Map

Bolivian people that came following the oil boom See map

In Comodoro Rivadavia, there are two distinct periods of Bolivian immigration. One occurred in the late 50's, when the Bolivians came to attach to oil activities, industrial or construction, and another in the late '70s with immigrants who had the same expectations as the first, but found with a very different economic reality in the city.

The oil boom that began in 1958 transformed Comodoro into a pole of attraction of work for internal and external migration, such as Bolivia.

In Bolivia oil was found in the region of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. U.S. companies were pleased with the local workers so they brought them when they started drilling in the Patagonia.

Bolivians who could not find refuge in oil working started working in construction. Similarly, those who came by having a relative or friend in Comodoro Rivadavia began working as masons and similar trades.

The high payments of this time caused many workers became independent and could return to their country, while others settled permanently in the city.

The second wave of Bolivian immigrants arrived in the late '70s with the imaginary place in the oil boom, but found that the activity had decreased markedly.

Most of the newcomers was ranked as wage labor, especially in construction, and a few were able to exercise their professional qualifications as engineers or doctors.

After several years of residence in the region return to Bolivia was very difficult. If it was not for the bureaucratic obstacles in their country of origin, the marriage with an argentinian woman ended filing the immigrant definitely on Patagonian soil.

Also, those who decided to come with the family group usually had relatives or friends who welcomed and helped them to settle in the new soil. Thus it was that his sons began the process of socialization in schools or in communities where today show their culture and learn a new way of life.