Álvaro García Linera

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is García and the second or maternal family name is Linera.
Álvaro García Linera
Vice President of Bolivia
Assumed office
January 22, 2006
President Evo Morales
Preceded by Carlos Mesa
Personal details
Born (1962-10-19) October 19, 1962
Cochabamba, Bolivia
Political party Movement for Socialism
Occupation Activist, Revolutionary, Political commentator

Álvaro Marcelo García Linera (Spanish: [ˈalβaɾo ɣarˈsi.a]; born 19 October 1962), is a Bolivian politician who has been Vice President of Bolivia since 2006.[1]

Biography

He was born in Cochabamba and graduated from San Agustín High School. Then, he studied at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City but did not obtained any degree as he has recently admitted in Bolivian newspapers. After failing his studies at UNAM, he returned to his native Bolivia and attempted to put some of his long-held socialist ideology to practice and joined the Katarist "Ayllus Rojos", a series of experimental, Marxist-inspired native communities in northwestern Bolivia. When this attempt at grass-roots politics failed, García opted for a more radical approach. Alongside Felipe Quispe, he organized and worked in the insurgent Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army. After being caught destroying electrical distribution towers in rural La Paz, he was arrested and charged with insurrection and terrorism.

While imprisoned, he studied sociology but again failed not obtained a degree as he has admitted again in Bolivian newspapers. After his release he worked as a university professor illegally since Bolivian universities require a degree from their professors. He also was a political analyst, and news commentator. He was a well known academic, known for his support of indigenous and left-wing political movements in South America (in spite of his upper-middle class upbringing and the fact that he is of Spanish descent). He wrote a monograph about the different political and social organizations that were a part of the political rise of the MAS and other indigenous factions, Sociología de los Movimientos Sociales en Bolivia (Sociology of Social Movements in Bolivia), which was published in 2005.[2]

Political career

García was elected vice president as the running partner to Evo Morales in the 2005 presidential elections.

He is an advocate of nationalization of Bolivia's hydrocarbon industry. In 2005 interview, he said that hydrocarbons "would be the second unifying factor of this society in October, 2003" and that "the debates over hydrocarbons are playing with the destiny of [Bolivia]."[3]

In December 2010, Linera posted the cables mentioning Bolivia from the website WikiLeaks, which leaks information from classified sources and whistleblowers, on his official page. Linera said linking this negative information was intended to allow people to see “barbarities and insults” in Washington and to expose their "interventionist infiltration."[4][5][6]

García Linera has supported regulating what Bolivians are allowed to say on social media outlets, saying that he is constantly online "writing down the first and last names of the people who insult [President Evo Morales] on Facebook and Twitter." These comments have been criticized by free speech advocates.[7]

García Linera has defended the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth, saying that it is not intended as a means to hamper industrial development or mineral extraction. Private miners have disagreed with this stance, suggesting that the law allows the government to expropriate their operations without providing compensation and that is signals Bolivia is hostile to foreign investment.[8]

García Linera has indicated his intention of leaving politics for teaching and writing in 2014, at the end of his current term. [9] He did not comment on his re-election the same year to the present day.

Personal life

On March 8, 2012, García Linera publicly confirmed his engagement to Claudia Fernández Valdivia, a news anchor with Bolivian television station Red Uno.[9] They were married in September 2012, holding an indigenous ceremony on Saturday the 8th and a Catholic one on Sunday the 9th.[10][11]

Interviews, speeches and articles by Álvaro García Linera

References

  1. ↑ Vicepresidency of Bolivia
  2. ↑ Garcia Linera, Alvaro. Sociología de los Movimientos Sociales en Bolivia. La Paz: Plural, 2005.
  3. ↑ Webber, Jeffery R. (25 April 2005). "Marxism and Indigenism in Bolivia: A Dialectic of Dialogue and Conflict". ZCommunications. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  4. ↑ "Bolivian VP Posts WikiLeaks Cables on his Website". Fox News Latino. 8 December 2010. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  5. ↑ Wikileaks - Vicepresidency of Bolivia
  6. ↑ "Documentos revelados por Wikileaks ratifican un gobierno imperial, intervencionista y abusivo: García Linera". FM Bolivia. 30 November 2010. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  7. ↑ Carrasco, Gloria (26 October 2012). "Bolivia weighs regulating social media". CNN. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
  8. ↑ Achtenberg, Emily. "Earth First?". Knowledge Beyond Borders. NACLA. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
  9. 1 2 El vicepresidente García confirma su proxima boda e insinúa su retiro de la politica para el 2014. La Razon - March 12, 2012
  10. ↑ http://www.laprensa.com.bo/diario/entretendencias/escena/20120909/la-pachamama-los-bendijo_33473_53530.html
  11. ↑ http://alvarogarciayclaudiafernandez.blogspot.com/2012/09/fotos-el-vicepresidente-y-claudia.html
Political offices
Preceded by
Carlos Mesa		 Vice President of Bolivia
2006-present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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