Bolivia meets the definition of landlocked. Its South American neighbors, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, and Peru, completely surround it. There is no way for Bolivia to reach the sea without crossing through the territory of one of its neighbors. Yet, somewhat inexplicably, Bolivia has a robust Navy with upwards of 5,000 sailors.
It’s not all that uncommon for a landlocked country to have a navy even though it sounds like a bad punchline for a stale joke. Generally these forces use smaller patrol boats for rivers or lakes. It doesn’t differ much from how the United States assigns Coast Guard vessels to the Great Lakes or the Mississippi River. These forces can play a vital role in public safety, border patrol or smuggling abatement where roads may be uncommon or unavailable.
However, Bolivia is Different
Bolivia didn’t start out landlocked. It lost its coastline as a result of the 1879-1883 “War of the Pacific.” It got the short end of resulting treaties and negotiations. Essentially, Bolivia lost the war. As a result it also lost sovereignty over large chunks of its former territory. This has been a sore spot and a thorn in their national pride ever since.
Bolivia is not a wealthy country. Many there believe that prosperity might be just around the corner if only they could regain their seacoast. So it’s a nationalistic theme that remains a permanent fixture of the political system. Bolivia even holds an annual Dia Del Mar (Day of the Sea). On that day they ask Chile to return the coastline. Every year.
Their Navy figures into this equation. Oddly, it’s not an artifact or a holdover from the nineteenth century. Rather, it came into existence in 1963 both as a symbol of territorial aspirations and as an actual patrolling force.
Dreams of Naval Power
The Navy operates primarily out of a base at Copacabana on Lake Titicaca. It’s a worthy body of water that would justify a patrolling force regardless — the largest lake in South America by volume — but it’s not the open ocean.
No, Bolivia’s aspirations go much further. The home port of one of their ships is Rosario, Argentina, nearly 200 miles upriver from Buenos Aires. Additionally Bolivia participates in international naval exercises, with their sailors training side-by-side with those of more traditional seafaring nations. They await the day they can return to open water, and so they feel the need to be ready for the eventual return of their coastline.
The Bolivian Navy gets a surprising amount of mainstream press attention both in the UK and the USA, probably because the thought of such a thing sounds like such a contradiction.
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