Autonomy and Indigenous self-government

Santa Cruz / eastern Bolivian autonomy projects: current status

Where the question stood on 22 September 2026: the eastern departments remain part of Bolivia, with the 2008 autonomy referendums the movement's most significant documented milestone.

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Status verified as of 22 September 2026. Political positions change; this explainer describes the documented position on that date.

Current position

Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija remain departments of Bolivia. No independence referendum or declaration by the mainstream autonomy movement is documented in the sources reviewed, and no comparably significant subsequent autonomy referendum is documented since 2008.[1]

Sources for this page

Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.

  1. 1.

    Claim: A referendum on the Santa Cruz Department autonomy statute was held on 4 May 2008, resulting from tensions between the Santa Cruz prefecture and President Evo Morales; 85.6% of participating voters supported autonomy, though Bolivia's National Electoral Court declared the referendum illegal and unconstitutional.

    • 2008 Santa Cruz autonomy referendum (Wikipedia) link, Referendum result and legal status section. Source record

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