Recently in SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia

THERE are striking similarities between Zimbabwe and Bolivia that range from an array of aspects, but the most notable one is the two countries’ economic policies.
Equally interesting is the fact that both countries are landlocked and rely mainly on agriculture and mining for economic development.
Bolivia is located in western-central South America.
It is bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, Chile to the southwest, and Peru to the west.
With a population estimated at 10 million, Bolivia, just like Zimbabwe has a large number of different cultures that have contributed greatly to a wide diversity in fields such as art, cuisine, literature, and music.
 Its main economic activities include agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, and manufacturing goods such as textiles, clothing, refined metals, and refined petroleum.
Like Zimbabwe, Bolivia is rich in minerals, especially tin.
But the most interesting aspect is that of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, a city we stayed in during our visit recently.
Its inhabitants’ humility and friendly nature accommodates anyone who visits their city as their own.
Behind the humility and friendliness is the aura of pride and confidence drawn probably from their leader President Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous leader and hard core socialist.
Santa Cruz de la Sierra which means the Holy Cross of the Mountain is the capital of the Santa Cruz department  (province) in eastern Bolivia. 
With its population drawn mainly from the local Aruwage tribe, our recent visit fascinated people from that city with most of them seeing blacks for the first time in their lives.
Many requested for pictures to be taken with us while others claimed to have seen black people face to face for the first time in their lives.
“Situated on the Pirai River in eastern Bolivia, the city of Santa Cruz and its metropolitan area is home to over 70 percent of the population of the department and it is one of the fastest growing cities in the world,” reads a Wikipedia report in part.
“The city was first founded in 1561 by Spanish explorer Nuflo de Chavez about 200 km (124 mi) east of its current location, and was moved several times until it was finally established on the Pirai River in the late 16th century.”
On the political side, Bolivia has a relatively new Constitution that was drafted between 2006 and 2007 and approved in 2009.
As with the Zimbabwe case, the Bolivian Constitution provides for balanced executive, legislature, judicial and electoral powers.
Through revisions to the constitution in 1994, and subsequent laws, the government has initiated potentially far-reaching reforms in the judicial system as well as increasing decentralising powers to departments, municipalities, and indigenous territories.
Under Morales, Bolivia has remade the country with its President shaking off global capitalism and empowering indigenous people.
He has nationalised natural gas, loosened the rules on growing cocoa-the country’s biggest agriculture export and a sector heavily subsidised by the Morales administration due to its contributions to the economy.
Morales, like President Robert Mugabe, has frosty relations with the West with matters coming to a head in 2012 when he kicked out the United States Ambassador.
He has taken his empowerment crusade to the classroom by pushing for reforms to make students learn local languages and embrace their culture.
This, Morales argues, will make his people appreciate who they are for real empowerment.
Yet more needs to be done on an economy emerging from the doldrums.
Bolivia’s 2012 Gross Domestic Product totalled US$27,12 billion and its standard of living, as measured in GDP per capita was US $5 100,” reads the Wikipedia report.
“Economic growth is about 5,2 percent a year and inflation was 4,5 percent in 2012.
“Bolivia experienced a budget surplus of about 1,5 percent of GDP in 2012. “Expenditures were nearly US$12,2 billion while revenues amounted to about US$12,6 billion.
“The government runs surplus accounts since 2005.”
But it is Santa Cruz, our ‘inherited’ city that has contributed significantly to Bolivia’s economy.
Ranked second in total population, Santa Cruz produces nearly 35 percent of Bolivia’s GDP, and receives over 40 percent of all foreign direct investment in the country.
This has helped make Santa Cruz the most important business centre in Bolivia and the preferred destination of migrants from all over the country.
While both nations are developing, it is their people-oriented policies that draw comparison between them.
Bolivia is a land of many possibilities.
It is a nation with people at heart.
Most touching is the fact that its people are always smiling and humble.