Cotoca is a

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

and

Municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Andrés Ibáñez Province Andrés Ibáñez Province is one of the fifteen provinces of the Bolivian Santa Cruz Department, situated in the western part of the department. Its capital is Santa Cruz de la Sierra which is also the capital of the department. The province was ...

in Santa Cruz Department,

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. The municipality consists of two cantons – Cotoca itself and

Puerto Pailas Puerto Pailas is a canton and town in the Santa Cruz Department in the South American Andean Republic of Bolivia. Location Puerto Pailas is the central town of ''Puerto Pailas Cantón'' and is located in Cotoca Municipality in Andrés Ibáñez ...

. In 2010 it had an estimated population of 23,951 for the canton and 56,451 for the municipality. In 1799, the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

authorised the building of a shrine to the

Virgen de Cotoca The Virgen de Cotoca (literal translation: Virgin of Cotoca; figurative translation: Our Lady of Cotoca; variant: Blessed Virgin of Cotoco) is the patron saint for the Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia), Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Her ima ...

, an image of

Mary (mother of Jesus) Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

that was seen in the town. The Virgin is now the patron saint of the entire province of Santa Cruz and her feast from 8 to 15 December draws thousands of Bolivians. The population increased tenfold in the last forty years:

Politics

In the

Bolivian regional election, 2010 The 2010 Bolivian regional elections were held on 4 April 2010. Departmental and municipal authorities were elected by an electorate of approximately 5 million people. Among the officials elected are: * Governors of all nine departments * Members ...

, Cotoca placed the

Verdes (Bolivia) ''VERDES'' (short for ''Verdad y Democracia Social'', 'Truth and Social Democracy'; the acronym means Greens) was a liberal-conservative political party in the Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia founded in 2009 and was led by Rubén Costas. In the ...

party of Governor

Rubén Costas Rubén Armando Costas Aguilera (born 6 October 1955) is a Bolivian politician and the prefect and then governor of Santa Cruz Department in Bolivia from 2006 to 2021, and also the leader of the Democrat Social Movement (MDS). Early life and ...

first, although by less than the overall result for the province:
/ref>

References

Populated places in Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia) {{SantaCruzBO-geo-stub it:Cotoca