Camiri in Santa Cruz Bolivia

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Camiri is a small city of about 35,000 founded on 12 July 1935 in the southwestern section of the Department of Santa Cruz on the banks of the Parapetí River. Its name was originally Kaami (in the Guaraní language). It was then changed to Kaamichi, and eventually to its present name.

Its population, known as “camireños”, are primarily of Guaraní and Spanish origin, although many Aymara and Quecha immigrants have settled in the area. Here the indigenous Guarani have been displaced by other peoples who came to the area after the discovery of oil in the 1920s. Most people here, especially the Guaraní, live in extreme poverty.

It is said petroleum used to bubble up to the surface and the Guaraní tribes used it for curative purposes, as well as to light their fires. In 1926 petroleum spewed out from the ground and contaminated the Parapetí River. Soon after, Standard Oil Company was installed at this location and a town was “born”. After Standard was nationalized, the government took over operations and named the state-run oil company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (or YPFB for short).

When the country’s oil and natural gas industry was once again capitalized and opened up to foreign investment in 1997, the local population was motivated to improve hotel and tourist infrastructure in the area, several small companies that provided services to the oil companies sprang up, a branch of the UAGRM university in Santa Cruz was built, and the construction of a road from Abapó to Camiri was planned. It is as yet unknown how the recent (2006) nationalization again of the oil industry will affect the city’s economy.

The population is very young with 40 percent aged under 20. Family life is unstable with men often deserting their families. Many children pass into the care of their grandmothers while their mothers earn a pittance working as washerwomen or house servants. They have little money to spend on their children’s food and schooling. Children often begin working on the streets by age 4-5 shining shoes, washing windshields, and doing other chores for mere cents.

Camiri is near the borders of Argentina and Paraguay, a strategic location for oil and gas exports and other types of trade. It was one of the sites where battles were fought during the Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay (1932-1935). Just 8 kilometers from town visitors can enjoy the “El Chorro” waterfall. Nearby you can also visit hot springs and several other rivers and streams.

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