Jorge Fernando "Tuto" Quiroga Ramírez (born 5 May 1960) is a Bolivian politician and

industrial engineer Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

who served as the 62nd

president of Bolivia The president of Bolivia (), officially known as the president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia (), is head of state and head of government of Bolivia and the captain general of the Armed Forces of Bolivia. According to the Bolivian C ...

from 2001 to 2002. A former member of Nationalist Democratic Action, he previously served as the 36th

vice president of Bolivia The vice president of Bolivia (), officially known as the vice president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia (), is the second highest political position in Bolivia. The vice president replaces the president in his definitive absence or others ...

from 1997 to 2001 under Hugo Banzer and as minister of finance under Jaime Paz Zamora in 1992. During the interim government of Jeanine Áñez, he was briefly appointed from 2019 to 2020 as the country's international spokesperson to denounce alleged human rights violations by the previous government. Quiroga was a candidate in the

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

presidential elections, in which President

Evo Morales Juan Evo Morales Ayma (; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to come ...

was elected for a first and third term respectively. In both elections, Quiroga ran on the Christian Democratic Party ticket. In the 2020 presidential election, Quiroga ran as a candidate for the Libre21 coalition, but withdrew his candidacy on 11 October 2020 (seven days prior to the election) in an unsuccessful attempt to unify the Bolivian opposition and prevent the socialist MAS-IPSP candidate

Luis Arce Luis Alberto Arce Catacora (; born 28 September 1963), often referred to as Lucho, is a Bolivian banker, economist, and politician serving as the 67th president of Bolivia since 2020. A member of the Movement for Socialism (Bolivia), Movement fo ...

from emerging victorious.

Background and early life

Quiroga was born 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 ...

. He graduated from

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

in 1981 with a degree in

industrial engineering Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

, becoming the first head of state from that university. Retrieved on Feb. 15, 2007 He went on to work for

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

while earning a master's degree in business administration from St. Edward's University. He and his American wife Virginia then moved back to Bolivia. He has 4 children: Vanessa Elena, Cristina Andrea, Adriana Patricia and Jorge Cristian.

Vice President of Bolivia (1997–2001)

Quiroga was Minister of Finance in 1992. He was elected as

Vice President of Bolivia The vice president of Bolivia (), officially known as the vice president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia (), is the second highest political position in Bolivia. The vice president replaces the president in his definitive absence or others ...

in 1997 running on the Nationalist Democratic Action ticket with former dictator Hugo Banzer. At 37, he was the youngest vice president in Bolivia's history.

President of Bolivia (2001–2002)

He became president when Banzer resigned because of aggravated health problems (he died a year following his resignation). Quiroga assumed office as acting president on 1 July 2001 and was sworn in on 7 August, to complete Banzer's five-year mandate. Soon after becoming president he told a reporter from the '' New Yorker'' "We oliviawill be the vital heart of South America.." believing that gas exports would lift the economy, that a long-anticipated transcontinental highway connecting Brazil to Chile would be built passing through the Bolivian city of Cochabamba, and that fibre-optic cables would soon be laid. He blamed Bolivia's lack of economic progress on hypocrisy on free trade in the United States and Europe, saying "Bolivia is the most open economy in Latin America. Meanwhile, American and European farm subsidies, along with tariffs on textiles and agricultural products, make it impossible for Bolivia to sell its exports in the Global North. They tell us to be competitive while tying our arms behind our backs." When asked about the Bolivian Water Wars of 2000, he said “A lot of things certainly could have been different along the way, from a lot of different actors. The net effect is that we have a city today with no resolution to the water problem. In the end it will be necessary to bring in private investment to develop the water."

Post-presidency (2002–present)

Quiroga ran for president in his own right in the 2005 election, as the candidate for a new right-of-center coalition known as Social and Democratic Power (PODEMOS), which included the bulk of Banzer's former ADN organization. His main opponent was the leftist

of the Movement Towards Socialism. Morales won the election and Quiroga finished a distant second place, receiving 28.6% of the vote. He has also worked as a consultant for the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

and the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

. In 2002, he was honored in a tribute exhibit at his alma mater, Texas A&M University. He is, as of November 2016, active in the private sector and many international organizations, among them: as vice-president of Club de Madrid with almost 100 former heads of state and government; on the board of Results for Development-R4D in Washington D.C.; as a member of the Inter-American Dialogue and the International Advisory Council of the China Economic Club; and in different capacities on the Global Adaptation Institute, the Foro Iberoamericano and many others. He has presided FUNDEMOS since 2002, a Bolivian public policy foundation. His areas of expertise are: management of international aid and cooperation for developing countries; macroeconomic policy; constitutional, legal and institutional reforms; private and official external

debt restructuring Debt restructuring is a process that allows a private or public company or a sovereign entity facing cash flow problems and financial distress to reduce and renegotiate its delinquent debts to improve or restore liquidity so that it can continu ...

and relief; programs to reduce drug trafficking and cocaine production; and broadly in Latin American public policy, trade, economics, finance and banking, integration, politics and development issues. He was appointed as vice president of the Club de Madrid in 2011. On 2 December 2019, the interim government of Jeanine Áñez appointed Quiroga as an international delegate on a special mission to denounce alleged

human rights violations Human rights are universally recognized moral principles or norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both national and international laws. These rights are considered inherent and inalienable, meaning t ...

by the ousted Morales administration. He held the post for just over a month, before resigning on 8 January 2020 in order to announce his presidential candidacy for the

snap elections A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...

to be held later that year. Throughout the election cycle, he remained around sixth place reaching between 1 and 2% in

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of qu ...

ing and never surpassing 7%. On 11 October, one week before the scheduled election, Quiroga announced he was dropping out of the presidential race. He indicated in his withdrawal announcement that he wished to prevent an outright victory of

of the Movement for Socialism party in the first electoral round by consolidating the right around

Carlos Mesa Carlos Diego de Mesa Gisbert (; born 12 August 1953) is a Bolivian historian, journalist, and politician who served as the 63rd president of Bolivia from 2003 to 2005. As an independent politician, he had previously served as the 37th vice pr ...

. He currently holds the role of a senior advisor at New Direction, a think tank affiliated with the

European Conservatives and Reformists Party The European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party or simply ECR), formerly known as Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR, 2009–2016) and Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE, 2016–2019), is a ...

in the European Parliament. He supported

Javier Milei Javier Gerardo Milei (born 22 October 1970) is an Argentine politician and economist who has served as President of Argentina since 2023. Milei also served as a national deputy representing the City of Buenos Aires for the party La Libertad ...

in the

2023 Argentine general election General elections were held in Argentina on 22 October 2023 to elect the President of Argentina, president, Vice President of Argentina, vice president, members of the National Congress of Argentina, National Congress, and the governors of mos ...

Notes

References

External links

*
Member profile
at The Dialogue
Profile
at the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

thebattBolivia's Precarious Upcoming Election-Council on Hemispheric Affairs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quiroga, Jorge 1960 births Living people 20th-century Bolivian politicians 21st-century Bolivian politicians Áñez administration personnel Banzer administration cabinet members Bolivian engineers Candidates in the 2005 Bolivian presidential election Candidates in the 2014 Bolivian presidential election Candidates in the 2020 Bolivian presidential election Christian Democratic Party (Bolivia) politicians Grand Crosses of the Order of the Sun of Peru Finance ministers of Bolivia Members of the Inter-American Dialogue Nationalist Democratic Action politicians Paz Zamora administration cabinet members People from Cochabamba Presidents of Bolivia Social Democratic Power politicians St. Edward's University alumni Texas A&M University alumni Vice presidents of Bolivia