Osvaldo Guillermo Torrez Arisaca (born 24 June 1973) is a Bolivian

community organizer Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community buil ...

and politician who served as a member of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

from

La Paz La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...

, representing circumscription 11 from 2010 to 2015. Torrez was born in

and operated an auto repair shop in his youth. He became involved in

community organizing Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community buil ...

and held ranking positions in the city's

micro-enterprise A micro-enterprise (or microenterprise) is generally defined as a small business employing nine people or fewer, and having a balance sheet or turnover less than a certain amount (e.g. euro, €2 million or Philippine peso, PhP 3 million). The ter ...

cooperatives. A member of the

Movement for Socialism Movement for Socialism – Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples (; MAS or MAS-IPSP), is a socialist political party in Bolivia. Its followers are known as ''Masistas''. In the 2005 Bolivian general election, December 2005 el ...

, Torrez assumed leadership posts within the party apparatus. In 2009, he ran for and won a seat in

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, representing an urban

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

in the capital city. He was not nominated for reelection.

Early life and career

Early life and education

Guillermo Torrez was born on 24 June 1973, the youngest of three siblings born to Luciano Torrez Choque and Eusebia Arisaca. Torrez's family occupied a small

adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

dwelling in the El Tejara ''

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city delimited by functional (e.g. residential, comm ...

'' of northwestern

along the border with

El Alto El Alto (Spanish for "The Heights") is the List of Bolivian cities by population, second-largest city in Bolivia, located adjacent to La Paz in Pedro Domingo Murillo Province on the Altiplano highlands. El Alto is today one of Bolivia's fastest- ...

, one of the most impoverished areas of the city. Torrez attended local institutes for most of his primary and secondary education and received his after migrating to Santa Cruz, from the 24 de Septiembre School, where he took night courses. Though he never pursued formal

university education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational school ...

, Torrez did attend

trade school A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational ...

s; he took courses at INFOCAL and graduated as an industrial welder from the Santa Cruz Technological Institute.

Career and community organizing

Torrez operated a small auto repair shop in

Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; ), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia), Santa Cruz department. Situated on the Pirai River (Bolivia), Pirai River in the eastern Tropical ...

for some time. On his return to La Paz, he became engaged in community-building activities and ventured into organizational leadership in the city's

cooperatives: he served as secretary of sports for his local

neighborhood council A neighborhood council (also known as a community league) is a governmental or non-governmental body, whose purpose is to promote citizen participation in local government.Martin Minogue, ''Documents on Contemporary British Government: Volume 2, L ...

in 2001 and held ranking positions in the Departmental Federation of Micro and Small Enterprises around 2005. Longtime support for left-wing principles accompanied Torrez's activist and organizational activities. As early as 2002, he was active in a small Che Guevara-inspired cell affiliated with the fledgling

(MAS-IPSP). Torrez held leadership positions in the MAS's zonal and district committees between 2002 and 2004 and was a member of its departmental committee in 2005.

Chamber of Deputies

Election

Torrez ran for a seat in the

in 2009. He narrowly won the nomination of a MAS-affiliated social movement organization to be a candidate in the general election. The

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

he contested, single-member circumscription 11, encompassed La Paz's western slope, including large parts of its commercial zone. Torrez won the race in a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

, defeating several candidates he believed to be more professionally qualified.

Tenure

Entering office, Torrez was made a member of the Health, Sports, and Recreation Committee, which he chaired for the near-duration of his termexcepting one year on the International Economic Relations Committee in 2011.^{�/sup> At the end of his term, Torrez was not nominated for reelection.

Commission assignments

* Education and Health Commission
** Health, Sports, and Recreation Committee (Secretary: 2010–2011, 2012–2015)
* International Relations and Migrant Protection Commission
** International Economic Relations Committee (2011–2012)

Electoral history

References

Notes

Footnotes

Works cited

Online and list sources

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Digital and print publications

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Books and encyclopedias

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External links

Parliamentary profile
Office of the Vice President .

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torrez, Guillermo
1973 births
Living people
20th-century Bolivian businesspeople
21st-century Bolivian businesspeople
21st-century Bolivian politicians
Bolivian community activists
Bolivian trade unionists
Members of the Bolivian Chamber of Deputies from La Paz
Movimiento al Socialismo politicians
Politicians from La Paz}