) The construction of the Cochabamba-Santa Cruz-Montero highway; Santa Cruz-Camiri; Sucre-Camiri; La Paz-Caranavi-Apolo-Rurrenabaque and Tarija-Villamontes; 3) Investments in the oil industry; 4) Support for agricultural production and the installation of agricultural and livestock experiment stations to guarantee food self-sufficiency, through credits, substituting the importation of products such as cattle, rice, sugar and raw materials (cotton)., that despite the potential that Santa Cruz offered, it did not prosper due to the obstacles imposed by the secular liberal economic policies and its precarious transportation service.

In a way, this approach took up the proposals of the 1904 Memorandum on East-West integration. and later in the demand for 11% of oil royalties, headed by the Committee for Santa Cruz, created in 1950 and spearheaded by the Bolivian Socialist Falange (FSB), one of whose top leaders was the lawyer Mario Gutiérrez Gutiérrez from Santa Cruz.

In the 1950s, the construction of the highway (now Ruta 7) between Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba began the era of the city's economic takeoff, as well as the civic struggles that managed to rescue economic income for the department, the result of the exploitation of hydrocarbons. Cooperatives for drinking water, electricity and telephones were created, a system that after its great success in Santa Cruz de la Sierra would also be implemented in the rest of Bolivia's cities.

Like other departmental capitals, the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra was until the middle of the 20th century the center of the other towns and hamlets of its surrounding region, "the axis of identity and the limit of loyalty" (Malley). Isolation gave rise to a strong regional personality in a framework of sociability where "haciendal" characteristic of the so-called "traditional societies".

Second half of the 20th century

On October 30, 1950, the city leadership created a new instrument to fight for the recognition of the funds that corresponded to it by law, in addition to ensuring the development of the region. This instrument is the current Pro Santa Cruz Committee, whose first board of directors was chaired by Ramón Darío Gutiérrez.

In 1955, the MNR government promulgated the Código del Petróleo; Article 104 of this created great ambiguity, since it said that the concessionaire had to pay the State "11% of gross production at the wellhead". While the Busch Law –which was not repealed– granted this 11% to the producing departments. From this moment on, the leadership incorporated a new claim: an interpretative law for article 104.

At the end of the 1970s a fifth trend emerged: 'liberal democratic nationalism' led by politicians that make up Acción Democrática Nacional (ADN), founded by Colonel Hugo Banzer Suárez (1926-2002) and President of the Republic in 2 periods: 1971-1978 (de facto) and 1997-2001 (constitutional).

Finally, the sixth political current from Santa Cruz denominated 'democratic and decentralizing' of the Bolivian state appeared, which led the civic movement from Santa Cruz between 1982 and 2000 and which is expressed in the struggle for the return of democracy in Bolivia, the establishment of a political-administrative decentralization regime, complying with the 1964 Constitution, the election by popular vote of the municipalities and the promulgation of the Popular Participation laws and the so-called Administrative Decentralization, devised by professionals from Santa Cruz.

Monument to Roca and Coronado, fighters for 11 % royalties.

In the 1970s (as an example of the movement that emerged in Santa Cruz de la Sierra) several civic committees began to organize themselves in the country whose main objective was to seek a better distribution of state resources in favor of the regions, fighting head-on against centralism.

In 1983, the great squall caused by the Piraí river occurred, which overflowed its banks, causing a flood in 45% of the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in addition to great human and material losses. It was a fact that was repeated in 1984 on a smaller scale, something that caused commotion in the population that returned to the streets, thus achieving immediate attention to their demands and preventing this event from being repeated in the end.

Between 1982 and 1991, Santa Cruz de la Sierra found itself at a crucial moment in the fight against drug trafficking: its streets became the scene of fights between mafias. This situation came to an end with the help of foreign countries and a new position of the governments on duty. One of the most tragic deaths committed by drug trafficking was that of the ecologist, biologist and scientist Noel Kempff Mercado, who died in the company of his pilot and other Spanish biologists. He had fought for the preservation and conservation of the ecological park that today bears his name.

After the restoration of the rule of law, civil society in Santa Cruz de la Sierra began the fight for greater decentralization, self-convening the direct election of mayors. Until then, the prevailing ultra-centralist system implied the appointment of mayors by the President of the Republic, an action that put an end to the aforementioned movement and would end up being imitated throughout the country. Demographic, economic and physical growth presented such a rhythm that, in the span of a generation, the town went from being a small town of forty thousand inhabitants to a large city of more than one million inhabitants.

Since the 1970s, Bolivia was structured around the three large cities of the so-called "backbone axis": La Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz de la Sierra. These cities are the heads of the three metropolitan areas of the country.

21st century

Buildings of Santa Cruz de la Sierra

The dynamism of the region kept the department of Santa Cruz somewhat away from the insurrectional movements that devastated the cities of La Paz and El Alto in 2003, although the negative economic effects were felt in the area. Already in 2004, the first council of the contemporary era was held on June 22, 2004 at the monument of Christ the Redeemer in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, with a massive gathering called "El cabildo del million", which responded to the call of the Pro Santa Cruz Committee under the slogan of Autonomy and Work, before whom Rubén Costas Aguilera raised eleven tasks of this department for the rest of the country, as well as the holding of a referendum for departmental autonomy.

The blow dealt to the regional economy by the so-called “dieselazo” (decreed by President Carlos D. Mesa Gisbert) inflamed spirits in January 2005, uniting the most dissimilar social sectors of Santa Cruz in a unity movement favorable to the independence of the eastern and southern region of Bolivia, which quickly added to the request for the abrogation of said norm the old desire for self-government, thus organizing the second town hall that took place on January 28, 2005, bringing together approximately 350,000 people convened by the COD (departmental labor union), the neighborhood councils, the Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University and the Pro Santa Cruz Committee, which meant crucial legitimization for the demands for autonomy in the department of Santa Cruz.

An immediate consequence of said Cabildo was Supreme Decree no. the departments. For this reason, the prefects, now elected by popular vote, have sovereign legitimacy.

The third council (December 15, 2006), called the Cabildo del Millón for having gathered more than a million people between the cities of Trinidad del Beni, Tarija, Pando and the Christ the Redeemer in Santa Cruz de la Sierra It was carried out after the Constituent Assembly failed to comply with the mandate of the referendum for autonomy on July 2, 2006.

The autonomy referendum was held on May 4, 2008 with poor approval from less than 10 percent of the department's population.

In recent years, the city has emerged as Bolivia's door to the world, hosting international events such as the Ibero-American Summit and the G77 Summit.

Geography

Pirai River.

The city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra is located on the right bank of the Piraí River, which runs north to flow into the Grande or Guapay River, part of the Amazon basin. It has an average altitude above sea level of 416 m. The city is on a watershed. To the west its waters go to the Piraí River, and to the east they go to the Grande River. The topography is flat. Its coordinates are: 17°48′02″S 63°10′41″W / -17.80056, -63.17806.

The area occupied by the city is 567 km², and it has a perimeter of 110.2 km. The city occupies an area greater than that of the cities of La Paz and El Alto combined. The total extension of the Santa Cruz de la Sierra metropolitan area is 1,590 km²,^{[citation required]}, which is larger than cities such as Montevideo, Asunción and Brasilia.

Climate

The climate of the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra is tropical savannah (Aw) according to the Köppen climate classification, with very hot and humid summers and dry and warm-temperate winters, however throughout the year and particularly in winter there are cold air inflows from southernmost latitudes (surazos) that plummet the average daytime temperature below 15 °C.

Average climate parameters of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	38.1	37.8	39.3	38.0	34.0	32.2	32.0	35.0	36.4	38.4	40.3	38.4	40.3
Average temperature (°C)	30.2	30.5	29.5	27.7	24.9	23.1	23.9	27.7	29.4	29.8	30.7	31.4	28.2
Average temperature (°C)	25.75	25.9	25.0	23.3	20.7	19.25	19.35	22.0	24.0	24.8	25.5	26.15	23.5
Temp. medium (°C)	21.3	21.3	20.5	18.9	16.5	15.4	14.8	16.3	18.7	19.8	20.3	20.9	18.7
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	11.6	6.5	5.0	9.9	4.0	1.0	0.0	2.5	5.6	11.9	7.8	14.0	0.0
Total precipitation (mm)	203	134	118	118	84	73	61	37	58	108	143	185.	1321
Precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm)	14.0	11.1	12.7	9.4	11.4	8.6	6.1	4.0	5.6	7.4	9.4	11.9	111.6
Relative humidity (%)	79	79	79	78	79	78	73	65	64	67	72	77	74
Source: Deutscher Wetterdienst

Annual temperature in Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Spring (August and September)	Summer (October-March)	Autumn (April and May)	Winter (June and July)
Average minimum temperatures: 18 °C (64.4 °F) Average maximum temperatures: 30 °C (86 °F)	Average minimum temperatures: 23 °C (73 °F) Average maximum temperatures: 33 °C (91.4 °F)	Average minimum temperatures: 18 °C (64.4 °F) Average maximum temperatures: 30 °C (86 °F)	Average minimum temperatures: 12 °C (53.6 °F) Average maximum temperatures: 20 °C (68 °F)
Lower recorded temperature: 3 °C (37.4 °F) Highest recorded temperature: 39 °C (102,2 °F)	Lower recorded temperature: 13 °C (55.4 °F) Highest recorded temperature: 46 °C (114,8 °F)	Lower recorded temperature: 5 °C (41 °F) Highest recorded temperature: 37 °C (98.6 °F)	Lower recorded temperature: −3 °C (26.6 °F) Highest recorded temperature: 34 °C (93.2 °F)

In 2009, the lowest temperature recorded was 2 °C (35.6 °F), and the highest was 40 °C (104 °F).
In 2010, the lowest temperature recorded was −2 °C (28.4 °F), and the highest was 38 °C (100.4 °F).
In 2011, the lowest temperature recorded was 4 °C (39.2 °F), and the highest was 41 °C (105.8 °F).
In 2012, the lowest temperature recorded was 5 °C (41 °F), and the highest was 41 °C (105.8 °F).
In 2013, the lowest temperature recorded was −3 °C (62.6 °F), and the highest was 42 °C (107.6 °F).
In 2014, the lowest temperature recorded was 5 °C (41 °F), and the highest was 46 °C (114.8 °F).
In 2015, the lowest temperature recorded was 8 °C (46.4 °F), and the highest was 40 °C (104 °F).
In 2016 (through August), the lowest temperature recorded was 1 °C (33.8 °F), and the highest was 43 °C (109.4 °F)

On July 17, 2010, the lowest temperature in the first decade of the XXI century was recorded: −2°C (28.4°F). However, on July 23, 2013, the lowest temperature of all time was recorded: −3 °C (26.6 °F). On July 19, 2010, the lowest maximum temperature was recorded: 8.2 °C (46.8 °F).

Government and administration

The historic building of the Autonomous Government of Santa Cruz.

The Autonomous Municipal Government of Santa Cruz de la Sierra is led by the Municipal Mayor, a position held by Jhonny Fernández (UCS). The highest legislative authority is the Municipal Council made up of eleven councilors, currently the presidency of the Council is directed by Israel Alcócer (UCS), and the secretariat is in charge of Silvana Mucarzel (UCS). Each district has a sub-mayor's office where the authority responsible is chosen by the mayor.

The representative body of civil society responsible for supervision and control over municipal social management is the Surveillance Committee, which is made up of 15 representatives of the 560 Neighborhood Councils of the city.

The city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra is divided into 15 Municipal Districts, which in turn are divided into Neighborhood Units (UV) and Neighborhoods. These are (in numerical order): Piraí, Integrated North, Argentina Station, El Pari, North, Pampa de la Isla, Villa 1º de Mayo, Plan 3000, Palmasola, El Bajío, Central, Nuevo Palmar, Palmar del Oratorio, Paurito and Montero Hoyos.

Urban planning is made up of ten concentric rings spaced between one and three kilometers apart and twenty-seven radial avenues that intersect these rings.

It has a total area of 535 km² and is located in the municipality of the same name.

Population

Vista del barrio Equipetrol Norte, place of numerous real estate projects of hotels and offices.

Santa Cruz de la Sierra had a population of 10,000. in 1810, a hundred years later with 18,000 pop. (1910) reflecting slow population growth. Many factors such as the oil boom and agricultural wealth, among others, are what gave rise to the great population explosion in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, which went from being a town to a city as a result of the increase in the population caused by migrants. from the countryside or rural areas of the interior of the department and migrants from the interior of the country.

Santa Cruz de la Sierra of 10,000 inhab. in 1810; 18,000 pop. in 1910; it became 57,000 inhab in 1955, 325,000 in 1976, 697,000 in 1992, 1,029,471 In 2001 and according to the 2012 Census, the metropolitan area of Santa Cruz de la Sierra had 1,784,549 inhabitants. The city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra has surpassed the limits of the homonymous municipality, and the newer neighborhoods have connected it with the municipalities of La Guardia, Cotoca, Warnes and Porongo. The metropolitan area of Santa Cruz de la Sierra has an estimated 1,800,000 inhabitants. Its population is 2 730 120 inhabitants, which together with those of its metropolitan area (municipalities of Cotoca, Porongo, Warnes, La Guardia, and El Torno). according to INE data. Despite its rural or small-town tradition, the city today is becoming a metropolis, which reflects the features of Guarani origin characteristic of the native population, Spanish features from the colonial era, and features of the legacy of other migrations as well as migrant communities from the interior of the country and from neighboring countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

Its Human Development Index is among the highest in Bolivia, being the second city after the city of Cochabamba with the highest HDI in the country with 0.739.

Evolution of the population of Santa Cruz de la Sierra since 1810

Source: National Statistical Institute of Bolivia

Economy

San Martín Avenue, one of the main roads of the city, houses numerous businesses and hotels

Santa Cruz de la Sierra is the main industrial center of Bolivia. Its economy is distributed in various areas such as gastronomy, textiles, entertainment, banking, agro-industrial, tourism, automobile, etc. The city has the highest human development index in the country.

Its population growth is among the fastest in the Americas. It has a nominal GDP of 9,175 million dollars, a nominal GDP per capita of 4,311 dollars, and a PPP GDP per capita of 9,190.

It is also considered the franchise capital of Bolivia since it is the city with the largest number of national and international franchises in the country in different areas such as Hard Rock Cafe, Starbucks, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Juan Valdez, Cinemark, Sbarro, Carl's Jr, Subway, Burger King, T.G.I. Friday's, Cinnabon, Papa John's, Johnny Rockets, Hooters, Nautica, Levis, Nike, ALDO, etc.

Tourism

Santa Cruz de la Sierra welcomes a third of the country's internal tourists, plus a low international tourism. Some of the attractions of the city and its surroundings are:

Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica Minor of San Lorenzo was built by the Fray Diego de Porres in times of the Spanish virrey Toledo. In 1770, Bishop Ramon de Herbosos rebuilt the church, entrusting the chief sacristan Antonio Lombardo, the execution of the works. At the time of the Marshal Andrew of Santa Cruz (1838), the old temple was replaced by a new church of eclectic style, projected by the French architect Felipe Bestres. It is notable for its wooden vaults and the pictorial decoration that covers them. On the main altar there is a part of the original coating of labrated silver from the Jesuit mission of St.Peter of Moxos. There are also four sculptural reliefs from the same mission.

Avenida Monseñor Rivero, nice boulevard of the city, houses leisure venues, including restaurants, cafes, ice cream shops and pastries.

Plaza 24 de septiembre: Several blocks around the main square 24 de septiembre are erected colonial style buildings. Here is the House of Culture, Departmental Prefecture, City Hall, Metropolitan Cathedral, several interesting museums and exhibition halls.

Aqualand Water Park and Playland Amusement Park.

The South American Fauna Zoo Noel Kempff Mercado is an exclusive reservoir of tropical fauna with specimens in the condition of semi-freedom with unique species such as the bear of glasses (jucumari), the perico or lazy, multicolored parabas, jaguares, among other species.

The Sand Lomas.

Hotel Marriott in the fourth ring of the city.

Lomas de Arena Regional Park: It is a protected area shared with the municipalities of La Guardia and Cabezas, which has white sand dunes from wind erosion distributed around lagoons where water sports are practiced. Its beauty is comparable to beaches due to the color of its sands.

Biocentro Güembé, La Rinconada and the Ecological Park Yvaga Guazú among others. All important centers or complexes of natural delight and ecological tours. The first one has a lot of natural-style pools with lagoons and walks through a butterfly and a large aviary that has a great ecological viewpoint. The second is a place full of lush gardens, lagoons and swimming pool. The third is full of vegetation, green trails and wild animals around it.

Carnival of Santa Cruz de la Sierra: begins in December, that is to say 2 to 3 months before with its famous precarnivals for then the three days of fairing where people dance in the chambers or groups formed by these that celebrate in large in wide spaces of parks where they are organized to have international and national artists offering mass parties.

There is also a walk through the center in a more popular and village carnival.

The city also attracts people from around the world to perform aesthetic surgery due to its low cost.

Cabins of the Piraí River: They are located in the western sector of the capital, at the end of the avenue Roca and Coronado, where you can appreciate a beautiful landscape of the riverbanks. In the cabins you will offer delicious typical dishes. The Piraí River is a place quite frequented by people in hot days, you can also take horseback rides or quadra tracks by the river beaches, enjoy the fishing with a sábalo net in the months of March to June.

Hotels

The variety and wide capacity of its hotel offer, aided by other factors, have positioned the city as a strategic destination at a regional level for holding international events, congresses and conventions.

Urban infrastructure

The Basilica Minor of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo, completed in 1838, is an example of the Baroque eclectic architecture.

Architecture and urbanism

From an urban point of view, the city is delimited by a main network of streets laid out in the traditional Spanish style, with a square located in the center of the "casco viejo" (main square or plaza de armas), and surrounded by surrounding avenues called "rings", from which other avenues called "radiales", which scatter in multiple directions.

The city is made up of 10 concentric rings, each one 1 to 2 km apart, and 27 radial ones that start from the first ring to cross the entire city. It was planned that by the year 2000 the city would have four ring roads, but given the rapid demographic growth of the city, many peripheral neighborhoods affected the layout of the rings above the 4th. Also due to the location of the Piraí River, their continuity is interrupted; that is why they are incomplete.

Currently the city has significant growth in the road area, including a tunnel under the runway of the El Trompillo airport, which linked the interrupted section of the 4th ring road in the southern area of the city. Another important work is the overpasses at the intersections of the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th ring with Av. Cristo Redentor, among others.

Basic services

The cooperative that is responsible for supplying the largest number of inhabitants of the city, more than one million inhabitants in 2009, is Saguapac. The system was integrated (in 2009) by: 61 wells located in four well fields (south, southwest, north and northwest); 4 pumping stations; 6 storage tanks with 29,000 m³ total capacity; and 2,907 km of distribution network.

The electricity service is managed by the Rural Electrification Cooperative (CRE).

The fixed telephone service is managed by Cotas, a cooperative that also offers broadband internet and cable television services.

The city's waste collection and cleaning service is the responsibility of the Santa Cruz Municipal Cleaning Company "Emacruz" that works with private subcontracted companies.

Transportation

Urban transport

The microbuses or “micros” that operate in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

The public transport system has the bus or micro service that runs through the city through 132 route lines. The service is privatized and under the administration of the Union of Buses and Buses in Santa Cruz. The terrible administration and planning of the routes is the one that most harms the vehicular flow of the city.

The best known are the so-called vuelteros that circulate through the different rings of the city, and bearing names of typical animals of the province to identify the lines (eg: Chuturubí the "vueltero& #34;of the 1.er ring and Tiluchi the "vueltero" of the second ring). These lines that are the ones that update their equipment the most and implemented larger and more modern buses a few years ago, original buses such as Neobus, Marcopolo, Volare, even Chinese ones such as King Long Yutong and more recently, Golden Dragon, in addition to restoring old buses so that they can continue to operate with the comfort that the passenger deserves (like the old version of the Toyota Coaster).

There is also a minibus service (also known as "trufis"), which serve the population located in peripheral areas and suburbs of the city.

In 2019, the project to implement a bus rapid transit (BRT) system began, whose first phase was to cover the first ring road of the city. However, in 2022 the contract to operate the BRT was awarded. canceled by the mayor mainly due to opposition to the project from city micromen.

Ground transportation

View of the avenues of the circumvalence that surround the city.

By road, the city is linked to Cochabamba to the west by Route 4, which from the second ring to the eighth ring is called Avenida Cristo Redentor. With Yacuiba it connects to the south through Route 9 and Trinidad to the north through the same route. The most important roads that connect the city with the rest of the country are the Double Track to the North (new road to Cochabamba, which goes to the municipality of the same name passing through Montero), the Double Track to La Guardia (old road to Cochabamba, that goes to the municipality of the same name passing through La Guardia), and finally, the Double Via to Cotoca (which connects the city with the east and north of the country). To the west it is connected to the municipality of Porongo by the four-lane Mario Foianini Bridge that crosses the Piraí River.

Since 2013, the construction of the last section (between San José de Chiquitos and Roboré) of Route 4, also called the Bioceanic Highway, was completed, which links the Atlantic Ocean, mainly the Brazilian port of Santos, with the Pacific Ocean, in the ports of Iquique and Arica in Chile passing through Bolivia from east to west. With this paved road it is expected to allow the transport of two million tons per year that will pass through Bolivia.

Land traffic is concentrated in the Bimodal Rail and Bus Terminal.

With national and international departures.

Air transportation

Viru Viru International Airport.

Santa Cruz de la Sierra has two airports: the Viru Viru International Airport, located 13 km north of the city in the jurisdiction of the municipality of Warnes, which is the largest airport in Bolivia, and the El Trompillo (located in the southern part of the city).

The following is a list of airlines that operate at Viru Viru International Airport

National:

Amaszonas
Boliviana de Aviación
Ecojet
Military Air Transport

International:

Ferrobus connecting Santa Cruz de la Sierra with Puerto Quijarro, border municipality with Brazil

Airlines Argentinas
Air Europa
Boliviana de Aviación
Copa Airlines
Gol Air Transports
LATAM Airlines
LATAM Peru
Avianca
Paranair

The airport is served by more international airlines than any other airport in Bolivia.^{[citation required]}

Rail transport

Railways connect the city to the east with Puerto Suárez (on the border with Brazil) and to the south with the city of Yacuiba (on the border with Argentina).

These allow an important flow of passengers from the city to other cities linked by the network. In recent years, through large investments by the company Ferroviaria Oriental S.A., modern and comfortable trains have been put into circulation, with sleeper seats, air conditioning, flat screen television, catering service and bathrooms, which allows pleasant trips. to the border with Brazil in a matter of one night.

Through these, in addition, large amounts of inputs are mobilized from the industries located in the Industrial Park to the outside.

Education

Private University Franz Tamayo.

The city stands out for its great variety of universities and higher education centers that attract students from all over the country and foreigners, mainly from Brazil, among which are:

Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno
Tgral Military Aviation College. Germán Busch Becerra
Bolivian Private University
NUR University
Military Engineering School (EMI)
Private University Franz Tamayo
Universidad Evangélica Boliviana
Universidad Católica Boliviana San Pablo
Private Technological University of Santa Cruz
Private University of Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Universidad de Aquino de Bolivia
Private University Summit
Universidad Cristiana de Bolivia
Salesian University of Bolivia
University for Development and Innovation (UDI)
National University of the East
Private University Domingo Savio
National Ecological University
Central University of Bolivia
Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar
Escuela Superior de Comunicación Audiovisual Diakonía (UCB)
National American University (American University)

It also has a variety of national and international institutes in all areas.

There are a variety of public and private schools, primary and secondary levels distributed in three educational districts.

Culture

Parks and gardens

Building at the entrance of the Central Urban Park on Argentina Avenue.

The largest parks in Santa Cruz are located in the different districts of the city and are known as Urban Parks. Several of these parks are fenced to maintain security. In the center of the city is the El Arenal Park, which stands out for having a lagoon and an island, as well as being the rainwater reservoir for the area. In this park is the mural of Lorgio Vaca. Along the first ring of the city, a series of trees were planted, turning the central ridge into a garden with a promenade. A little further out, between Argentina and the second avenue, is the Parque Urbano Central, where you can practice sports activities. It is decorated with dinosaurs and features "dancing" where different types of music sound and the waters move to the rhythm of the song. Other notable parks are the park outside the Trompillo Airport, which also has dancing waters, the Blacutt square and the General Cemetery. By the second ring in the northeast is a small park that houses the Pirate Plane, which is a Lockheed Constellation plane seized by the Bolivian Air Force and turned into a tourist attraction. Already on the outskirts of the city, on the avenue to Cotoca, is the Botanical Garden that has some 500 cataloged species of flora and another 1000 varieties to be catalogued.

Gastronomy

Typical foods:

Majao, Majado or Majadito
Locro dyed with urucus
Locro carretero
Rapi to the juice
Keperí
Filled chicken cogote
Patasca
Surubí squabble
Pacuuto
Baked Tamal
Tamal to the pot
Rice pack
Cheese pack
Jigote Empanada
Meat empanada
Chicken empanada
Corn filling
Charque Empanada
Choclo cake
banana mascot (mixed banana with charque/dry meat)
Masaco de yuca (mezcla de yuca con charque)
Cheese Mask (mezcla of cheese with banana)
Arepas
Covered soup

Typical drinks:

So?
Mocochinchi
Chicha camba

Typical doughs (horneao camba):

Babysitter
I've been drinking.
Sonso (or Zonzo)
Sonso (zonzo) to the stick
Corn thread
Rice bread
Wheat cake
What?

Museums, cultural centers and art galleries

The city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra offers a circuit of artistic and/or cultural spaces with different themes; from natural history, through sacred art to the new in contemporary art.

House of Culture Raúl Otero Reiche
Museum of Natural History Noel Kempff Market

Research and extension center that exposes the flora, fauna, paleontology, minerals and rocks of the Department of Santa Cruz. Noel Kempff Mercado was a Bolivian scientist born in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, one of the driving forces of nature conservation in Bolivia

National Historical Museum Lieutenant General German Busch Becerra
Museum of History and Regional Historical Archives
Guaraní Museum
Museum of Sacred Art

Museum of Art and Archaeology
Museum of Independence
Museum of Contemporary Art
Apple One Art Space
Centro Cultural Santa Cruz
Centro Cultural Simón Iturri Patiño
Spanish Cooperation Training Centre
Centro Cultural Feliciana Rodríguez
Centro Cultural Franco Alemán
Kiosko Gallery
Gallery of White Owl Art
Axioma Art Gallery
Florida

International festivals, fairs and shows

FENAVID, International Film Festival
Ibero-American Film Festival of Santa Cruz
International Wine and Cheese Festival
Festival de Música Barroca y Renacentista Americana de las Misiones de Chiquitos
Fair
FEXPOCRUZ, Bolivia's largest exhibition fair.
International Book Fair

Sports

Stadium Ramon Tahuichi Aguilera.

The most popular sport in the city, as in the whole country, is soccer. Two of the most important clubs in Bolivia are located in Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Club Blooming and Club Deportivo Oriente Petrolero. Both play in the Bolivian Professional Soccer League and play the Santa Cruz Classic. The teams from eastern Bolivia form the most outstanding soccer players nationwide.

Other teams that are part of the Bolivian Professional Soccer League representing Santa Cruz de la Sierra are Real Santa Cruz, and Royal Pari F.C. There are also second division teams that play in the Cruceña Soccer Association (ACF), such as the Destroyers, Universidad and Florida.

Equipment	Shield	Fund.	Nickname	Stadium	Chairman	Coach	Sponsor	Indumentary	League	web site
Club Blooming		1946	Internship Academy	Blooming Arena	Sebastián Peña	Victor Hugo Antelo	Universidad Tecnológica Boliviana	Blooming Officer	First Division 2021	club-blooming.com/
Club Deportivo Guabirá		1962	Red Devils	Stadium Gilberto Parada	Rafael Paz Hurtado	Victor Hugo Antelo	Sugar Guabirá	Olive Sport	First Division 2021	clubguabira.com/
Club Deportivo Oriente Petrolero		1952	East of a thousand battles	Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera	Ronald Raldes	Erwin Sánchez	Cerabol	Official Petroleum East	First Division 2021	Orientepetrolero.com.bo
Real Santa Cruz		1962	White Lion of the Pajonal	Estadio Real Santa Cruz	Carlos Sánchez	David Perdiguero	New Santa Cruz	Arce Sports	First Division 2021	Club-Real-Santa-Cruz-Oficial
Royal Pari Football Club	Archive:Royal Pari F.C.png	1993	The Lions	Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera	Mario Chávez	Miguel Portugal	Sion Group	Hydra Sportswear	First Division 2021	royalparifc.bo/

The Municipal Government of Santa Cruz de la Sierra has sports schools where they offer soccer and basketball courses.

Sports such as basketball, tennis, volleyball, rugby, racket, motocross, BMX, cycling, polo, fishing, swimming, water polo, mixed martial arts, Greco-Roman wrestling, canoeing, kayaking, golf, karate, among others, are also popular.

It has one of the most important stadiums in Bolivia, the Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera.

Hometown of national soccer player Marcelo Martins

Predecessor: Maracaibo	Bolivarian City (Together to Cochabamba) 1993	Successor: Arequipa

Entertainment

Shopping Centers

It has a wide variety of places to shop.

Ventura Mall
The Brisas Mall
Beauty Plaza
Patio Design Center

Communications

The newspapers of Santa Cruz de la Sierra with regional, local, national and international news:

The Duty
The World
The Day
The Sun
FM Bolivia (virtual newspaper)
The Star of the East
ASC News
Santa Cruz Today
Today Bolivia
Extreme speed

Internet

It is the city with the greatest internet access in the country, there are several companies that offer broadband, ADSL, satellite or fiber optic connection, such as Cotas, Tigo, AXS or Digital TV, but currently they only offer mobile data connection Tigo, Viva and Entel.