Víctor Hugo Cárdenas

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Víctor Hugo Cárdenas Conde (born 1951) is a Bolivian indigenous Aymara activist and politician. He is the leader of the MRTKL party (Revolutionary Liberation Movement Tupaq Katari). He was Vice-president of Bolivia from 1993 and 1997 in the first presidency of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada.

Cárdenas was born in the Aymara village of Achica Bajo on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the son of a rural school teacher. While still a child, his name was changed by his father to mask his indigenous origin and reduce this entrenched obstacle, at the time, to his educational and professional advancement. His wife has never renounced the typical dress of the chola, an urbanized woman who retains her indigenous identity.

Cardenas holds a PhD in linguistics and is a university professor.