María Elva Pinckert Vaca (born 15 January 1961) is a Bolivian businesswoman, lawyer, and politician who served as minister of environment and water from 2019 to 2020. Pinckert developed her career in Santa Cruz's agro-industrial heartland, during which time she rose to key positions of regional economic and political influence, including presiding over the Montero Civic Committee and serving as vice president of the Santa Cruz Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Elected to the Montero Municipal Council as a member of the

Revolutionary Nationalist Movement The Revolutionary Nationalist Movement ( , MNR) is a centre-right, conservative political party in Bolivia. It was the leading force behind the Bolivian National Revolution from 1952 to 1964. It influenced much of the country's history since 19 ...

in 1999, Pinckert later switched to the

New Republican Force The New Republican Force (Spanish: ''Nueva Fuerza Republicana'', NFR) is a center-right political party in Bolivia. It is mainly based in the department of Cochabamba. History The NFR was founded in 1995. After the Assembly for the Sovereignty o ...

, with which she won reelection. In 2009, the party promoted her to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

as a substitute senator under Germán Antelo. Amid the disunity brought about by the fragmentation of her parliamentary caucus, Pinckert aligned with the

Social Democratic Movement The Social Democratic Movement (; MDS), often shortened to just the Democrats (), is a far-right political party in Bolivia founded in 2013 for the movement for greater autonomy for the eastern departments of the '' Media Luna''. History Ru ...

, which nominated her for a full Senate seat. Elected in 2014, Pinckert held office until 2019, when she joined the Áñez administration as head of environmental and water policy. As with many former Áñez ministers, Pinckert faced judicial consequences for her collaboration with the transitional government, leading her to seek refuge in Brazil less than a year after leaving office.

Early life and career

María Elva Pinckert was born on 15 January 1961 in Montero, Santa Cruz, to Eduardo Pinckert and Elva Vaca. She completed her primary education at the San Silvestre and Guabirá schools, later attending the María Auxiliadora School before graduating from the American Institute in

Cochabamba Cochabamba (; ) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital (political), capital of the Cochabamba Department and the list of cities in Bolivia, fourth largest city in Bolivia, with ...

. Coming out of high school, Pinckert studied law at the Private Technological University of Santa Cruz, graduating with a degree in

legal science Legal science is one of the main components in civil law tradition (after Roman law, canon law, commercial law, and the legacy of the revolutionary period). Legal science is primarily the creation of German legal scholars of the middle and late n ...

s with specialization in municipal matters and autonomous processes. Pinckert developed her career in the Integrated North, the primary agro-industrial region of Santa Cruz. She got her start in local civic associations, serving as president of the Montero Parents' Union from 1990 to 1996 and vice president of the city's women's

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...

, also in 1996. Between 1995 and 1996, Pinckert held office as vice president of the Santa Cruz Chamber of Industry and Commerce, later presiding over the Montero Civic Committee through the late 1990s, two posts of particular importance, demonstrating her rise to positions of regional economic and political influence.

Political career

In 1999, Pinckert moved into local politics, motivated by the murder of her brother, who was unable to receive the necessary

intensive care Intensive care medicine, usually called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes p ...

due to the lack of medical units in the region. In that year's

municipal elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct var ...

, she ran on the top of the

(MNR)'s

electoral list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

for a seat on the Montero Municipal Council. "One of my demands o accept the nominationwas to build an intensive care unit in Montero; they offered me heaven and earth, that it was to be done... from the municipal administration; it was not like that". Though elected as a substitute councillor, she held the primary seat as the original incumbent held the mayor's office. Nearing the end of her term, Pinckert split with the MNR, joining the

(NFR) and contesting the 2004 municipal elections as the party's mayoral candidate. She attained fifth place, owing to the NFR's minimal presence in the department, though still with a vote share high enough to maintain her seat in the municipal council. For the majority of her second term, Pinckert also served as the president of the Association of Municipalities of Santa Cruz. Pinckert stepped into national politics upon the completion of her second municipal term, joining the

National Convergence The National Convergence () is a political party in Venezuela. It was founded in 1993 by former President of Venezuela Rafael Caldera, who was a member of Copei and won a second term in the 1993 elections. From 1995 to 2004 Eduardo Lapi hel ...

(CN) ticket, which ran the NFR's leader,

Manfred Reyes Villa Manfred Armando Antonio Reyes Villa Bacigalupi is a Bolivian politician, businessman, and former military officer. He was the mayor of the city of Cochabamba from 1994 to 2000, and became the elected Prefect of the Department of Cochabamba fr ...

, for the presidency. She was elected as a substitute senator for Santa Cruz, serving under Germán Antelo. In early 2010, before even being sworn into the new legislature, Pinckert split with the NFR, joining New Civic Power (NPC), a regional civic group founded by Antelo that brought together a large contingent of CN's Santa Cruz delegation. The creation of NPC illustrated the centrifugal process within the CN caucus that ultimately led to its implosion and the dispersion of its elected parliamentarians to different fronts, owing to a lack of shared leadership and political vision between its members. The volatility of political acronyms experienced by the opposition meant that Pinckert's membership within NPC did not last long either. By the time of the 2014 general elections, she had moved to

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 ...

(MDS), which nominated her for reelection, this time as a titular senator. During her term in the

, Pinckert focused her work on environmental issues, serving on the upper chamber's Environment, Biodiversity, Amazon, Protected Areas, and Climate Change Committee.

Minister of Environment

Nearing the end of 2019, following that year's

political crisis A cabinet crisis, government crisis or political crisis refers to a situation where an incumbent government is unable to form or function, is toppled through an uprising, or collapses. Political crises may correspond with, cause or be caused by an ...

and the establishment of the transitional government of

Jeanine Áñez Jeanine Áñez Chávez (; born 13 June 1967) is a Bolivian lawyer, politician, and television presenter who served as the 66th president of Bolivia from 2019 to 2020. A former member of the Social Democratic Movement, she previously served two ...

, Pinckert was appointed by the new president to serve as minister of environment and water. Per ''

Opinión ''Opinión'' is a newspaper published in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Founded in January 1985, as the information arm of the Bolivian Cement, Industries and Services Cooperative (COBOCE Ltda.); said entity was still its parent company in 2025. Its founder a ...

''s analysis of the Áñez Cabinet, Pinckert's designation would have come at the behest of , former governor of Beni and Áñez's

political boss In the politics of the United States of America, a boss is a person who controls a faction or local branch of a political party. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves; most historical bosses did not, at least during the times of th ...

. Pinckert's relationship with Áñez stemmed back nearly a decade, with both having served together in the Senate for two legislative terms. One of the most pressing concerns for the

Ministry of Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

during Pinckert's tenure was to address the aftermath of the Amazon rainforest wildfires that scorched the region between July and October, particularly affecting the tropical

Chiquitania Chiquitania ("Chiquitos" or "Gran Chiquitania") is a region of tropical savannas in the Santa Cruz Department in eastern Bolivia. Geography "Chiquitos" is the colonial name for what is now essentially five of the six provinces that make up the ...

. Pinckert spoke of the issue in her address to that year's

United Nations Climate Change Conference The United Nations Climate Change Conferences are yearly conferences held in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They serve as the formal meeting of the UNFCCC parties – the conference of the par ...

, blaming the previous government's "inadequate environmental policy" for causing Bolivia to have the highest

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

rate per capita, more than double that of neighboring countries. In mid-December, Pinckert presented the Comprehensive Plan for the Restoration of the Chiquitania, which sought the participation of

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

s and other experts in workshopping health, housing, productive development, and education policies related to the region. Continued environmental efforts resulted in the signing of an agreement with the Piraí River Water Channeling and Regularization Service (SEARPI) in August 2020 for the

reforestation Reforestation is the practice of restoring previously existing forests and woodlands that have been destroyed or damaged. The prior forest destruction might have happened through deforestation, clearcutting or wildfires. Three important purpose ...

and

repopulation Repopulation is the phenomenon of increasing the numerical size of human inhabitants or organisms of a particular species after they had almost gone extinct. Organisms An example of an organism that has repopulated after being on the brink of extin ...

of the Chiquitania. The agreement saw the Ministry of Environment and SEARPI invest a joint Bs10 million to conduct work across at least 170,000 hectares.

Flight from the country

As with the other ministers of the Áñez Cabinet, Pinckert resigned from office two days before the formal conclusion of the transitional government's mandate, retiring to her residence in Santa Cruz. Not long thereafter, the Prosecutor's Office opened two investigations into her, one for breach of duties and another for making illegal government appointments. In the first, Pinckert was accused of conducting official trips without valid justifications as to how they related to her ministerial duties. For this, she was cited to testify on 31 March 2021, though she did not attend, attesting that the recent death of her husband left her too depressed to present herself. In response, the Prosecutor's Office issued an

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a jud ...

against Pinckert, opening a migratory alert to prevent her from leaving the country. The Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee denounced the government's decision to seek Pinckert's arrest, labeling it an act of

political persecution Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereby ...

. For her part, Pinckert declared herself in hiding, assuring that she was "willing to stand before justice when justice is fair again". On her behalf, the Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee issued a missive to the government of Brazil, requesting that it grant Pinckert

political asylum The right of asylum, sometimes called right of political asylum (''asylum'' ), is a juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereignty, sovereign authority, such as a second country or ...

until "an independent and impartial judicial system is achieved". Brazilian authorities accepted their request, granting Pinckert entry for a period of ninety days pending a formal review by the Brazilian National Refugee Commission on whether to grant her permanent political asylum.

Early life and career

Political career

Minister of Environment

Flight from the country

Electoral history

References

Notes

Footnotes

Bibliography

External links