#Elections: The Leadership at the Regional and Local Levels
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We still don't have a comprehensive report of the final and official election results, but we can slowly say who will be in power at the regional and capital city level.
May 3rd. was the day the newly elected regional and local authorities were sworn in after a number of second round elections were held on March 7 and one last repeat election on April 25 in La Paz.
Below you will find the list (with some personal details) of elected Governors, Vice-governors and Mayors of the regional capital cities.
La Paz
Governor: Santos Quispe (Jallalla La Paz).
He is the son of Felipe Quispe (El Mallku), who passed away in January 2021. He is Doctor and worked in SEDES La Paz (Departmental Health Service or Servicio Departamental de Salud). He ran with Jallalla and won in second round. This week he announced he broke up with that group. He is the leader of Forwards United People (Adelante Pueblo Unido, APU) political platform.
Mayor of La Paz: Iván Arias Durán (Somos Pueblo).
He is a sociologist and public management expert. He was the private secretary of the first indigenous vice president of Bolivia, VÃctor Hugo Cárdenas. He was Vice Minister of Popular Participation in the 1990s and Minister of Public Works during Jeanine Añez' government.
Mayor of El Alto: Eva Copa Murga (Jallalla La Paz).
She is a social worker. She was a Senator for MAS and from November 2019 to November 2020 was Senate president. She left MAS after the leadership of the party decided against her candidacy for mayor of El Alto in this past elections.
Santa Cruz
Governor: Luis Fernando Camacho Vaca (CREEMOS).
Lawyer and former civic leader. He was president of the Pro Santa Cruz Committee. He was one of the leaders of the October/November 2019 mobilizations denouncing electoral fraud. He is part of the Enterprise Group for National Investment (Grupo Empresarial de Inversiones Nacional Vida SA.)
Vice Governor: Mario JoaquÃn Aguilera Cirbian (CREEMOS). - no information
Mayor of Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Max Jhonny Fernández Saucedo (UCS).
He is the head of the United Civic Solidarity (Unidad CÃvica Solidaridad, UCS), a party founded by his father Max Fernández in the 1980s. Between 1996 and 2002 he was mayor of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Between 2015 and 2021 he served as a municipal councilor.
Cochabamba
Governor: Humberto Sánchez Sánchez (MAS - IPSP).
He was a union leader in Ucuchi community. He worked in the Cochabamba Sub-prefecture (2004 and 2009). He was mayor of Sacaba (2010-2015 and 2015-2019) until he resigned in November 2019. Since 2020 he worked in agriculture.
Mayor of Cochabamba: Manfred Armando Antonio Reyes Villa Bacigalupi (SUMATE).
Retired military man and businessman. He was mayor of Cochabamba (1993-2000) and Prefect (2006-2008). He has also been candidate for the Presidency in 2002 and 2009. Between 2010 and 2020 he left Bolivia and lived as a political refugee in the United States.
Chuquisaca
Governor: Damián Condori (CST).
He was member of the executive board of the Unique Federation of Peasant Workers of Chuquisaca (Federación Unica de Trabajadores Campesinos de Chuquisaca) and executive secretary (2013-2015) of the Unique Confederation of Unionized Campesino Workers of Bolivia (Confederación Sindical Unica de Trabajadores Campesinos de Bolivia, UCSTCB). He is dissident of the MAS and leader of We all are Chuquisaca (Chuquisaca Somos Todos, CST).
Mayor of Sucre: Enrique Lea̱o (MAS РIPSP)
He is doctor. He was director of the Santa Bárbara Hospital and secretary general of the Sucre municipality (2015-2018). In 2019 he was director of the Chuquisaca SEDES, a position he left after a crisis in November of the same year. In 2020 he returned to SEDES and Hospital Santa Bárbara.
Tarija
Governor: Óscar Montes (Unidos por Tarija).
He is economist. He was president of the Departmental Civic Committee of Tarija. He was mayor of the city of Tarija in three consecutive periods (2000 - 2015). He chaired the Association of Municipalities of Bolivia. He is the leader of the political group Unir.
Mayor of Tarija: Johnny Torres (Unidos por Tarija)
Lawyer by profession. He was deputy governor for Cercado (a Tarija province) in the period ending 2020. He is one of the main leaders of the Tarija Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR) and a political ally of the governor-elect Óscar Montes.
Pando
Governor: Regis Richter Alencar (MTS).
He is doctor. He was mayor of the municipality of El Porvenir (2010-2021). On April 30, he left office. He chaired the Pando Municipalities Association. Richter is a dissident of the MAS. The leadership of that party ruled him out as candidate, despite the fact that social sectors favored his candidacy.
Vicegobernadora: Ana Paula Valenzuela Becerra (MTS).
Mayor of Cobija: Ana LucÃa Reis (MTS).
She holds a degree in business administrator. She was a uninominal (direct candidate) deputy for the MNR in the 2002-2005 legislative period and a plurinominal (list candidate) deputy in the 2005-2009 period for the MAS. She was mayor of Cobija from 2010 to 2015.
Beni
Governor: José Alejandro Unzueta Shiriqui (MTS).
He is dentist. He stood out for his activities during the first wave of the pandemic, when cases skyrocketed in Beni. In this context, he carried out a campaign and helped in the distribution of more than 30,000 kits with medicines against Covid-19 for free.
Mayor of Trinidad: Cristhian Miguel Cámara Arratia (MTS).
Pilot and retired officer of the Armed Forces. In 2000 he came to Beni as commander of the FAB SAR group (Search and Rescue Unit). He was director of COED Beni or Departmental Emergency Operations Comittee (Comite de Operaciones de Emergencia Departamental). In December 2020, groups within the MAS proclaimed him as a candidate, but days later Evo Morales ruled out his nomination. He left MAS and ran under another political group.
PotosÃ
Governor: Jhonny Óscar Mamani Gutiérrez (MAS–IPSP).
He was mayor of Tahua (Daniel Campos province) municipality, one of the towns near the Uyuni salt flat (Salar de Uyuni), and chaired the Potosà Municipalities Association. He is a peasant representative of the Movement Toward Socialism in the southwest of PotosÃ.
Mayor of PotosÃ: Jhonny Llally Huata (MCP)
He is an activist, a transportation worker and a union leader. He was president of the Potosinista Civic Committee and led massive mobilizations in 2015. He is the leader of the Drivers Trade Federation Union, 1 ° of May. He founded the Popular Civic Movement (MCP, Movimiento Civico Popular) group to run.
Oruro
Governor: Johnny Franklin Vedia RodrÃguez (MAS–IPSP).
He is doctor and a graduate of the Oruro Technical University (Universidad Tecnica de Oruro, UTO) Law School. He directed the SEDES Oruro in two administrative periods. He was national director of Health in the Ministry of Health. He worked at the Caja Petrolera de Salud (the health insurance in the oil industry). In 2020 he served as Secretary General in the Oruro departmental government.
Mayor of Oruro: Adhemar Willcarani Morales (MAS - IPSP)
He is electrical engineer and nephew of former President Evo Morales. He is an active member of the “Youth for Dignity” platform. He worked in the National Electricity Company. This is his first incursion in politics and as elected authority.
Sources:
https://www.paginasiete.bo/nacional/2021/5/3/asumen-lideres-locales-del-sindicalismo-del-ambito-civico-del-municipalismo-293811.html
