Ports: No direct outlet to international ports since 1879. Employed ports and warehousing facilities at Arica and Antofagasta, Chile; Matarani and Ilo, Peru; and Santos, Brazil. Also used free port facilities in Rosario, Argentina; Nueva Palmira, Uruguay; and Belém, Brazil.
Railroads: Most important transport system for external trade (excluding pipelines). System consisted of over 3,700 kilometers of rail and carried more than 535 million tons of freight and 2.4 million passengers a year.
Roads: Only 3 percent of the 41,000 kilometers of roads paved; 81 percent dirt and 16 percent gravel. Road maintenance haphazard and substandard. At least 110,000 vehicles registered in late 1980s.
Airports: Official airports numbered thirty-two (only six paved). La Paz and Santa Cruz each had international airport. Unofficial airstrips numbered 800, many in lowlands used for narcotics trafficking.
Waterways: About 14,000 kilometers of waterways in four main systems--Beni, Pilcomayo, Titicaca-Desaguadero, and Mamoré--open to navigation by light-draught vessels.
Communications: In 1988 population had some 3.5 million radios, access to over 125 mostly privately owned radio stations, 650,000 television sets, six main daily newspapers, and only 65,000 telephones.
Data as of December 1989