Javier Ignacio García Choque (born August 29, 1975) is a Chilean politician who serves as mayor of Colchane. Close to

right-wing politics Right-wing politics is the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position b ...

, since 2020, García Choque gained attention with the Venezuelan migrant crisis in Northern Chile, as well as for his criticism towards

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

government of

Sebastián Piñera Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique (; 1 December 1949 – 6 February 2024) was a Chilean businessman and politician who served as President of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022. The son of a Christian Democratic Party (C ...

(2018−2022).

Early life and studies

García Choque was born in Camiña, but he was raised in Colchane, a 300-inhabitants village on the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an border with

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

. His father, Andrés García, was a farmer and president of the neighborhood council. Similarly, his great-grandfather, Melchor García, came from southern

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

to look for work and married with a Chilean. When he attended the

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

in Colchane, his classmates spoke

Aymara Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...

, a language he would master as an adult. Then, García attended

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

both in

Iquique Iquique () is a port List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the At ...

and

Arica Arica ( ; ) is a commune and a port city with a population of 222,619 in the Arica Province of northern Chile's Arica y Parinacota Region. It is Chile's northernmost city, being located only south of the border with Peru. The city is the ca ...

at the following establishments: the Commercial Institute Baldomero Wolnitzky and the Politechnical Lyceum of Arica. According to him, in those cities, he suffered discrimination from his classmates due to his ethnic appearance. In 1994, García Choque graduated from High School. Then, he joined the Arturo Prat University to study a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

, which he continued in the Bolivarian University of Chile. Nevertheless, due to the lack of accreditation of this last one, he validated his subjects in the

Academy of Christian Humanism University The Academy of Christian Humanism University (UAHC) () is a Chilean non-profit private university, founded in 1988 but whose origins date back to 1975 when establishing the Academy of Christian Humanism, led by Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez ( S ...

(UAHC), and –finally– he received as

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

in the early 2000s. About it, different media has recognized him as an outstanding student in the UAHC, as well as he paid his studies with the help of his family and his own work as an events organizer for an architects study in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, the capital city of

Political career

In 2016 and 2021, he was elected mayor of Colchane, his hometown. He initially was in the party National Renewal, then

Amplitude The amplitude of a periodic variable is a measure of its change in a single period (such as time or spatial period). The amplitude of a non-periodic signal is its magnitude compared with a reference value. There are various definitions of am ...

and in 2021 he ran as independent with the coalition of the Progressive Party and the

Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia Choque, Javier 1975 births Living people 21st-century Chilean lawyers Chilean people of Peruvian descent Chilean people of Aymara descent National Renewal (Chile) politicians Amplitude (political party) politicians Arturo Prat University alumni Bolivarian University of Chile alumni Academy of Christian Humanism University alumni People from Tarapacá Region