Potosí Department


Potosí is a department in southwestern Bolivia. Its area is 118,218 km2 and its population is 856,419. The capital is the city of Potosí.
It is a mostly barren, mountainous region with one large plateau to the west, where the largest salt flat in the world, Salar de Uyuni, is located.
Cerro Potosí was the richest province in the Spanish Empire, providing a great percentage of the silver that was shipped to Europe.
Potosi is also the location of the San Cristóbal silver, zinc and lead mines, developed by the US company Apex Silver Mines Limited of Colorado and sold in November 2008 to the Japanese Sumitomo Corporation.
WWW potosi.gob.bo

History

In March 2023, social organisations in four regions of Potosí, with the support of regional MAS-IPSP lawmakers, called for a strike spanning over 72 hours, to force the government to raise infrastructure investments in the department and to receive an increased amount of the profits generated through lithium mining in the region. Shortly after the strike an agreement with the central government was reached, stipulating the construction of motorways and a cement plant and further discussions about mining conditions.

Government

Executive offices

The chief executive office of Bolivia departments is the governor; until then, the office was called the prefect, and until 2006 the prefect was appointed by the President of Bolivia. The current governor, Jhonny Mamani of the Movement for Socialism – Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples was elected on 7 March 2021.
Took officeOffice expiredPrefect/GovernorPartyNotes
23 Jan 200630 May 2010Mario Virreira IporreMAS-IPSPFirst elected prefect. Elected in Bolivian general election, December 2005
30 May 201031 May 2015Félix GonzálesMAS-IPSPElected in regional election on 4 April 2010 with 63.1% of the vote; first governor.
31 May 201515 Nov 2019Juan Carlos CejasMAS-IPSPElected in regional election on 29 March 2015.
15 Nov 20193 May 2021Omar Veliz RamosMAS-IPSP
3 May 2021Jhonny MamaniMAS-IPSPElected in regional election on 7 March 2021.

Legislative Assembly

Under the 2009 Constitution, each Bolivian department has an elected Departmental Legislative Assembly. The first elections were held 4 April 2010.
The current executive committee consists of Jacinto Sunagua Dorado as president, Raimunda Cordero Caba as vice-president and Alberto Quispe Mamani as secretary and Blanca Celia Burgos Quispe and Leon Jancko Condori as first and second committee member, respectively.

Provinces of Potosi Department

The department is divided into 16 provinces which are further subdivided into 40 municipalities and 219 cantons.
ProvinceCapitalArea km2Population
Map Number
Alonso de IbáñezSacaca2.17029.8211
Antonio QuijarroUyuni14,89054,94712
Bernardino BilbaoArampampa64010,2242
CharcasSan Pedro de Buena Vista2,96441,2143
ChayantaColquechaca7,02697,2515
Cornelio SaavedraBetanzos2,37555,1007
Daniel CamposLlica12,1065,85013
Enrique BaldiviesoSan Agustín2,2541,68415
José María LinaresPuna5,13649,6198
Modesto OmisteVillazón2,26044,64511
Nor ChichasCotagaita8,97942,2489
Nor LípezColcha K20,89214,05714
Rafael BustilloUncía2,23586,9474
Sud ChichasTupiza8,51655,87910
Sud LípezSan Pablo de Lípez22,3556,83516
Tomás FríasPotosí3,420229,0476

Economy

Mining

Languages

The main languages spoken in the department are Quechua, Spanish and Aymara. The following table shows the number of speakers of recognized languages in Potosí and in all of Bolivia.
LanguageDepartmentBolivia
Quechua514,4212,281,198
Aymara57,7381,525,321
Guaraní37462,575
Other native35649,432
Spanish438,2046,821,626
Foreign3,771250,754
Only native226,967960,491
Native and Spanish301,2802,739,407
Spanish and foreign136,9804,115,751

Places of interest

Notable people