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Visiting Bolivia became a little easier for some travelers on Monday, when the South American country’s first conservative government in nearly 20 years eliminated visa requirements for citizens of the United States and several other countries, including Israel, as part of a broader geopolitical and economic shift.
Americans and Israelas well as fellow citizens south koreaSouth Africans and several Eastern European countries who were obliged to apply and pay for a Bolivian tourist visa can now enter the country only with a valid passport for stays of up to 90 days.
From the snowy slopes of its 20,000-foot peaks to the dense forests of the Amazon Basin and the world’s largest salt flats, Bolivia is home to a variety of tourist experiences that are often overlooked by international travelers vacationing in neighboring Brazil and Peru.
Monday’s measure is an effort by Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz — who last month took over the government from the long-ruling Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS party — to build a strategic alliance with the US and boost economic progress by attracting more visitors.
Bolivia is currently facing a severe shortage of US dollars which has hampered imports and paralyzed the economy.
Anti-American hostility was at its peak in Bolivia during the tenure of the former leftist president. evo morales (2006–2019), a charismatic coca-cartel leader who rose to popularity in the early 2000s among Bolivians tired of half a century of dependence on Washington and angered by the violent US-backed war on drugs in the tropical region.
Morales led the country to isolate itself from the US – kicking the US drug enforcement agency out of the country, expelling the US ambassador and imposing visa restrictions on US citizens.
He cited the principle of reciprocity, which means Bolivians – who are still charged a $185 fee and must go through a cumbersome application process to obtain a visa – should be given the same benefits when traveling to the US.
During the 2014 Israel–Hamas war in Gaza, Morales also broke diplomatic ties with Israel and began requiring tourist visas. Israel Bolivian traveler.
Meanwhile, Bolivia moved closer to Russia, China and Venezuela.
After Morales was forced to resign under pressure from the military in 2019 following mass protests against alleged electoral fraud, right-wing former interim President Jeanine Áñez briefly lifted entry restrictions for citizens of the US and Israel.
But then-former President Luis Arce, Morales’ political successor from the MAS party, reinstated the visa rules as soon as he entered office in 2020.
Paz officials estimated Monday that the decline in visa recipients has cost Bolivia about $900 million since 2007 and promised $80 million in new tourism revenue over the next four years.
“We must restore the world’s confidence in Bolivia being a suitable and safe country to visit,” Foreign Minister Fernando Aramayo told reporters as he announced the new measures.
The State Department places Bolivia in a Level 2 travel advisory that urges visitors to “exercise increased caution” due to the risk of civil unrest. It also issued a Level 4 “do not travel” advisory, the highest category of warning, for Chapare, the country’s coca-growing region where former President Morales is currently hiding to avoid arrest for alleged statutory rape.
Seeking to replenish depleted dollar reserves and liberalize Bolivia’s economy as it weathers its worst crisis in four decades, Paz last week eliminated some corporate and wealth taxes and plans to take on more debt.