Litoral Department
Litoral is a name for the Chilean Región de Antofagasta in Bolivia . On January 2, 1867, President José Mariano Melgarejo elevated the territory, which was previously a province of the formerly much larger Potosí Department , to the rank of department. A few years later, Bolivia lost control of the area in the Saltpeter War from 1879 to 1884. Since then, the country has been raising claims to the territory and designating it as its tenth department .
In domestic politics in particular, the demand for a “return to the sea” is repeatedly raised and also discussed in detail in schools. Outwardly, this is symbolized by the tenth star in the national coat of arms and on the war flag at sea . Bolivia also has a navy , but as long as Bolivia remains a landlocked country, it only operates on Lake Titicaca and larger rivers.
Litoral also has its own coat of arms and a historical flag (horizontal, blue-red-yellow tricolor). At the time of the occupation, the department consisted of the following provinces (in today's terms rather rural districts or Spanish municipios ):
- Mejillones (main town: Antofagasta )
- Cobija (Chile) (capital: La Mar / Lamar ; the Bolivian Cobija was named so in memory of it in 1908.)
- Loa (compare Río Loa , capital: Tocopilla )
- Caracoles (main town: Caracoles)
- Atacama (not to be confused with Región de Atacama , main town: San Pedro de Atacama )
On March 23rd, the day of the sea is celebrated every year in memory of the lost coastline . He is accompanied by military parades, patriotic (partly anti-Chilean) demonstrations and events of all kinds. Political rallies and funeral marches also take place in the main square of San Francisco in the city of La Paz .