Maria Lorena Leiva Salinas their civil and political rights. Furthermore, that the law would establish the exceptions and the cases in which they were suspended. It does not speak at all nor distinguish between the acquisition of nationality and/or citizenship. During all these years there was no law that regulated this in a special way, hence there was a legal vacuum. The constitution of 1851 introduced a first chapter referring to the public law of Bolivians. Unlimited individual rights, freedoms and guarantees were established therein, under the principle of equality before the law, pointing out that “the enjoyment of the guarantees and rights that this Constitution grants to every man, whatever his origin and belief, is subjected to the fulfilment of the duty: respect and obedience to the Law and constituted authorities”11. What does this qualitative shift respond to? By the middle of the century, a new historical phase had begun, characterised by the incursion of ‘caudillos’, who oriented their policies towards the popular sectors. In some cases they were leaders of popular origin like Manuel Isidoro Belzu. The beginning of the phase of political instability was marked by state coups and changes of government, called ‘barbarous caudillismo’. At the same time, structural problems persisted. While the great majority of the population lived in rural areas, and only about 120.000 people in cities, the only way to acquire certain social mobility was through migration to the latter, learning Spanish and labour integration. Yet they were denied access to political power12. The political constitution of the state adopted on 5 August 186113 does not explicitly speak of nationality. Only article 12 highlights generally that all Men in Bolivia enjoy civil rights and that the exercise of such rights would be regulated in civil law. Article 13 speaks of the acquisition of citizenship: point one establishes as a requisite what other constitutions had previously mentioned in relation to nationality adding that “The residence of ten years matters to have acquired citizenship without prior declaration”. The constitution of 187114 copies what was stated in the constitution of 1861 (article 24. Item 1). Once again, by means of the constitution of 1878 the concepts are regulated and separated, establishing that one can be Bolivian by birth or naturalisation. This second one explains that those who enjoy such right are: “1. The children of a Bolivian father or mother, born in a foreign territory, by the mere fact of living in Bolivia. 2. Foreigners who, settled for one year in the Republic, declare their will to settle before of the municipality of the place where they reside. 3. Foreigners who, by privilege, obtain a charter of the Chamber of Deputies”. On this occasion we see that one could obtain citizenship by naturalisation on behalf of two Bolivian authorities, the municipality and/or the Chamber of Deputies. This procedure was new. With regards to the previous ones, the Constitution of 1880 was the most elaborate. The latter was the result of a national convention within which the foundations of political representation were laid, remaining in force until 1938. By the beginning of the 20th century, the demographic situation had hardly changed since the founding of the Republic: the increase was only of 500,000 inhabitants, which remained essentially rural, and 85% of the urban population was concentrated in only five cities. The economic domination scheme was modified, passing from the era of silver to that of tin; and although the political organisational logics of the elites were transformed, this was not reflected in the modification of civil and political rights. 11 Trigo, op. cit. Herbert Pentland en Klein. Orígenes de la revolución nacional boliviana. La Paz: Ed. Juventud, 1968. 13 Constitución Política del Estado de 1861 14 Constitución Política del Estado de 1871 12 4 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/2 - © 2020 Author