The Bolivian Red Cross was officially founded in Bolivia on May 15, 1917. It has its headquarters in La Paz.
History
The Ambulances of the Army was established as a result of the War of the Pacific, when a call was put forth for midwives to organize supplies and help attend the wounded of the war. On the 20 January 1879, nine nuns, from the in Italy, arrived in Tacna. Among the first volunteers were Ana M. de Dalence, María N. vda. de Meza and her daughter Mercedes Meza, Vicenta Paredes Mier, Andrea Rioja de Bilbao, and Ignacia Zeballos Taborga. During the administration of President Hilarión Daza, one of his ministers, Tomás Frias Plenipotentiary Minister of Bolivia in Spain, initiated the organization of the Red Cross of Bolivia on 16 October 1879, and agreed to have the organization adhere to the provisions of the Geneva Convention of 1864. Doctor Zenón Dalence was placed in charge of the service and drafted regulations for the establishment of field hospitals. Dalence commissioned Vicenta Paredes Mier, as the Inspector of the Field Kitchen and named Rosaura Rodríguez, as official cook. Andrea Bilbao was the first nurse to wear the emblem of the Red Cross into battle, but Ignacia Zeballos, who has been named "the mother of soldiers" was the initiator of red cross nursing. The official establishment of the organization occurred on 15 May 1917, when a group of female teachers from the Girls' Lyceum in La Paz, under the direction of Professor Juan Manuel Balcázar, founded the Red Cross of Bolivia as a volunteer organization to collaborate with the Public Health Service and the army and drew-up bylaws for the organization. The following year, the School of Nurses of the Red Cross was established. Recognition by the International Committee of the Red Cross for the Bolivian Red Cross occurred on 10 January 1923, and the organization became the 50th national society of the federation when it joined the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on 22 January 1923. In 1963 the Bolivian Red Cross received the highest national distinction when it was awarded the Order of the Condor of the Andes by the government.
